Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Environment
Why in News?
Supreme Court ordered time-bound eviction of forest encroachments in the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve (ABR).
The Supreme Court also ordered the removal of non-forestry activities within critical protected areas like the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve and Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserve.
The Forest Department has issued eviction notices to thousands of households on the Tamil Nadu side alleging they had encroached on forest land.
Finally, the Bench prohibited the diversion of forest land or the start of new non-forest activities within the ABR until all encroachments had been removed.
About FRA
Parliament enacted the Forest Rights Act in 2006 (FRA) to undo the historical injustice suffered by forest dwellers.
It recognised and vested forest rights in forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers who had occupied forest land before December 13, 2005.
The FRA provided for a transparent process for these individuals to claim their individual and community rights, to be verified and approved by gram sabhas.
Six-member subdivision- and district-level committees — with representatives from the Revenue, Tribal, and Forest Departments and the elected members of panchayats — have to examine the claims and issue titles.
The FRA does not require that traditional forest-dwellers have to have occupied the land they are claiming for three generations before 2005 (75 years), nor does it prohibit commercial activities on all forest lands.
In fact, the FRA defines “bonafide livelihood needs” to include the “sale of surplus produce arising out of exercise of such rights”.
The FRA also prohibits authorities from evicting people who have allegedly encroached on forest land “till the recognition and verification procedure is complete”.
Violating these forest rights has been described as an atrocity under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 since 2016.
About ABR
The ABR spans across Kerala (including parts of Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Idukki, and Thiruvananthapuram) and Tamil Nadu (Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, Theni, and Dindigul).
It also covers protected areas as Kalakad-Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, the Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserve, the Nellai Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu.
In Kerala, it includes the Periyar Tiger Reserve and the Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary.
It was added into UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 2016.
Kanikkarans are the Original tribal Settlers in Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve.
Kanikaran is one of the oldest surviving ancient tribes in the world.
