GUWAHATI, Dec 17 ? A new forest policy for the State was placed in the State Assembly today by the Government. The policy, titled ?Assam Forest Policy?, is formulated and adopted in view of the State ?progressively? losing its biodiversity as well as a vast expanse of forest due to various reasons, including excessive biotic pressures, said the policy document in its preamble.
The basic objectives, which will govern the forest policy, include maintenance of environmental stability through preservation and restoration of ecological balance. The document has also enumerated conservation of natural heritage of the State through preservation of natural forests and wetlands as another basic objective.
Checking denudation of forests and soil erosion in the catchments of the rivers and reservoirs for soil and water conservation also forms a basic objective of the policy. The document has also enumerated reduction of the fury of floods and droughts, recharging of water bodies, aquifers and arresting siltation of the reservoirs etc are also enumerated as the basic purposes of the policy.
It has also listed enhancement of forest cover in the denuded and degraded areas as a basic objective of the policy. The document also enumerated the aim to meet the bonafide livelihood needs of fuel wood, fodder, bamboo, canes, small timbers and other non-timber forest products (NTFPs) of the rural poor and the tribals as another basic purpose of the policy.
The document also mentioned demarcation of all forestlands for scientific management and encouragement to conservation of genetic resources and development of ?traditional ethic knowledge repository? of the State as the objectives of the policy.
To improve the forest cover it has laid emphasis on consolidation and preservation of the existing forest cover and to increase their productivity. It has also made a proclamation that the existing forest cover would be maintained and enriched in keeping with the developmental needs of the State.
This proclamation is based on the assertion that the size of the State?s total forest cover is 27,714 sq km, which is 35.33 per cent of the total geographical area of the State. The strategy envisioned by the policy document for the purpose of consolidating and preserving the existing forest cover is ? enrichment plantations in open forests and protection of natural regeneration through forest development agencies. This agency is described by the document as the confederation of Joint Forest Management Committees and Eco-Development Committees in the respective forest divisions.
For the management of State, autonomous council, community and private forests, it proclaims that activities interfering with forests clothing the steep slopes, river catchments, reservoirs and geologically unstable areas would be restricted. Tropical wet and moist forests would be cautiously and sustainably managed consistent with their roles in preserving the biodiversity and hydrological cycle and meeting livelihood needs of the people of the State, the document said.
It also affirmed that no forest would be permitted to be worked without a duly approved working/management plan. Besides, it maintains that the effects of forest management would be periodically measured with the help of set criteria and indication (C&I). The State would issue necessary guidelines to put in place a monitoring mechanism to regulate compliance of management/working plan prescription, it says.
It has also avowed that no exotic species would be introduced through public or private source unless long-term scientific trials by specialists in ecology, forestry, sociology and agriculture establish that these species are suitable. To make the joint forest management approach effective, the document says necessary provisions would be made in the working or management plans for facilitating participation of the people living in the fringe areas of the forests.
However, the joint forest management (JFM) should graduate to community forest management (CFM) and then to sustainable forest management (SFM). The Forest Department shall initiate steps to upgrade the JFM to SFM cell, the document says.
The management policy propounded by the document also states that the State Government should seek cooperation and involvement of the autonomous council authorities for evolving measures to avert the possibilities of adverse impacts on the vulnerable areas. Such cooperation and involvement should also be ensured in checking generation of adverse market forces and large-scale diversion of forest areas for non-forestry purposes, it says.
For protection of forests it suggests that State Government should identify the pre-1980 encroachers by any competent authority with a view to finding a solution to their land related problems. The encroachers who belong to the ethnic communities of the State and are traditionally and characteristically depending on forest would be motivated to join the forest protection activities as economic stakeholders, it says.
It proclaims that an action plan would be formulated for demarcation and consolidation of reserved forest boundaries by permanent measurers. The document also states among others, that grazing in forest areas would be regulated by raising awareness in the communities and with their active involvement.
For tackling the problem of shifting cultivation, it says that the integrated area development programme (IADP) would be the mainstay in this respect. It has also laid stress on management and exploitation of bamboo for sustainable use. For it says, bamboo is conceived as the thrust area in the industrial development of Assam and for the economic and ecological security of the people.
For the biodiversity management activities, the document propounds three basic goals-conservation, sustainable use and equity in conservation and use. The document has also laid emphasis on bio-cultural diversity conservation. Besides, it has also documented the State Governments desire to encourage wood-based industries wherever possible and also to create conducive atmosphere for and to assist development of eco-tourism.