Timber is a valuable & scarce resource, which has both economic and ecological significance. Forests are a vital source of timber and they are primarily governed by the state forest departments. The environmental concerns have led to the ban on green timber felling with certain exceptions.
Generally, the timber on private property in the forest area is permitted to be harvested if there is a genuine reason such as maturity, death, threat to life or property, among others. Such timber is sold by the private landholders as per market mechanisms, with a nominal fee being paid to the forest department.
The law also mandated compensatory afforestation in lieu of trees felled. If the concerned person cannot plant the requisite trees, they can deposit the required amount into the State Tree Fund (name differs across states) and then the department plants the trees on their behalf.
On the other hand, timber on the government land is not felled unless compelling reasons arise. Additionally, timber in sanctuaries is not felled even after its death since a micro-ecosystem serving as a habitat for many organisms develops around it which plays a role in the macro-ecosystem as well.
Still, timber felled on the government land owing to public projects or death or threat is brought to the timber depot run by the forest department. Timber recovered through offence cases is also stored there till it is auctioned. Timber recovered from the offence cases cannot be sold till the case is adjudicated.
This makes the role of the timber depot very important in the supply chain of timber. Unfortunately, the condition of most timber depots in India is not very promising. The lack of proper infrastructure adds to the challenges of the forest staff while managing the timber depot.
Most of the timber is stored on the ground under the open sky leaving it exposed to rain, pests, sunlight and other dangers. Weeds and mushrooms grow around the timber stock, while it decays and loses its value.
Sometimes, timber is stored in the depots for more than 10 years because the related cases are still pending in the court. All this not only reduces the economic value of the timber which is ultimately a loss of revenue to the department but also decreases the supply of timber in the market which leads to an increase in prices.
High timber prices due to a distorted market also act as an incentive to the illegal felling of timber, which in turn starts a vicious cycle of distorted timber market. This also forces several regular timber procuring industries to depend more on timber plantations and imports than the forest department for sourcing raw materials.
On the surface, the issue may appear insignificant. But it has economic and ecological repercussions.
To deal with such issues, some forest departments have started on-site auctions of the felled timber in which it is not brought to the depot but sold on the site itself. The process involves mensuration of the timber, base price fixation as per rates set by the department and auction.
In this method, the cost of felling and transporting the timber is borne out by the buyer. To entertain serious bidders, a nominal auction fee is also levied. The possession of the timber is given after the final price is paid, while the 25 per cent (or so) of the price has to be deposited right after the auction.
This method reduces the scope of timber being kept in the depot, leading to a leaner supply chain. Although it is a viable solution, more could be done to improve this process further and bring more economic and ecological benefits to the stakeholders.
Certain measures can be adopted to improve the timber supply chain. Foremost among them will be to use detailed and dynamic pricing based on standards.
The base price of timber is fixed at the headquarters of the forest department which does not take into account the exigencies of the trade. Over-pricing may lead to no buyers just like under-pricing may lead to a loss of revenue.
The base prices should not be fixed based on classes and species of timber alone. Rather, a holistic quality assessment of the sample based on standards must be done to come up with an optimum price.
A sample with high moisture content, for instance, may not be preferred by the construction industry. Therefore, apt mensuration, quality assessment, and certifications are crucial for the optimum pricing of the timber. The departments must train and employ professionals who could evaluate the optimum base price of the timber based on standards.
Then, a tribunal for fast-track resolution of offence cases must be set up.
The offence cases related to timber are tried in the civil court, which takes a lot of time to get resolved. A special court would help expedite the trials of such cases. This would reduce the time spent in the depot by the timber, which would further optimise the supply chain.
Also, through legislative change, a mechanism to sell the samples of seized timber after taking its evidence sample could be devised to not let the timber rot in the depot and fetch optimum price at the market. Later, after the resolution of the case, the balance may be settled.
A real-time database of timber stock in the depots and elsewhere in the supply chain must be also be created to help track and make decisions based on data. This would help reduce the lead time across the supply chain and optimise the operations.
Moreover, the digitalisation would give a fillip to the transparency in the system. The Global Positioning System, Radio Frequency Identification and blockchain technologies could help track and manage the samples across the supply chain and improve its transparency.
Apart from the above measures, the department could go for timber certifications in line with the concept of sustainable forest management to responsibly harvest timber. This would not only help ecologically and socially but also in fetching the optimum price for the timber.
Aakash Bajpai is student of Indian Institute of Forest Management and an alumnus of Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.