Term paper
Submitted
by
K.K. Tripathi
DFO Khunti Forest Division Khunti
Jharkhand
Participant MCT Programme Phase
IV (7th course)
1
REDD+ and SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT
Kamala Kant Tripathi
Divisional Forest Officer
Khunti Forest Division, Khunti
Jharkhand
Email: - dfokhunti@gmail.com
KEYWORD:Emission, Sustainability, GHG, Carbon Sink, Carbon war house, reservoir,
Dust filter,
Sustainable Forest Management, carrying capacity, JFM, capacity-
building, Forest Certification, Community Forest Resource (CFR)
INTRODUCTION:Global warming and climate change is major cause of concern of today at
National and International level. The Emission of Green House Gases (GHG) in
atmosphere has reached alarming stage which Forces and Compels the nation to
think upon and go ahead with some remedial measures and REDD+ has emerged
as one of its kind.
REDD+ is a financial instrument to incentivize conservation and sustainable
forest management and thereby reducing missions resulting from deforestation
and forest degradation. REDD+ in its earlier version as RED (reducing
emissions from deforestation) with further elaboration and expansion to include
forest degradation along with deforestation came into being in cop 13
in 2007,
and subsequently REDD+ was evolved from REDD to expand the scope of this
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compensatory financial instrument further to accommodate the concerns of
diverse stakeholders. REDD+ goes beyond merely checking deforestation, forest
degradation, and enhancement of forest carbon stock, it includes reforestation,
sustainable management of forest and biodiversity conservation, improving
livelihood for local communities and food security into the scope of this
compensatory framework .
India’s current forest and tree cover is estimated to be 78.29 million hectare,
constituting 23.81 per cent of the geographical area of country (forest survey of
India 2011) forest cover alone amounts to 69.06 million hectare against the
recorded forest area of 76.95 million hectare. Of the total forest cover, 12.6 per
cent is very dense forest (crown density more than 70 per cent), 46.35 per cent is
moderately dense forest (canopy density 40 to 70 per cent ) , and the remaining
41.95 per cent is open forest having crown density 10 per cent to 40 per cent.
The enactment of proactive forest conservation policies and changes in
management approaches from timber to forest ecosystem
and people’s
participation in conservation and management of forest have curbed
deforestation, and promoted conservation and sustainable management of forest.
However, forest degradation is quite evident from low level growing stock and
declining trend of dense forest. Improving the quality of forest cover is a major
concern of today. The factors affecting forest degradation in India include the
following:
-
Critical livelihood- Forest linkage of a huge forest-depended population
-
Over grazing, illegal felling, forest fires, diversion of forest land for non
forest uses
-
Unsustainable harvest of fodder, fuel wood and minor forest produce
The role of local communities is vital in not only addressing the drivers of
forest degradation but also in enhancing carbon stock through conservation,
protection and reforestation. The carbon stock
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of Indian forest in 2004 was
estimated by FSI to be 6663 mt (FSI 2012). Carbon stock in India’s forest has
increased by 592 mt from between 1994 and 2004, but it can be increased
significantly through involvement of local communities.
Forest is considered to be carbon-sink and reservoir, green lungs and dust
filter and so through REDD+ mechanism and sustainable forest management,
forest carbon stock needs to be enhanced more and more in time to come.
DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF REDD+ ACTIVITIES
REDD+ helps in conserving, maintaining and enhancing ecological services
and contributes to the socio-economic development of forest depended
communities, and so provision have to be made to deliver on finance, to support
eligible project, Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) mechanism.
