NEW DELHI: If the environment ministry's draft proposal for 'inviolate forest areas' is accepted, large swathes of healthy forests, including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, tiger reserves and wildlife corridors, would be out of bounds for all miningactivities, and not just coal excavation.
The ministry's draft lists criteria for identifying forest patches where mining should be banned following the GoM on coal's decision to junk the no-go policy of the environment ministry. The GoM instead asked the ministry to delineate 'inviolate forest areas' based on a new set of norms.
A committee, under environment secretary Tishyarakshit Chatterjee, has submitted its draft report that looks to give the demarcation legal teeth by notifying inviolate patches under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Although initially promoted by the coal ministry and Coal India Limited, the no-go policy was attacked later by mining lobbies for lacking a legal mandate.
The norms proposed include forest cover, forestry type, biological richness and wildlife value of areas under review, hydrological and socio-economic benefits. These are tough criteria that can be difficult to overlook in grant of mining rights.
The formula and criteria recommended by the Chatterjee panel will mean that areas within 1 km of parks and sanctuaries and critical migratory corridors linking wildlife habitats would almost by default be regarded as inviolate.
The strong pro-environment criteria recommended by the committee takes more into consideration hydrological values of forests like whether green patches are catchment areas for rivers or feed wetlands. This will also command weight in demarcating the area not to be mined.
Areas located within direct draining catchment of streams utilized as water sources for projects would automatically be excluded. Boundary areas of important wetlands bigger than 10 hectares and storage reservoirs for irrigation, water supply or power projects too would be off limits.
The committee has recommended that in the first phase, the Forest Survey of India (FSI) mark areas on the basis of wildlife and forestry-related criteria. Then, state and central agencies along with the FSI collect and generate data on the three other parameters - hydrological, socio-economic and aesthetic values.
Once this exercise is complete, the ministry would notify areas under the Environment Protection Act after taking the views of state governments and other stakeholders, the panel has advised.
The ministry's draft lists criteria for identifying forest patches where mining should be banned following the GoM on coal's decision to junk the no-go policy of the environment ministry. The GoM instead asked the ministry to delineate 'inviolate forest areas' based on a new set of norms.
A committee, under environment secretary Tishyarakshit Chatterjee, has submitted its draft report that looks to give the demarcation legal teeth by notifying inviolate patches under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Although initially promoted by the coal ministry and Coal India Limited, the no-go policy was attacked later by mining lobbies for lacking a legal mandate.
The norms proposed include forest cover, forestry type, biological richness and wildlife value of areas under review, hydrological and socio-economic benefits. These are tough criteria that can be difficult to overlook in grant of mining rights.
The formula and criteria recommended by the Chatterjee panel will mean that areas within 1 km of parks and sanctuaries and critical migratory corridors linking wildlife habitats would almost by default be regarded as inviolate.
The strong pro-environment criteria recommended by the committee takes more into consideration hydrological values of forests like whether green patches are catchment areas for rivers or feed wetlands. This will also command weight in demarcating the area not to be mined.
Areas located within direct draining catchment of streams utilized as water sources for projects would automatically be excluded. Boundary areas of important wetlands bigger than 10 hectares and storage reservoirs for irrigation, water supply or power projects too would be off limits.
The committee has recommended that in the first phase, the Forest Survey of India (FSI) mark areas on the basis of wildlife and forestry-related criteria. Then, state and central agencies along with the FSI collect and generate data on the three other parameters - hydrological, socio-economic and aesthetic values.
Once this exercise is complete, the ministry would notify areas under the Environment Protection Act after taking the views of state governments and other stakeholders, the panel has advised.
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