EB/06/08-09/001 dt
16-04-08
The Prime Minister,
Prime Ministers Office,
Government of India,
South Block,
New Delhi- 110 001.
Sub- Clarion call to save Indias pristine Forest on this Earth Day(22nd
April-)
Dear Dr. Singh:
We the undersigned are deeply concerned about the enormous
negative impacts that the recently operationalised Scheduled Tribes and Other
Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, will have
on global climate change, and on Indias environment, including her water
security and her bio-diversity. We also believe that the Act will worsen the
lives of forest dwellers- the very people it has been designed to assist.
India and her leaders have been justifiably proud of our natural
heritage which is renowned throughout the world. A vast wealth of flora and
fauna resides in India: 13,000 species of flowering plants and 65,000 species
of fauna have been recorded, including 2,000 fish, 13,000 birds, about 400
mammals, over hundred species of frogs, turtles, crocodiles, and the rare
gharial. India is the only place in the world that can boast of both lions and
tigers, and is a repository of endemic species like the Asiatic wild ass, the
lion-tailed macaque and the Great Indian Bustard. With the largest number of
wild tigers in the world, India bears a particular responsibility to ensure the
tigers continued survival. Internationally recognised bio-diversity hotspots
like the Western Ghats, 25 Ramsar sites encompassing wetlands of international
importance such as the Upper Ganga river, and UNESCO World Heritage site such
as the Sundarbans National Park make India legendary for
her wilderness and for the wisdom and
foresight she has shown in protecting landscapes and flora and fauna that are
important not just to India's people, but to the world.
The economic value of India's forests is immense - it manifests itself in
flood loss mitigation, freshwater conservation and augmentation, soil
conservation and nutrient recycling for agriculture, carbon storage,
non-timber forest products, biodiversity, eco-tourism, health and recreation,
to name a few. However, most of the goods and services of the India's forests
are not traded in markets, so they are not priced and are not included in the
"GDP". By a term of classical economists, they are 'externalities'. However,
that does not make any less valuable to India's citizens. Recent valuation
studies have shown that India's forests are worth at least eight to 36 lakhs
rupees per hectare, in terms of their value to India's economy. To pass these
public assets on to private ownership is economic folly for India, if cheaper
solutions are available to alleviate tribal poverty. Wide-ranging evidence,
from many NGO's and Government projects, suggests that there are, indeed, many
cheaper ways to be explored.
India's forests are a natural treasury which provide security, water
and oxygen to the Indian people, and they are now threatened by climate change.
The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that the world's
forests store more than one trillion tons of carbon, twice the amount in the
atmosphere. By contrast, destruction of forests releases almost 7.5 gigatonnes
of carbon dioxide every year. The FAO urges reduction in deforestation, and
encourages aforestation and reforestation, without the planting of
monocultures.
The carbon footprint of the Forest Rights Act will be enormous, and
will almost certainly accelerate climate change and the loss of bio-diversity
by pushing India's forests to a point of no return.
Specifically, the Forest Rights Act mandates that each nuclear family
of a forest-dwelling scheduled tribe, and other traditional forest dwellers,
receive up to four hectares of forest land. India's human population now
occupies more than 95 percent of the landmass set aside for forests and
wilderness. The Forest Rights Act could end up transferring over 60 percent of
India's forests into the hands of 8.2 percent of its population. And if you
take into account the wave effect of people living in the forest, virtually no
Indian wilderness will be left unaffected. India's protected Areas, and the
three hundred rivers which originate in Indian forests and provide vital
drinking and irrigation water, are already stressed by rapid industrial
development. The Forest Rights Act would lead to further degradation of these
life-saving infrastructures in which rights are being given to fell up to
75 trees per hectare for a range of 14 activities without the need to obtain
clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
India has implemented some of the finest and most forward-thinking
environmental legislations that the world has ever seen. This includes the
Wildlife (Protection) Act (WPA),1972,the Forest Conservation Act (FCA),1980,
the National Forest Policy,1988 and the Supreme Court's 2000 order banning
de-reservation of forests. All these would be weakened or overridden by the
Forest Rights Act.
We respectfully and urgently request that the Scheduled Tribes and other
Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, be
rescinded or replaced with forward-thinking legislations which provides forest
usufruct rights, as well as, alternative livelihoods to the forest-dependant
poor, but does not make the mistake of land grants.
(Moloy Baruah)
President,
