The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has sought to insert a preamble
The central government wants to bring amendments to and insert a ‘preamble’ in the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 to help the country achieve Net Zero emissions by 2070, according to a joint parliamentary committee report.
The bill, termed Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023, is expected to be tabled for clearance during the monsoon parliament session that began on July 20, 2023.
According to the report accessed by Down To Earth, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has proposed that amendments are necessary to meet the “national targets of Net Zero Emission by 2070 and maintain or enhance forest carbon stocks through ecologically balanced sustainable development”.
The committee also cited the creation of carbon sink amounting to 2.5-3 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent by 2030 under the Nationally Determined Contribution targets as the reason to push for the amendments.
The amendments will also support the country’s objective to increase forest and tree cover up to a third of its land area, the committee noted.
MoEFCC has cited that changes in the act are necessary considering the dynamic changes in the “ecological, strategic and economic aspirations of the country” and the scope of this act is to be expanded with relevance to emerging ecological challenges of forest conservation, restoration, compensatory mechanism, mitigation measures and others.
The committee, in its examination, stated that if the fixed targets in the Preamble are not met by the mentioned year, the Act has to be amended again. And even if the target is achieved before the target year, it would need amendments again. It observed that the target year need not be fixed in the preamble.
However, objecting to the suggestions, stakeholders have suggested deletion of preamble. They submitted that, “A preamble is a clause at the beginning explanatory of the reasons for enactment. The present Act does not have preamble as the title is succinct and self explanatory”.
Demanding that the proposed preamble be deleted they explained, “Proposed amendment subverts the FCA’s primary objective “to provide for conservation of forests” and to “check further deforestation”.
The stakeholders said that amendments would undo the provisions existing in the Act and reduce its ambit by privatising large portions of forests in lieu of creating plantations. They said the current Act need not change but be implemented effectively.
However, the central government observed that individuals, organisations and authorities are apprehensive of undertaking plantations in non-forest areas as such plantations may be considered as forests due to the interpretations and reducing the tendency to conduct plantations.
To overcome the misapprehension and increase tree cover to meet the Net Zero Emission target, the government has sought amendments.
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