GUWAHATI, Dec 24 ? In what could be a boon to the fund-starved State Forest Department, moves are afoot to provide degraded areas of Assam for afforestation as part of the carbon trade programme under the Kyoto Protocol. At least, that is what senior forest department officials believe.
A typical Common Development Mechanism (CDM) plan might involve a US carbon-producing industry paying to conserve forests in India, which would absorb some of the excess carbon dioxide emitted in the United States. At present, such carbon trades are being promoted by the World Bank.
The perspective behind the carbon trading regime is to treat carbon as a commodity that carries a price for the producer, a price that could be offset by supporting forestry in other countries, or introducing green technology therein. The new concept has generated much debate in several areas of the world, especially in forest-rich countries like Brazil, Indonesia, and India.
Talking to this reporter, a senior official of the State Forest Department said carbon-trading could help sustain afforestation programme in Assam. He said, there is no hiding the fact that degradation has affected a considerable extent of forestland in Assam. According to his estimate at least 1,500 sq km of forest land is degraded; by degraded he meant areas which have forest cover of less than 40 per cent.
He also added that apart from this, there exists some 3,000 sq km of land that has been under encroachment, or degraded to an extent that cannot be ?revived.? The figures might be higher, because they are yet to be updated, and ?recent assessment is not yet complete.?
Another source in the Forest Department is of the opinion that if afforestation could be carried out in the degraded areas, not only would that be financially gainful, but the ecology of the areas would also gain a reprieve.
It is now being increasingly felt that degradation of forest has had a harmful effect on several species of wild flora and fauna. The most common concern arising out of the degradation of forest is the fallout on the quality of animal habitats. Degradation reduces the quality of the forest no less than soil condition, and ultimately has an adverse effect on all biotic forms.
Several recent phenomena like the increasing incidence of human-animal conflict, straying habits of animals, vulnerability to diseases, are being linked to degrading forests. Eventual afforestation would help redress such problems, it has been claimed.
In such a context, carbon trading has been cited as a means to earn revenue, so that it could be channelled to fund afforestation and conservation programmes. Those who favour the programme are of the belief that it could be a fruitful co-operation between developed and developing nations for achieving global environmental goals.
However, while acknowledging the need to afforest degraded areas, some conservation experts are doubtful of the Government initiative to make Assam a part of the Carbon-trade system in a hasty manner. An environmental educationist was candid in saying that the State Forest Department still do not possess specific data regarding the extent of degraded forest that could be afforested.
?Not all degraded areas could be afforested. Then one has to consider that afforestation requires careful selection of species, and the time needed for saplings to mature into trees.? He warned that one should not therefore rush into becoming a part of an international regime, without weighing the pros and cons beforehand.
What is significant is that even though there has been noticeable excitement in the Forest Department over the prospect of Assam coming across a source of much-needed funds, there appears to be a paucity of definite information regarding the regulatory regime that would oversee the trade.
First the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests would have to come up with the details, and only then the financial gains for the State would be known. Till then, there is a definite need to examine the mechanism that would connect degraded or newly afforested areas of the State to a global regime over which the shadow of the World Bank looms large.