REDD+ is a financial instrument to incentivize avoided deforestation and
degradation of forest, conservation and sustainable management of forest with a
view to reduce GHG emissions and enhance forest carbon stock. It aims at
compensating forest owners in developing countries for conserving forest by
assigning a value of forest carbon stock. The notion of REDD+ is based on two
basic premises. Firstly, countries conserving forest forego the economic gain
from harvesting them and benefits from alternative land use, and hence needs to
be compensated for the same. Secondly, cost involved in conservation and
sustainable management of forest need to be shared by developed countries, as
forests provide global ecosystem services. Given livelihood linkage of forest in
many of developed countries like India where forest supports livelihood of
approximately 200 million people in India, forest conservation imposes several
direct and indirect costs. Hence, any financial mechanism to compensate some of
these costs by developed countries would encourage sustainable management of
forest. But financing REDD+ has remained
one of the bottlenecks because of
the huge uncertainty involving the mechanisms for its operation. However, since
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cop-11 in 2005, it has been recognised that developed countries should give
financial support to
developing
countries in implementation of REDD+
activities in Global interest. At the same time developing countries should look
for its own financial resources too for implementation of REDD+ activities.
Voluntary markets have been predominant sources of finance for the forestry
sector. The compliance market is restricted to afforestation, reforestation under
CDM and it is not clear if it would be a part of the future REDD+ mechanisms.
India is of view that there should be a flexible combination of market based and
non market based approaches for providing positive incentives for the two types
of carbon stock under REDD+ regime-: (a) change in carbon stock that includes
incremental carbon stock and reduced deforestation, and (b) baseline carbon
stock. The market based approaches that would be developed for incentivizing
removals and emission reduction to be separate from the CDM market and
conservation of forest carbon stock could be incentivized through non market
based mechanisms.
MONITORING, REPORTING AND VERIFICATION (MRV)
One of the critical methodological issues for REDD+ implementation is
fixing the reference
baselines for emission measurements and modalities for
MRV. Some countries argue for a historical baseline whereas other advocate
using global baseline
India is of the view that the Reference Level (RL)/ Reference Emission Level
(REL) need to be fixed in an open and transparent manner following the
procedure agreed by the parties for the purpose.
India’s National Forest Policy, 1988 led to a design of JFM programme
following a circular issued by MoEF in 1990. It emphasized that state
governments involve local bodies that village level forest committees who would
get a predetermined share from the forest produce. As a result, the states have
issued JFM resolutions and people’s participation became central to sustainable
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forest management (SFM). Therefore, in the absence of an agreed RL/ REL at the
International level, the year1990 , can be adopted as the baseline year for
REDD+.
In addition to the above issues , implementation of REDD+ faces a host of
operational challenges particularly on additionality of measuring carbon stocks,
assessing system leakage so that the avoided deforestation in one area is not
displaced to another, and ensuring permanence of carbon storage even after the
REDD+ project period has ended. So, MRV would entail monitoring not only the
project period and the project site , but continued monitoring over and extended
period to ensure permanence and assess the degree of leakage if any.
In India, it is particularly difficult to curb forest degradation due to
widespread immense poverty and overwhelming dependence of local
communities on forest for subsistence and livelihoods. MRV of forest
degradation presents much greater challenges in terms of technical and cost
implication as evaluating carbon emissions from degradation would require
extensive on site monitoring as remote sensing has its limitations. Although India
is having an established system of monitoring SFM activities by means of eight
criteria and forty-three indicators developed under the Bhopal-India process
(1998), new technique and methods need to evolve for measuring aspect such as
leakage and additionality of forest carbon stock.
INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK :The REDD+ architecture at the international level recognizes the sovereign
rights of nation to design and implement nationally appropriate policies and
measures. The institutional mechanism at the International level will incentivize
measurable actions on REDD+ that are in accordance with the objective of the
framework convention on climate change. The National REDD+ cell set up at the
Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) will play the key role in the design
and implementation of REDD+ astrategies at national level. The National
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REDD+ cell will coordinate and guide REDD+ related actions at national level
and engage with the State Forest Department to collect, process and manage all
relevant information and data relating to forest carbon accounting and will also
help in identify REDD+ opportunities in the State and work with State Forest
Department for REDD+ project development.
