Forest panel finds govt slipping on many fronts

Lack of political will, forestry institutions in disarray, a forest administration minus vision...these are some of the problems identified by the first ever National Forest Commission NFC headed by former Chief Justice of India Justice B.N. Kirpal, as plaguing the country8217;s forest conservation efforts.

Lack of political will, forestry institutions in disarray, a forest administration minus vision8230;these are some of the problems identified by the first ever National Forest Commission NFC headed by former Chief Justice of India Justice B.N. Kirpal, as plaguing the country8217;s forest conservation efforts.

Pointing out that the country had already lost 41 per cent of its forest cover, the exhaustive report submitted to the Prime Minister in March last called on the government to buck up if it wanted to achieve the set target of 8216;8216;25 tree cover by 2007 and 33 forest and tree cover by 20128217;8217;.

Among the committee8217;s recommendations is an ambitious plan for forest certification and initiation of a Project Bustard to save the great Indian Bustard with only 500 left in the world.

On the lack of political will, the NFC said, 8216;8216;8230;it would not be incorrect to say that in the previous two decades, this interest in, and thus, commitment to environmental conservation has been lacking in the country8217;s leadership, whatever may be the 8216;lip-service8217; given to its importance. With coalition governance likely to continue as the order of the day, there appears to be little likelihood of any upgradation in the priority accorded to nature and the environment8217;8217;.

Slamming the politics being played over the environment, it stated that populist politically expedient measures 8216;8216;which may get even more aggravated in the future for political reasons is, perhaps, the single greatest threat to forests, wildlife, wilderness and the environment.8217;8217;

The NFC also went into the functioning of the country8217;s premier forestry institutions, including Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education and Wildlife Institute of India, all based in Dehra Dun, and the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, only to find that while in some the faculty positions were not filled for years, others faced severe infrastructure shortage.

Even more distressing was the case of the state-level Forest Development Corporations FDCs. Pointing out that the objective and priority for which they were set up 8212; to cater to the needs of forest based industries 8212; had long been given up, the report said FDCs now exist only to 8216;8216;provide posts for senior staff.8217;8217;

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On the forest administration front too, the NFC noted more weaknesses than strengths. Forestry sector, it said, had no clear vision and goal. Lack of demarcation of forest boundaries, no link between research and field practice, lack of documentation yet to realise the potential of the IT revolution, inefficient subordinate staff and lack of coordination with people and government departments were some of the other things crippling forest administration, the report added.

The Commission also 8216;8216;endorsed8217;8217; the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force Report set up by the Prime Minister, but not before expressing its disagreement with certain aspects of it.

There was also some criticism reserved for the CBI, which according to the Commission 8216;8216;does not take wildlife crime as seriously as it should be.8217;8217;