AT a time when state
remains divided over the Athirappilly hydroelectric project over
environmental concerns, data shows that Kerala is among a few states in
the country where diversion of forest land for different development
projects remain considerably low.
According to
latest figures released by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change, only nine projects proposed in 10.8 hectares of forest
area in the state have been issued fresh clearance in the last two
years. Of this, stage-1 clearance to divert forest land was issued to
seven projects comprising an area of 3.91 hectares and stage-II
clearance for two projects in a total of 6.89 hectares.
The
data further reveals that 1,557 projects in 40,476.53 hectares were
issued stage-1 clearance in the entire country during the same period.
As many as 1,513 projects in 34,620.18 hectares also obtained stage-II
clearance.
Only one state and two union
territories - Goa (0.29 hectares), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (7.68
hectares) and Chandigarh (0.86 hectares) have diverted less forests in
the country than Kerala between April 2014 and April 2016. The state
which got the nod to divert forests most is Madhya Pradesh with a total
of 15106.86 hectares for 170 projects.
Compensatory afforestation
Apart from diverting less forests, Kerala is also among the states that carried out large scale compensatory afforestation.
Figures show that Kerala has done afforestation in a total of 58,578.4 hectares till March, 2015.
According
to officials, compensatory afforestation is one of the most important
conditions stipulated by the central government while approving
proposals for dereservation or diversion of forest land for non-forest
uses. Compensatory afforestation is mostly done over equivalent area of
non-forest land.
According to the latest report
of the Forest Survey of India, the total forest cover in Kerala stands
at 19,239 sq km, accounting for 49.50 per cent of the total geographical
area of the state.
This includes 1,523 sqkm of VDF, 9,301 sqkm of MDF and 8,415 sqkm of Open Forest.
Though
the total forest cover has gone up, there was a decrease of 6 q km of
VDF and 100 sq km of MDF. Meanwhile, Open Forest has increased by 1,423
sqkm during the period.
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