Rohini Chaturvedi

The @moefcc has notified The Green Credit Rules 2024 which asks the State Forest Departments to 'identify degraded land parcels, including open forest and scrub land, wasteland and catchment areas, under their administrative control and management, which shall be made available for tree plantation...' This rule is unscientific and completely ignores the ecological aspects of forests. Referring to open forests, scrub-land, and catchment areas as 'degraded' land parcels are vague and incentivising industrial-scale plantations in such areas will irreversibly alter soil quality, replace local biodiversity, and might be disastrous for local ecosystem services. A forest consists of many layers- forest floor (soil and small herbs), understory (shrubs and middle height plants) and canopy (tall trees), with the most important being the forest floor and understory, which provide resilience from surface runoff, maintain soil moisture, preserve seeds for regeneration of forests, and provide habitats for many animals including insects, reptiles, birds, herbivores, and carnivores. In fact the grasslands which are part of the forest floor play the most important role in carbon sequestration by storing one-third of terrestrial carbon stock with more than 90% of it in root and soil organic carbon. Why can't the Ministry identify degraded grasslands and scrub forests and undertake ecological restoration instead of focussing purely on tree plantations which can actually be alien to the local ecosystem? There are enough examples to show that the plantations undertaken by states in most dry areas have been ecologically disastrous, causing the extinction of local flora and fauna that have evolved over millions of years in particular biogeographic zones, and sometimes even escalating droughts and soil erosion. Furthermore, these plantations involve digging several meters deep trenches, which has caused the deaths of several wild animals like deer, apart from damaging the soil layer and disrupting the ecosystem's role. Also, I strongly recommend watching the discussion I hosted with ecorestoration scientist Dr. Faiyaz Khudsar, Scientist-In-Charge of Yamuna Biodiversity Park, last year on "Afforestation, Reforestation & Eco-Restoration in India". Let me quote him: "Not all brown is bad and not all green is good." The video is available here- vidhilegalpolicy.in/videos/t…