State REDD+ cell could be set up in State Forest Department and its
functions primarily include overseeing the project preparation and its
implementation by JFMCs or Village Forest Protection Committees (VFPCs).
Projects will design in compliance with national guidelines and would be
submitted to the National REDD+ cell for financing. In addition, the State
REDD+ cell shall organize training and capacity building seminars and
workshops for officials of the State Forest Department and village level
institutions through forest divisions which will be the main implementing
agencies for REDD+ programme on the ground.
The village level forest governance unit shall be responsible for REDD+
project formulation. The JFMCs and VFPCs could directly be involved in the
implementation of REDD+ project under the technical guidance of DFO. The
gram sabha will be the centric body to constitute the JFMCs for conservation,
protection and management of forest, with benefit sharing from forest on the
principles of sustainable harvests as laid down in the management plan of the
respective area within their jurisdiction. The state forest department will provide
technical assistance, knowhow and guidance to the Gram Sabha and also monitor
implementation of the management plan.
Monitoring of REDD+ project shall be done by the National REDD+ with the
state REDD+ cell. MRV will be carried out by independent expert not involved
in any of the process of preparing the forest carbon stock inventory involving
local forest dependent communities, civil society and other interested entities and
stakeholders, who would be trained by FSI and forest department on
technological, methodological policy, and financial aspect of MRV processes
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and procedures. MoEF may designate centres of excellence to support both
national and state REDD+ cell. These centres of Excellence will provide capacity
building support and perform other facilitating function as required.
FOREST MANAGEMENT:The scientific management of forest in India that dates back to 1864. Under
the then prevailing socio-economic and technical situation, forests were viewed
predominantly as revenue generating resource for meeting demand of timber for
expansion of railways, shipping and building and other infrastructures. As a
result, more emphasis was laid on harvesting of timber from forest on a
commercial basis. However, the 1988 National Forest Policy brought in a major
shift and enunciated that the principal aim of forest policy was to ensure
environmental stability and maintenance of ecological balance.
SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT, WHY?
Increased pressure on forest resources of the country over the last few
decades has threatened the livelihood of millions of forest dwellers and other
poor people living in the vicinity of the forest. Forest resources are natural
resource providing multiple benefits to people besides other important functions
such as biodiversity conservation, Global carbon storage and a war house for
future option values. The rich and poor alike are dependent on forest resources,
directly or indirectly. The pressure on existing forest resources is immense in
India. Having only 2.5 per cent of the world’s geographical area and 1.8 per cent
of world’s forest area, India has 17 per cent of the world’s population and 18
per cent of livestock population. In this context, it is imperative to preserve and
conserve the forests and manage them sustainably, so as to ensure secure
livelihoods of the forest dependent communities and conserving biodiversity and
ecological value.
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Moreover, India’s huge population contributes to large demand base of the
forest product. With limited forest cover, the supply of forest products does not
match the demand and hence there is a substantive gape (viz table I, II and III)
these gap often drives the over exploitation of the forest.
Demand and supply gap of various forest product (Aggarwal et al, 2009)
Table 1.
Forest Product
Demand (MT)
Supply (MT)
Gab (MT)
Firewood
228
128
100
Fodder
1594
741
853
Timber
55
41
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The IFSR 2011 made a comprehensive estimation of consumption of woods
by commercial and household sector for various purposes and production
potential of wood from forest sources and from tree outside forest.
Consumption and Production of Forest products (FSI 2011)
Table II.
Forest Product
Consumption
Production
Wood (mcubic)
48.0
45.95
Fire hood (million tons)
58.47
19.254
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Forest cover and dependence on firewood
(census of India 2011; # India State of Forest Report 2011)
Table III
Name of the State
Percentage of households
Percentage of Total
using Firewood for
Geographical Area of the
Cooking*
State under Forest Cover#
Chhattisgarh
80.8
41.18
Tripura
80.5
76.07
Meghalaya
79
77.02
Nagaland
77.9
80.33
Assam
72.1
35.28
Arunachal Pradesh
68.7
80.50
Madhya Pradesh
66.4
25.21
Manipur
65.7
76.54
Odisha
65
31.41
Kerala
61.9
44.52
Jharkhand
57.6
28.82
The total annual consumption of wood in constructions and furniture-both in
commercial and household sector-as well as for agricultural implements are
estimated to be 48.0 million cubic meters in Round Wood Equivalent (RWE).
