The forest and environment ministry's proposal to give fiscal incentives to the states that are maintaining their forest cover and are taking steps to improve it seems a well-intended move aimed at protecting the country's vital, as also threatened, forest resources. Such financial assistance can help state governments to withstand, even if only to an extent, the ever-increasing pressure to divert forest land for other purposes. The simultaneous announcement of the intent to extend such sops to the local self-governments as well is equally significant, as the actual implementation of the programmes is taken care of at that level. What is important here is the involvement of the local stakeholders, which include the tribal people and others forest dwellers who rely solely on the forests for their livelihood. Instances are legion where joint forest management committees, with representation of local self-governance institutions and native communities, have managed the forests far better than government functionaries.
Uttarakhand, where adequate forest cover is imperative for maintaining the fragile hilly geology and ecology, has taken a lead in involving the local people in forest management and with good results. The general state of the forests has improved dramatically, raising their capacity to support livelihood of the local people and enhancing environmental benefits. However, barring such isolated cases, the overall state of the country's forests is dismal, while the claims on them are large. Only about 21 per cent of the geographical area is under forests, against the desired minimum of 30 to 33 per cent. Worse still, less than 2 per cent of them are truly green, having high density vegetation which can provide environmental benefits in full measure. Of the rest, only 10 per cent forests fall under the medium density category, which can be viewed as partially green. The remaining predominant part of the forest cover is just sparsely vegetated and degraded forest land that is technically classified as forests in the revenue records for ownership purposes. The country can, therefore, ill-afford any further deterioration in forest cover in terms of both extent and density.
It needs to be borne in mind that the forests, historically, have served as productive assets that support the economy by providing vital inputs for several industries and catering to the fuel and other requirements of the local communities. Unfortunately, the bulk of the Indian green cover is no longer as productive as it should be. Its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP), therefore, has stagnated for a long while. One of the significant roles of the forests, which has now become all the more relevant, is to serve as carbon sink to safeguard the climate. Indian forests hardly absorb about 11 per cent of the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Since the scope for expanding the forest cover is limited, the upkeep of the current green cover and its further improvement by planting more trees and rejuvenating the deteriorating vegetation are an immediate imperative. If the forest ministry's initiatives succeed in doing so, it can help India resist the increasing international pressure for taking on binding emission reduction targets. For, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has categorically stated in its 'State of the World's Forests 2009' report that improved forest management and new tree planting could potentially have a larger positive impact on climate change than any other initiative currently being planned by world leaders.
