Carbon Copy A freshly passed amendment to the Forest Conservation Act has created a stir among ecologists, parliamentarians and stakeholders. With several contentious provisions, the amendment reveals an afforestation push where rights and justice take a backseat to commercial interests. This week, amidst a raucous monsoon session, the Indian Parliament saw the passage of several consequential pieces of legislation in quick succession. Among them was the contentious amendment to the Forest Conservation...

The recently concluded Parliament session saw the passage of the highly controversial “Forest Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023” amid wide protests and without much discussion. The bill is aimed to amend the erstwhile Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Among the changes suggested, the below preamble was inserted into the act, and the “Forest (Conservation) Act” is substituted by “Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam” in the principal Act. While the Environment Ministry claims that...

-India.Mongabay.com * The allocation of lands for new commercial coal mines is likely to renew issues related to the creation of land banks in Jharkhand. * Common lands that people use have been transferred to land banks over the years, and physical surveys to record actual rights aren’t complete yet. * Lack of effective implementation of the Forest Rights Act 2006 on forest land (also part of land banks) has been a major...

-The Hindu For public pressure to drive climate action, we need to consider climate catastrophes as largely man-made In the absence of COVID-19, climate change-induced disasters would have been India’s biggest red alert in recent years. The heatwave that scorched Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and New Delhi this year; torrential downpours in south India in 2021; and the super cyclone Amphan that battered West Bengal and Odisha in 2020 are symbols of...

-Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Delhi The report Regulating Urban Trees in India: Issues and Challenges by Kanchi Kohli and Manju Menon (published in July, 2022), highlights the scope and functions of a dozen tree laws implemented in different states in India. The implementation of these laws has come to public focus in recent years due to the growing number of cases of large-scale tree felling in Indian cities. The government use of mechanisms...