India’s forest cover registers slow growth of 1 percent, but shrink in north eastern states disappointing.
The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2017 might have come as some relief to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change with 1 percent increase in the forest and tree cover in India. The report celebrates India positioning itself among the top ten nations in terms of forest area despite its high population density. However, the report does not bring much of good news for the northeast region of India. According to the report, top five states where forest cover has decreased are Mizoram (531 sq km), Nagaland (450 sq km), Arunachal Pradesh (190 sq km) and Meghalaya (116 sq km). The north eastern region of the country with a whopping 70 percentage of total forest cover has undergone some quite dramatic changes for a region which thrives on its flora and fauna.
A major reason for loss of forest area in northeast and especially in Nagaland is credited to the practise of Jhum (Shifting) cultivation. According to a recent state report, 61 percent of households in Nagaland practise Jhum cultivation and this has resulted in high rate of soil depletion, degradation of land deterioration of water resources and degradation of forest ecosystem.
“Various acts such as Nagaland Forest Act 1968, Nagaland Jhum land Act 1970 and Wildlife Protection Act 1972 have been put into place. However a peculiar problem exists in the northeast, which also becomes a hindrance in implementing these acts effectively, that is land ownership. In Nagaland, more than 88 percent of forest land is owned by the community, clan or private individual. The state government has only about 18 percent under its total and direct control. For this reason the Forest Conservation Act 1980 is still not applicable in Nagaland.”
Lansothung Lotha, Range Forest Officer, Doyang Afforestation Range
Nagaland, a state of serine beauty, fertile soil, abundant minerals and rich bio-diversity with over 81,000 species of fauna and 47,000 species of flora is declining also because of the rigorous practice of coal mining-one of the major source of development of the economic value of the state, which has become a threat to the natural life in Nagaland. Mining has been practised since the 18th century as coal is one of the major resources in Nagaland.
To control the problems faced because of mining, the government implemented Nagaland Coal Policy 2006 with the Geology and Mining Department issuing licences like coal prospective license, coal mining lease and small pocket deposit license, to ensure that unwanted mining is curbed and to regulate the mining activities under the eyes of the government. These polices were later amended on 2015. Despite implementing such policies, illegal mining is still prevailing in the state.
“Since these mining projects are monitored by government, they must be responsible for setting up district-village wise environmental workers who not only educate the villagers on environmental issues, but also keep them aware of the mining activities in their vicinity.”
Mathiuthai Gonmei, Executive Secretary, Rongmei Baptist Association, Nagaland
Moreover what is happening in the Central Government is that, ‘The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’ (MoEF) issued a draft notification in 2016 to amend the ‘Environmental Impact Assessment 2006’ (EIA) , also known as the environmental clearance process which includes laws that mandates the detailed study of implementing projects that cause harm to the environment and the society. Amending such a forum allowed the violators to continue their work under the ‘Environmental Supplemental Plan’. After several criticism received on this amendment the government put a final notification where Expert Appraisal Committees were set up to determine their condition for their continued operation. This had no effect as data of the projects arrived late.
On March 14, 2017 the government issued a notification which gave a chance for all the projects to register under Environmental Clearances which were not registered before. A chance for all the illegal projects to become legal. Allowing notifications like these and the behaviour of political parties towards environmental protection has left loads of cases piled up in the National Green Tribunal.
Amid baffling election results in the north eastern states of India, it is yet to be witnessed what steps the BJP would take towards improvising the forest and tree cover in north eastern regions of the country. This decrease in the green tree and forest cover in the north eastern regions of India also affirms the point that the changing governments over the years adopted a politics of ignorance when it came to environmental crisis in the northeast.
