The government will try to pass the National Green Tribunal Bill, 2009, in the current Parliament session. The Bill aims at establishing an autonomous tribunal, independent of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), for environmental clearance of development projects and providing relief and compensation to people affected by natural calamities.
“The Bill was introduced in Parliament this July and has been referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee, which is expected to submit its report on Monday,” said Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh while launching the ‘Green India 2047’ report here today.
Ramesh also said environmental governance required strengthening. At present, 21 per cent of the land area is under forest cover, while the tree cover stands at 3 per cent.
Moreover, of the total forest cover, only 2 per cent is high density and 9 per cent medium density. The remaining 10 per cent of the forest area is degraded land. “We need to improve the quality of forests, as 10 per cent of greenhouse gases are sequestered by 65 per cent of India’s forest cover and this level should be maintained going ahead. We must know the social, economic and ecological value of our forests,” said Ramesh.
As part of environmental governance, Ramesh said India would be in a position to provide an alternative gross domestic product (GDP) by 2015 that will also account for the consumption of natural resources as well and this GDP would stand for Green Domestic Product.
Commenting on the issue of private sector involvement in forest management, which is favoured by R K Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Ramesh said: “I am not agreeing on it because the private sector is interested in plantations and I am interested in forests.”
India can win a Nobel for dirt and filth: Jairam
Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh lamented the poor disposal facilities of municipal waste in most of the cities in the country. “Our cities are dirtiest cities of the world. Technology is important in treating municipal solid waste. If there is a Nobel prize for dirt and filth, India will win it hands down,” said Ramesh while addressing an event on Friday.