Fear Extreme Climate Events If Govt Takes Away Forests: Citizens Oppose New Bill

The Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 amends the 1980 Act to make it applicable to certain kinds of land.

The Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 amends the 1980 Act to make it applicable to only certain kinds of land.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 on Thursday, 20 July accepted every single amendment in the 1980 Act proposed by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

The Bill was recommended unchanged, The Economic Times reported, even as five MPs belonging to Opposition parties Congress, TMC and DMK dissented and presented their concerns in written.

The Bill is likely to be presented in the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

However, citizens, forest and climate action groups across India have been holding peaceful demonstrations against the Bill.

Green activists have expressed concerns over weakening of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 and demanded withdrawal of the Bill.

But what does the Bill say?

The Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill 2023 amends the 1980 Act to make it applicable to only certain kinds of land.

The Bill exempts from its purview land within 100 km of India’s border needed for national security projects, roadside amenities and public roads leading to a habitation.

"Our border areas encompass ecologically sensitive areas in North East India and Himalayas, which are a habitat for endangered species such as the Great Indian Bustard, Red Panda and Snow Leopard," said Bhanu Tatak, Co-Founder- Indigenous Research and Advocacy Dibang, Arunachal Pradesh.

The Bill also allows allows activities such as construction of wireless communications, fencing, boundary marks or pillars, bridges and culverts, check dams, and waterholes.

Activists from Hasdeo Aranya forest in Chhattisgarh fear that the Bill will adversely affect the protection given to Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs) under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) by eliminating the requirement to seek consent from the gram sabha for diversion of land.

Alok Shukla of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan said, "The tribal and forest dwelling communities across the country have been fighting to protect their jal-jungle-zameen against corporate exploitation. The new Forest Conservation Amendment Bill is another attack on the legal and constitutional rights of adivasis guaranteed under the 5th Schedule, FRA and PESA Act. It is time that governments realised that forests are best conserved and protected by local communities that depend on them for their life, livelihood and identity."

Samiksha Acharya from Warrior Moms who staged a demonstration in Kolkata in West Bengal with young children said, “Kolkata is dealing with unprecedented heat waves and extreme weather conditions. With this new bill, mangrove forests, which act as a barrier to cyclones coming from the Bay of Bengal, are in danger of getting wiped out, threatening the future of our young ones.”

“It is estimated that 39,000 hectares of forests come under 'sacred groves' across India. They are protected and managed as forests by local communities even though they are not currently notified as forests. FCA Amendment Bill will decimate such lands across the 690 km Aravalli range spread over fours states," said Neelam Ahluwalia, Founder Member and Trustee of the Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement.

The Bill also proposes running zoos, safaris and eco-tourism facilities.

"...Protests will be organised in all the districts of Karnataka to send a clear message to the government to not pass this ecologically destructive bill,” stated Joseph Hoover, Managing Trustee of  Bengaluru-based United Conservation Movement, which works to protect the Western Ghats.

The Western Ghats are one of the eight biodiversity hotspots in the world. Hoover fears that if the Forest Conservation Amendment Bill 2023 is passed, landscape of the Western Ghats will be altered.

"Western Ghats have been ripped apart for linear hydro and mining projects. There is a disconcerting fear that nine lakh hectares of deemed forests could be lost to mining, allied industries, entertainment and eco-tourism hubs," he added.

People from Loliem village at the southern tip of Goa defended their forests from four proposed eco-tourism projects covering 40 lakh sq m, a film city, and other mega construction projects.

"People are determined to fight this amendment bill tooth and nail as we cannot let Goa's indigenous communities, amazing wildlife, scarce drinking water resources and a rich 12000-year-old civilization be destroyed,” said Farai Divan Patel, Ecologist and Environment Activist with Goa-based Save Mollem Team.

Tribals got together in Chinchwadi village of Maharshtra's Karjat district to demonstrate against the FCA Bill.

Locals lamented that Maharashtra is "struggling" with ground water depletion and rising urban heat effect each year.

"Let us not prioritise money and power over lives and sustainability. What is the point of having infrastructure when everything will get flooded and destroyed?” asked Hema Chari Madabhushi from the Area Sabha Association of Pune.

The ministry, in response to the concerns expressed by Opposition MPs, experts and activists, said that exemptions are meant for only “security related infrastructure in border areas” and the clause has been proposed in consultation with the Defence ministry, The Times Of India reported.

“We urge our parliamentarians not to go against the wishes of the people and save the future of youth in this democracy we call India,” said Disha Ravi, a volunteer with Fridays for Future India.

This youth group staged demonstrations in Lucknow, Goa and Bengaluru.