After controversies ran the SEZ policy into the ground, the government is planning "forest SEZs". In a move couched in politically correct jargon - "multi-stakeholder partnership" - the government intends to give degraded forest land to industry to produce raw material like paper pulp.
The environment ministry proposal will contract government-owned forest lands for growing plantations. Called "multi-stakeholder partnership for degraded forest lands", the proposal has been shared with key ministries and a review of the proposition along with other ideas for increasing forest cover is expected soon.
The government intends to invite bids for degraded forest land, areas with a tree cover of less than 10%, under a contract to industries to "farm" trees which can be used as raw material. The proposal has been framed in the backdrop of hectic lobbying by the paper pulp industry which has been seeking to access forest lands.
On previous occasions, industry has requested the government to open up 1.2 million hectares of degraded forest land to such "partnerships". On the face of it, the proposal has been presented as a win-win deal. The ministry believes it will help generate investment in increasing India's forest cover to 33% by 2012. The industry is looking at an assured source of raw material. Those who live off the land are expected to benefit from being employed as labour by industry and whatever else they can negotiate with the industry.
At present, 80% of virgin wood for the paper pulp industry comes from private growers through open market sale. The proposal entails private companies to bid for forest or community land, after acceptance by the gram panchayat in case of the latter. The forest department will assess the proposals for technical and economic feasibility. If there is an on-going joint forest management (JFM) programme - where villagers harvest forest products for a livelihood - then they are expected to negotiate terms with industry.
"We think these JFMs are now politically mature enough to negotiate with these industries," said a senior ministry official. The test of this "maturity" has not been defined as yet. The industry will have the right to buy off traditional rights of fodder and other forest produce from people if it can negotiate with the gram sabha or JFM committees.
This reduces the government's role in transfer of forest land, something which has been bitterly criticised in the proposed SEZ policy now being studied by a GoM. While an earlier draft of the multi-stakeholder proposal suggested a cap on the size of land as well as an upper time limit for plantations, the current proposals does not have any cut-offs.
A senior official said duration and size would be negotiated for each proposal on a "case-to-case basis". The original draft, prepared by the Indian Institute of Forestry Management (IIFM), Bhopal, also gave the first right of refusal to work on contracted lands to villagers who had traditional rights over forests.
A similar proposal was mooted in 1996. At the time, government had suggested direct leasing of forest land to industry but the Planning Commission had pointed out that this was equivalent to giving subsidy to business at the cost of thousands of poor people dependent on forests.
The obvious concern that the market for lakhs of tree-growing farmers, who have undertaken agro-forestry, would crash as industry got subsidised and assured timber stirred sections of civil society into an agitation, forcing the government to drop the idea.
The current proposal has come up after the Confederation of Indian Industry brought out a report attempting to rubbish the 1996 Planning Commission report and looked to rework the proposal to deflect criticism. After thegovernment worked with CII and asked IIFM, Bhopal, to prepare a draft, it has been further fine-tuned.
‘Forest SEZs’ on degraded forest lands
‘Forest SEZs’ on degraded forest lands
The Ministry of Environment and Forests proposes to invite bids for areas with a tree cover of less than 10% under contract to the paper industry to ‘farm’ trees for paper pulp. It calls the plan a ‘multi-stakeholder partnership for degraded forest lands’
The SEZ controversy remains unresolved but the Indian government now plans to allow the paper industry to use degraded forest land to plant trees for its main raw material, paper pulp.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) proposes to invite bids for areas with a tree cover of less than 10%, under contract to the industry to ‘farm’ trees to produce paper pulp.
But the ministry is fighting shy of using the dreaded term Special Economic Zone, choosing instead to call the plan ‘multi-stakeholder partnership for degraded forest lands’.
It believes these forest SEZs will help generate investment in increasing India’s forest cover to 33% by 2012. And, while the paper manufacturing industry is looking at an assured source of raw material, the MoEF says those who live off the land will benefit from being employed as labour by the industry and whatever other benefits they can negotiate.
The forest department will assess proposals for their technical and economic feasibility. If there is an on-going Joint Forest Management (JFM) programme -- where villagers harvest forest produce for a livelihood -- then they are expected to negotiate terms with the concerned business.
Industry will have the right to buy off traditional rights to fodder and other forest produce from people if it can negotiate with the gram sabha or JFM committee. This reduces the government’s role in transfer of forest land, an aspect of the SEZ proposal -- currently under review -- that has evoked scathing criticism.
Reacting to the move, a senior ministry official said: “We think these forest management programmes are now politically mature enough to negotiate with these industries.” How this “maturity” is measured has not been specified.
While an earlier draft of the multi-stakeholder proposal prepared by the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, suggested a cap on the size of land as well as an upper time limit for plantations, the current proposal does not impose such limitations.
A senior official said duration and size would be negotiated for each proposal on a “case-by-case basis”. The original draft also gave first right of refusal to work on contracted land to villagers.
Sources say the current proposal was framed after hectic lobbying by the industry that has been seeking access to forest lands. On previous occasions, industry has requested the government to open up 1.2 million hectares of degraded forest land for such “partnerships”.
A similar proposal was floated in 1996, where the government suggested direct leasing of forest land to industry. However, the Planning Commission of India rightly pointed out that this amounted to subsidising business at the cost of thousands of poor who were dependent on the forests.
The obvious concern that the market for thousands of tree-growing farmers who have undertaken agro-forestry would crash with the supply of timber stirred an agitation, forcing the government to drop its plan.
The current proposal was mooted after the Confederation of Indian Industry brought out a report attempting to debunk the 1996 Planning Commission report.
At present, 80% of virgin wood for the paper pulp industry comes from private growers through open market sale. This proposal allows private companies to bid for forest or community land, after the idea has been accepted by the gram panchayat.
Source:www.googlenews.com, May 21, 2007
www.yahoonews.com, May 21, 2007
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