GUWAHATI, April 25 — The draft forest policy of the State has been prepared with an aim at tackling the issues concerning people’s need and conservation of forests. The State Government will examine the draft for preparing the forest policy in order to meet the challenges throw by the present situation on matters related to conservation of forests and sustainable development. Addressing a brief function held on the occasion of release of the draft policy at the Jawahar Nagar Guest House No 1 this morning, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said that the draft was prepared by an expert committee as a result of the State Government’s efforts to resolve the contradiction between developmental needs and forest conservation.
“We want to conserve our forests as the resource base for our development”, he said, expressing the hope that the State would be able to bring about a change in the present scenario concerning the forests with the implementation of a prudent forest policy, reminding every one present there of the situation that emerged during the State Government’s recent drive against the encroachers on forest land and the consequences of man-elephant conflict, among others. The gathering included senior forest and environment department officials, among others. State’s Minister of State (Independent) for Forest Pradyut Bardoloi said that the forest policy was sought to be so framed that this could ensure development of the poor people’s economy along side with proper conservation of forests.
Chairman of the expert committee Dr Anil Goswami and its member secretary Prabin Katoky also addressed the function. The eight-member expert committee was constituted on September 30, 2002, and the other members of the committee were – Dr Anowaruddin Chowdhury, Sri Bibhab Talukdar, Dr Padmeswar Gogoi, Sri DP Neog, Sri SK Sen and Dr PC Bhattacharjee. While preparing the draft, the expert committee consulted relevant documents from other States and also took into account the needs and views of other stockholders such as the local people, wood-based industries, NGOs, eminent naturalists etc. It also took into account the National Forest Policy and the draft North East Forest Policy.
The draft policy laid down maintenance of environmental stability through preservation and restoration of ecological balance wherever needed, conserving natural heritage of the State by preserving the remaining natural forests, checking soil erosion in catchment areas of rivers and reservoirs for soil and water conservation, increasing the forest/tree cover in forest deficient areas like chars and chapories, meeting bonafide livelihood needs of fuelwood, fodder, bamboo, cane, small timbers and other non-timber forest produces of the rural and tribal population with judicious evaluation of the carrying capacity of forests, creating a massive people’s movement to minimise pressure on existing forests, special measures to demarcate all forest lands, undertaking quality research work on forest conservation and its sustainable use, among, as the basic objectives of the State’s forest policy.
It also reminded that the principal aim of the forest policy should be to ensure progressive sustainable development of the State, which will be consistent with environmental stability and maintenance of ecological pressures, including atmospheric equilibrium vital for the sustenance of the life forms. On the issue of evolving a strategy to extend the forest cover as per the national goal to have a minimum of one-third of the total geographical area, it said that there was a need to spread the forest cover in addition to preserving the existing forests in the State. The State today has 23,688 sq km of its area under forest cover, which is 30.20 per cent of its total geographical area, the draft policy said.
Existing forest cover should be maintained and enriched, open forests should be restored back to dense forest through enrichment plantations and protection of natural regeneration with the involvement of forest development agencies, which are confederation of joint forest management committees and eco-development committees, it said, inter alia. On the issue of management of forests, it said among others, that the activities, which interfere with forests, steep slopes, river catchment, reservoirs and geologically unstable areas, should be restricted.
Besides, permission for activities within the forests should be granted in keeping with the National, NE and State forest policies, joint forest management practices should form the basis of forest management in the State and no exotic species should be introduced through public or private source without long-term scientific trials by the specialists, it said, among others. On the issue of encroachment on forest land, it said that the State Government should identify the pre-1980 encroachers for the purpose of regularising the ‘eligible category of encroachment’ as per a 1980 State Government decision. While suggesting an action plan, it said that proposals should be prepared to protect the rights of those inhabitants, whose interests were not looked into or settled at the time of constitution of the reserved forests.
Moreover, it also called for economic rehabilitation package for the genuine landless people who are encroaching upon forest lands due to their being compelled by natural calamities, with a view to settling them outside the reserved forests and also to allow them to take up forestry activities in the degraded forests through participatory approach. It also called for steps to evict the post-1980 encroachers from forest lands. The draft policy has also dealt with the issues of among others, shifting cultivation, management of bamboo and canes, conservation of non-timber forest produces, plant diversity, animal diversity, wildlife conservation, bio-cultural diversity conservation, afforestation, production of biomass, forest-based industries, eco-tourism, marketing, supply and utilisation of forest produces and non-timber forest produces, empowering the tribal population through integrated development and application of information technology into forestry.