What is the issue?
- Protests have erupted in Delhi over the felling of over 16,000 trees in government redevelopment yards.
- Authorities argue that the numbers are exaggerated and in any case, they would plant more trees than are being felled.
What is the government policy?
- In India’s countryside, forest lands underwent diversion for “non-forest purposes”.
- These have been compensated for, through a series of laws.
- The Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was the foremost one.
- The policy culminated in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act of 2016.
- It assumes that planting large number of trees would compensate for the loss.
- However, how effectively will this redress cutting down natural wilderness is uncertain.
- On the other hand, compensatory afforestation largely exists on paper.
Will planting new trees really help?
- Clearly, compensation is reduced to a matter of counting trees.
- But an old forest is a whole lot more than the sum of its trees.
- Plants, fungi, microbes, insects and animals are all part of a living jungle ecosystem.
- Recreating this community is not an easy task, as it takes decades.
- Also, soil with microorganisms and mycorrhiza inhabiting the humus takes 30,000 years to build up.
What are the governance issues?
- The sole agency for carrying out compensatory afforestation is the Indian Forest Department.
- Rewilding is possible, but it needs tools, knowledge and techniques.
- But, no Forest Department in India has any experience or track record of doing any ecological restoration work of any kind.
- It is also not taught to foresters in their training.
What is the case with Delhi?
- Authority - For compensatory afforestation, it is the Forest Department which implements the planting schemes.
- It is charged with compliance under the CAF Act.
- But, in a city like Delhi, the Forest Department is confused of what role to play.
- It is confused in the centre of power and with so many horticultural agencies competing for its natural turf.
- The Forest Department thus plays little role in managing the green areas of Delhi.
- This is the case even with the Central Ridge, which is nominally under its control.
- Afforestation - In Delhi, the land that is made available for afforestation is mostly least arable and degraded.
- Also, small plots are crammed with large number of saplings which are not even native trees.
- Clearly, they cannot be relied upon or sustained, once watering and care are withdrawn.
- Delhi is one of the cities with toxic air quality in the world.
- Given this, any development that adversely impacts Delhi’s air quality needs a reassessment.
Source: Indian Express
