Draft National Forest Policy, 2018

The initiative to invite suggestions and comments for Draft National Forest Policy, 2018 from all the stakeholders including Public/Private organizations, experts, and citizens is well appreciated and it encourages citizens’ participation in good governance. I would like to draw the attention on two problem statements concerning the forest proliferation across India which are as follows:

1. Substantial & Unchecked increase in Built environment in the protected wildlife sanctuaries & national parks across India
2. Rampant Reduction in Urban Forests

Problem Statement A:

Substantial & Unchecked increase in Built environment in the protected wildlife sanctuaries & national parks across India.

Problem Highlights:

1. Reduction in the total forest area of the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks to make space for built environment which mainly comprises of recreation and transport. The built environment includes hotels, resorts, restaurants, shops, entertainment zones, recreational sports, and transportation network.
2. The recreational centres host night entertaining programmes, marriage parties and other events that generate high decibel sounds at night which disturb the wildlife.
3. The built environment demands drilling and explosion of mountains due to various reasons like making bore wells to developing roads which disturb the wildlife.
4. Increased, uncontrolled and unregulated footfalls of the visitors disturb the migration and mating patterns of the wildlife.
5. With the increase in the built environment, there is an increase in the litter in the form of plastic waste, food packages, cigarette butts, chocolate wrappers, etc. which are often left in the sanctuary area.
6. Quality of vehicles ferrying tourists in the sanctuary is extremely poor. Invariably all the jeeps/gypsies and buses/canters emit loud decibel sound which disturbs the natural forest ambiance. The locals and drivers carelessly counter the argument saying that the animals are used to the sound so they don’t get disturbed.
7. A conspicuous loophole in observing the strict forest prohibition guidelines where tourists on paying an additional sum of money can get an entry into the forest not only at the prohibited hours but even in the prohibited areas.
8. Making the use of forest as a corridor for connecting nearby villages wherein citizens can use the forest as an alternative transportation route increases the vehicular and human interference within the forest further disturbing the wildlife. I would like to quote my personal experience in Sasan Gir forest which is used as a transport gateway for nearby villages. I saw three bikers who purposely take their bike (obviously the bike emit loud sound) very close to the lions. The reason may be to show their bravery or just adrenaline thrill, this unchecked careless behavior of local population is a big nuisance to the forest.
9. The enforcement of laws is very loose and ineffective. There are rules and guidelines in place to check the inappropriate practices that aim at confiscating the forest land and compromise the privacy of the wildlife, which is often restricted only till the documentation formalities. The ground reality is quite different where the rules are ostentatiously succumbing to the greed of human where all the stakeholders- the officials, businessmen, tourists and the government are involved.

Solution:

1. Expansion of Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries to curb the menace of the built environment.
2. Establish the Biological Corridors model in lines with those developed by Bhutan. Biological corridors are areas set aside to connect one or more protected areas and facilitate movement of wildlife. Biological Corridors act as a cost-effective, reliable strategy to conserve meta-populations of wide-ranging species, promote gene flow for all species, and allow species to adapt to climate change.
3. Strict Enforcement of forest laws with zero tolerance for the defaulters with focus on anti-litter laws. There should be a complete ban on plastic water bottles and plastic bags in and around the sanctuary area.
4. Regular checking and maintenance of the vehicles that are permitted inside the forest.
5. Soundproofing and sound dampening should be made mandatory in the vehicles that are permitted inside the forest.
6. Strict monitoring of the activities of the recreational resorts with proper guidelines on NO Sound and optimum lighting of their spaces.
7. Restrict the entry of the tourists in the deeper areas of the forest.

Problem Statement B:

Rampant Reduction in Urban Forests

Problem Statement:

1. Confiscation of the forest area in the cities under the pretext of development.
2. Where direct confiscation of forest areas is not made possible, there are efforts to commercialize it under the pretext of turning into adventure zones by developing entertainment facilities like cable ropeways and adventure sports.
3. Citizens and tribals do not have constitutional powers to democratically participate in the decision-making policies related to the Urban Forests.
4. Lack of awareness, skills, and education on the importance of environment in the public service human resource who design developmental policies and schemes right from the highest office bearers to the grassroots-level personnel.

Solution:

1. Social Green Audit to be made mandatory for all government projects, schemes, policies before drafting any urban infrastructure or forest-related policies. This social audit of government projects, schemes, and policies should have forest and environment parameters to ascertain if the project complies with all the prerequisite environmental compliances. The audit team should comprise of forest scientists, experts, environmentalists, citizens, tribal and local forest communities along with government representatives who will not only help in co-drafting the policies for the government but also shall be vested constitutional powers where their vote of confidence becomes mandatory to pass the policies. This shall empower the citizens’ democratic participation in the good governance process.
2. All elected government representatives irrespective of their hierarchy or the department to which they belong must undergo mandatory training in environmental sciences which will imbibe within them the better understanding of forest dynamics, biodiversity conservation, ecological security, global warming effects and sustainable city planning.
3. Short term and Long term initiatives for the Expansion of Eco-sensitive zone for urban forests.