Definition of forest still unclear in state, June 15 meeting decisive

The definition of forest has again become an issue of contention, as it will be discussed in the upcoming meeting of National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) on June 15. While the meeting aims to finalise the classification of Haryana forests, green activists have raised concerns that the percentage of forest cover in the state could be reduced.

The meeting will define the fate of a large chuck of land that falls under the ‘yet-to-be-decided’ category and will also impact natural conservation zones (NCZ). Speculations are surfacing that for any area to be considered as forest, the current 10% density will be raised to 30%.

As per the 2014 draft of Forest Survey of India (FSI), the states which have forest cover less than the national average of 33% should declare even scrub areas with 0-10% density as forests areas.

Also, for states in which vegetation is less than 30%, isolated patches of at least five hectares that has less than 10% crown density can be considered as forest.

Further, mangroves, sacred groves and habitats of rare species irrespective of the patch size will be considered as forest as per the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

Experts say that Haryana is a state in which the forest cover is less than a 10th of the national average. Environmentalists suspect foul play as the state government is unable to decide the definition of forest even two years the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change approved a daft in this regard.

“Any changes in the density area will change the face of the entire state. We will challenge any changes in the court. In August 2014, MOEF has stated that Haryana scrub forest will be considered as forest but that has not been the case,” Amit Chaudhery, a naturalist said.

“This is a deliberate attempt to decrease the forest cover in the area to help the builder lobby. It is clear that the foothills and the garmumkin pahar areas will be left out if changes are made in the density of forest category,” Vivek Kamboj, an environmentalist, said.

Government sources confirmed that certain changes will be made to the definition of forest in the state. “Discussions are on and there may be changes in the crown density for an area to be considered as forest,” a senior Haryana government official said.

BOX

Guidelines distinguished between states with forest cover below 33% and above 33%.

-----for below 33% states, - even scrub areas - with forest cover from 0-10% were to be treated as forests as per dictionary meaing - subject to some caveats.

-----for above 33% states, the min. threshold was 40%.

-----All sacred groves were to be automatically be deemed forests.