The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 20th October 2021 has invited suggestions/comments from the stakeholders on the proposed amendments in Forest (Conservation) Act 1980.
The proposed amendments seek to restrict community access to forest resources while offering relaxations for commercial activities such as safaris, zoos, mining and other non-forest use on forest land.
The provisions of the existing Act are regulatory and not prohibitory. The Centre, however, feels there should be provisions in the Act for prohibiting non-forestry use of certain areas that require a higher degree of protection due to their uniqueness and high landscape integrated value. Policies and programmes towards the conservation, protection and development of the natural resources have witnessed transformational shift across the globe to cope up with the changing ecological, social and economic environment. In order to address such dynamic changes, Ministry is considering introducing an enabling provision in the Act to keep certain pristine forests showcasing rich ecological values intact for a specific period.
Further in order to ease the grievances of the private individuals whose lands come within the State specific Private Forests Act or coming within the purview of dictionary meaning of forest in terms of Supreme Court order dated 12.12.1996 and accordingly where FC Act is applicable now, it has been proposed to allow such owners for construction of structures for bonafide purposes including forest protection measures and residential unit upto an area of 250 sq mtr as one time relaxation.
The stakeholders can send their comments/suggestions on the consultation paper via email (fca-amendment@gov.in) by 1st November 2021.
