The Lok Sabha passed the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023, on July 26, with no substantive changes from the original version introduced in March. It ignores strong public objections that highlighted a number of concerns. The Bill commences with a promising Preamble, expressing a commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2070, creating a carbon sink, increasing forest cover, and improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. However, the operative part of the Bill shows little connect with the Preamble. Instead, it excludes entire categories of forest from the ambit of the law and, ironically, even facilitates the destruction of forests.
The problem areas
The Forest Conservation Act of 1980, which this Bill aims to amend, admittedly and justifiably adopted a rather protectionist stance which made forest clearances time consuming and costly to obtain. While current development needs and priorities must be recognised, this Bill deviates in a significant manner from the spirit of the original law. Three points that emerge from the Bill have caused considerable consternation among environmental experts: the narrowed definition of forests under its scope; the exclusion of significant tracts of forest areas; and the granting of sanction to additional activities that were regulated earlier. These need to be better explained.
