The Union environment ministry has issued new rules under the Forest Conservation Amendment Act 2023, urging state governments and Union territories to compile a consolidated report of ‘forest’ land based on government records and legal notifications. The rules, known as the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Rules, 2023, came into force on Friday, emphasizing the application of the Act to “forest-like” areas or deemed forests identified by expert committees constituted in compliance with a December 1996 Supreme Court order.
The Act requires states to delineate areas that meet the definition of forests, either recorded in government records or identified by expert committees. Failure to identify such areas within a year would exempt them from the Forest Conservation Amendment Act, potentially making them available for development.
This move has stirred debates on the impact of the Act, particularly regarding unrecorded “deemed forests.” Critics argue that the new law, by exempting such areas, may leave vast tracts of unclassified forests vulnerable to destruction. The contentious provision challenges the 1996 Supreme Court judgment that broadly defined forests to include areas recorded as forests in official records, regardless of ownership.
Chetan Agarwal, a forest analyst, suggests that the rules provide a small window for the final identification of forest-like areas. However, concerns arise about the interpretation of this provision and the potential exclusion of areas not previously identified by expert committees.
The timing of the rule implementation coincides with a challenge to the Forest Conservation Amendment Act by 11 retired forest/environmental civil servants and two environmental experts in the Supreme Court. The concern is that enforcing the Act without proper documentation of forest lands may lead to irreversible losses to ecosystem services and wildlife.
Debadityo Sinha from the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy raises alarm over the haste in implementing the Act, stating that the Centre should have waited for states to make their records public before enforcement.
*Related Stories:*
– *Challenges Mount Against Forest Conservation Amendment Act*
– *Deemed Forests: A Controversial Exemption*
– *Impact on Real Estate in Haryana’s Aravallis*
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