Knowledge Nugget: What UPSC aspirants must know about ‘CAMPA’ and compensatory afforestation

Why in the news?

A recent audit report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the functioning of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) in the 2019-2022 period has flagged that the funds allocated for compensatory afforestation were diverted for other activities by Uttarakhand’s forest divisions.

As per CAMPA guidelines, after receiving funds, afforestation should be conducted within a year, or two growing seasons. However, the report flagged that in 37 cases, compensatory afforestation was executed after more than eight years of getting final clearance.

Key Takeaways:

1. The simple principle that works in compensatory afforestation is that since forests are an important natural resource and render a variety of ecological services, they must not be destroyed. However, because of developmental or industrial requirements, forests are routinely cut, or, as it is said in official language, “diverted for non-forest purposes”.

2. But since afforested land does not become a forest overnight, there is still a loss of the goods and services that the diverted forest would have provided in the interim period. These goods and services include timber, bamboo, fuelwood, carbon sequestration, soil conservation, water recharge, and seed dispersal. Afforested land is expected to take no less than 50 years to start delivering comparable goods and services. To compensate for the loss in the interim, the law requires that the Net Present Value (NPV) of the diverted forest is calculated for a period of 50 years, and recovered from the “user agency” that is “diverting” the forests.

3. “User agencies”, which are often private parties, are not expected to undertake afforestation work themselves. This work has to be done by the state government. But the entire expenditure to be incurred on creating this new ‘forest’, including purchase of land for the purpose, has to be borne by the user. The state government eventually has to transfer this land to the forest department for maintenance and management.

4. Thus, if any user agency wants to divert forest land for non-forest purposes, it has to deposit money for compensatory afforestation as well as pay the NPV, besides a few other charges.

5. CAMPA is set up to manage this money. The compensatory afforestation money and NPV are supposed to be collected from the user agency by the government of the state in which the project is located, and deposited with the central government. The money will eventually flow back to the state to be used for afforestation or related works.

6. The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act 2016 created a national CAMPA at the central government level, and a state CAMPA in each state and UT. Similarly, a National Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF), and one in each state and UT too are also constituted.

7. However, the concept of compensatory afforestation has existed since the 1980s, as an offshoot of the Forest Conservation Act of 1980, which made it mandatory for project developers to seek ‘clearance’ from the Environment Ministry for any diversion of forest land. The practice got institutionalised through the Supreme Court orders and observations during the hearings of the famous Godavarman case in the 1990s and 2000s.

8. The states deposit money collected from user agencies with the national CAF, to be eventually credited into state CAFs as per their entitlement. The states, however, receive only 90% of their share; the other 10%  are held back to cover administrative expenses.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Forest Rights Act, 2006

Under the 2006 Act, the claims are prepared by the village-level Forest Rights Committee (FRC) and then submitted to the Gram Sabha.

1. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 empowered tribal and forest-dwelling communities by recognising their historical rights over forest land and forest resources.

2. According to the Ministry of Tribal Affairs website, the FRA encompasses Rights of Self-cultivation and Habitation which are usually regarded as Individual rights; and Community Rights as Grazing, Fishing and access to Water bodies in forests, Habitat Rights for PVTGs, and right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resource for sustainable use. It also provides rights to the allocation of forest land for developmental purposes to fulfill the basic infrastructural needs of the community.

3. The Act provides that the Gram Sabha and rights holders have the responsibility of the conservation and protection of bio-diversity, wildlife, forests, adjoining catchment areas, water sources, and other ecologically sensitive areas as well as to stop any destructive practices affecting these resources or cultural and natural heritage of the tribals. The Act empowers the Gram Sabha by enabling the tribal population to have a decisive say in the determination of local policies and schemes impacting them.

(Source: CAMPA: The manager of afforestation funds, ministry of tribal affairs,Forest Rights Act)

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