14,668.96 Ha forest land recognised ‘against’ FRA provisions: TERI


* Gadchiroli, Gondia districts ‘highly vulnerable’ to climate change due to impacts of ‘wrong recognition’ of forest rights under Forest Rights Act, says TERI report
By Kartik Lokhande 
Though the previous Democratic Front (DF) Government blew its trumpet on effective recognition of rights under Forest Rights Act (FRA), a study by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has found that 14,668.96 hectares of forest land was recognised in Maharashtra ‘against’ the provisions of Forest Rights Act.
TERI has observed that ‘wrong recognition’ of rights under Forest Rights Act (FRA) has resulted in loss of forest cover as well as increased vulnerability of forest-dependent communities to adverse impact of climate change.
As per the study conducted by TERI, the forest-dependent communities became vulnerable to adverse impact of Green House Gases (GHG) emission for soil and water conservation, ecosystem services and access to forest produce ‘due to wrong recognition of rights under FRA’ especially in Gadchiroli and Gondia districts in Vidarbha region and Nandurbar and Jalgaon districts. In fact, on the basis of results of the study, TERI has recommended to Maharashtra Government to write to the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs seeking to ‘revisit’ the process of recognition of forest rights on 14,668 hectares area recognised ‘against’ the provisions of FRA.
TERI has undertaken ‘Study on Implementation of FRA and Climate Change Vulnerability of Forests and Forest Dwelling Communities in Maharashtra’, and submitted its final report to Maharashtra Government in September 2014. However, it got drowned in the fervour of Legislative Assembly elections. The study was conducted to bring out critical linkage between implementation of FRA especially for individuals’ rights and vulnerability of natural resources associated due to impacts of climate change. TERI concluded that remote sensing and GIS based analysis of rights recognised under FRA proved that ‘people had cleared forests and converted barren lands into agricultural lands.’


Published in The Hitavada CityLine on October 26, 2014

“At the state level, there is an evidence of deforestation leading to lost opportunity for carbon sequestration and thus, increasing the vulnerability of the people dependent on the forests,” it is observed in the study. The report states that a total of 10,960.13 hectares of forest land has been recognised as individual rights for cultivation under FRA, but this area was neither under cultivation on or before December 13, 2005, nor under cultivation on December 31, 2007 and later. Terming this recognition as ‘against’ the provisions of FRA, TERI observed that this forest land could be the potential for future carbon sequestration after afforestation and natural regeneration. “A total of 14,668.96 hectare forest land has been recognised against the provisions of FRA,” it added.
This 14,668.96 hectares of forest land include 1,748.45 hectares with tree cover that has been deforested and recognised as individual rights. In TERI’s observation, this caused loss of many ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, soil and water conservation, and non-timber forest produce. In the surveyed area of Gondia Forest Division, a report of Logicstacks Solutions suggested, there was decrease in water bodies by 50 per cent and increase in barren lands by 50 per cent between 2002 and 2011. TERI treated this as ‘indicative’ of increased vulnerability of forests and forest-dependent communities due to land use change, a result of wrong recognition of rights under FRA. At the same time, TERI stressed the need for taking up a state-level project with robust sampling design spread all over FRA implemented districts in the State, instead of only in above-mentione districts.

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