Draft National Forest Policy, 2018

Subject: Suggestions on Draft National Forest Policy,
2018

Dear Sir,

The initiative to invite suggestions and comments for Draft
National Forest Policy, 2018 from all the stakeholders including Public/Private
organizations, experts, and citizens is well appreciated and encourages
citizens’ participation in good governance. I would like to draw the attention
on two problem statements concerning the forest proliferation across India
which are as follows:

A. Substantial & Unchecked increase in Built environment
in the protected wildlife sanctuaries & national parks across India

B. Rampant Reduction in Urban Forests

Problem
Statement A:

Substantial & Unchecked increase in Built environment in
the protected wildlife sanctuaries & national parks across India.

Problem Highlights:

a. Reduction in the total forest area of the wildlife
sanctuaries and national parks to make space for built environment which mainly
comprises of recreation and transport. The built environment includes hotels,
resorts, restaurants, shops, entertainment zones, recreational sports, and
transportation network.

b. The recreational centres host night entertaining
programmes, marriage parties and other events that generate high decibel sounds
at night which disturb the wildlife.

c. The built environment demands drilling and explosion of
mountains due to various reasons like making bore wells to developing roads which
disturb the wildlife.

d. Increased, uncontrolled and unregulated footfalls of the
visitors disturb the migration and mating patterns of the wildlife.

e. With the increase in the built environment, there is an
increase in the litter in the form of plastic waste, food packages, cigarette
butts, chocolate wrappers, etc. which are often left in the sanctuary area.

f. Quality of vehicles ferrying tourists in the sanctuary is
extremely poor. Invariably all the jeeps/gypsies and buses/canters emit loud
decibel sound which disturbs the natural forest ambiance. The locals and
drivers carelessly counter the argument saying that the animals are used to the
sound so they don’t get disturbed.

g. A conspicuous loophole in observing the strict forest
prohibition guidelines where tourists on paying an additional sum of money can
get an entry into the forest not only at the prohibited hours but even in the
prohibited areas.

h. Making the use of forest as a corridor for connecting
nearby villages wherein citizens can use the forest as an alternative
transportation route increases the vehicular and human interference within the
forest further disturbing the wildlife. I would like to quote my personal
experience in Sasan Gir forest which is used as a transport gateway for nearby
villages. I saw three bikers who purposely take their bike (obviously the bike
emit loud sound) very close to the lions. The reason may be to show their
bravery or just adrenaline thrill, this unchecked careless behavior of local
population is a big nuisance to the forest.

i. The enforcement of laws is very loose and ineffective.
There are rules and guidelines in place to check the inappropriate practices
that aim at confiscating the forest land and compromise the privacy of the
wildlife, which is often restricted only till the documentation formalities.
The ground reality is quite different where the rules are ostentatiously
succumbing to the greed of human where all the stakeholders- the officials,
businessmen, tourists and the government are involved.

Solution:

1. Expansion of Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) around National
Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries to curb the menace of the built environment.

2. Establish the Biological Corridors model in lines with
those developed by Bhutan. Biological corridors are areas set aside to connect
one or more protected areas and facilitate movement of wildlife. Biological
Corridors act as a cost-effective, reliable strategy to conserve
meta-populations of wide-ranging species, promote gene flow for all species,
and allow species to adapt to climate change.

3. Strict Enforcement of forest laws with zero tolerance for
the defaulters with focus on anti-litter laws. There should be a complete ban
on plastic water bottles and plastic bags in and around the sanctuary area.

4. Regular checking and maintenance of the vehicles that are
permitted inside the forest.

5. Soundproofing and sound dampening should be made
mandatory in the vehicles that are permitted inside the forest.

6. Strict monitoring of the activities of the recreational
resorts with proper guidelines on NO Sound and optimum lighting of their
spaces.

7. Restrict the entry of the tourists in the deeper areas of
the forest.

Problem
Statement B:

Rampant Reduction in Urban Forests

Problem Statement:

a. Confiscation of the forest area in the cities under the
pretext of development.

b. Where direct confiscation of forest areas is not made
possible, there are efforts to commercialize it under the pretext of turning
into adventure zones by developing entertainment facilities like cable ropeways
and adventure sports.

c. Citizens and tribals do not have constitutional powers to
democratically participate in the decision-making policies related to the Urban
Forests.

d. Lack of awareness, skills, and education on the importance
of environment in the public service human resource who design developmental
policies and schemes right from the highest office bearers to the
grassroots-level personnel.

Solution:

1. Social Green Audit to be made mandatory for all
government projects, schemes, policies before drafting any urban infrastructure
or forest-related policies. This social audit of government projects, schemes, and
policies should have forest and environment parameters to ascertain if the
project complies with all the prerequisite environmental compliances. The audit
team should comprise of forest scientists, experts, environmentalists,
citizens, tribal and local forest communities along with government representatives
who will not only help in co-drafting the policies for the government but also
shall be vested constitutional powers where their vote of confidence becomes
mandatory to pass the policies. This shall empower the citizens’ democratic
participation in the good governance process.

2. All elected government representatives irrespective of
their hierarchy or the department to which they belong must undergo mandatory
training in environmental sciences which will imbibe within them the better
understanding of forest dynamics, biodiversity conservation, ecological
security, global warming effects and sustainable city planning.

3. Short term and Long term initiatives for the Expansion of
Eco-sensitive zone for urban forests.