However, the total productions of timber stands at 45.95 million cubic meters,
showing a gap of 2.05 million cubic meters annually (FSI, 2011). Of the total
production of 45.95 m cum, the production of timber from forests are estimated
to be 3.175 m cum whereas the annual potential production of timber from tress
outside forest (TOF) is estimated to be 42.774 m3.
Firewood constitutes the major source of cooking energy in India and more
than 853 million people use firewood for cooking in India (FSI, 2011). As per the
2011 census, 49 per cent2 of the households in the country use firewood for
cooking. In some states, it is as high as 80 per cent. The forest rich states have
higher incidence of firewood use for cooking. This trend is evident from Table10
III, which shows the forest cover of the states with higher incidences of firewood
use. As the total annual volume of firewood use is concerned, it is estimated to be
216.421 million tonnes and of which 58.47 million tonnes (27.14 per cent) are
sourced from forests (see Table II). There have been to no estimates for the
volume of firewood availability from forests and the annual availability of
firewood form TOF is estimated to be 19.25 million tonnes.
India’s total fodder consuming livestock population as per the 2007 Livestock
census is estimated to be 518.6 million. Of these 199.6 millions of livestock,
depend, partially or fully on forest for fodder (IFSR, 2011).
In such situation huge gap of demand and supply of forest products and
immense population presser on forest, it requires sustainable management of
forest so as to arrest degradation of forest due to over pressure and over
exploitation of forest products.
ALTERNATIVE LIVELIHOODS AND MEANS TO CONTAIN FOREST
PRESSURE AND FOREST DEGRADATION
The governments implement a series of rural development activities to
generate employment for the rural poor in these forested regions and alleviate
poverty. MNREGA, which ensures 100 days of employment to all poor adult
population in the country, is a significant step in this regard. The effective
implementation of these programmes among forest dependent communities will
reduce the dependence of the local communities on forests. MNREGA, needs to
be made more liberal as to its implementation in field. The necessity of job card
holders, account payment, resident within 5 km. and the barrier of 100 days
employment to engage in the work should be liberalized and lifted out to generate
more and more wages and to make this programme more and more attractive and
effective to get opportunity to work. Moreover, there is always disparity in
MNREGA, wage rate and state wage rate – state wage rate is higher than that of
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MNREGA. This gap should be bridged and revised in time and should be made
at par at least if not more.
Provision of education to the local children and other skill development
trainings to youth enables these forest dependent populations to diversify their
livelihood options and look beyond forest as their source of income.
Provision of infrastructure and support for improved agricultural practices as
well as other natural resource based activities like apiculture, sericulture, lac
cultivation would ensure better income to these poor households.
Forests provide a range of marketable NTFPs like fruits, flowers, berries,
tubers, resins, honey, leaves, creepers etc. that has great nutritional, medicinal,
and other use values. However, many of these products fetches a good price in
cities and markets but the collectors (the forest dependent) sale these to the
intermediaries at abysmally lower prices. The support for marketing and value
addition by creating processing facilities would not only enhance the income but
also the employment opportunities in these hinterlands.
The use of alternative means of fuel energy, house building materials and
agriculture implements viz cooking gas, coal, plastic, fibre, steel, bamboo etc.
should be encouraged. The people should be instigated for stall feeding. In place
of timber people should be made aware to use bamboo to meet their house hold
requirement and agriculture implements.
FOREST MANAGEMENT: - POLICIES, RULES AND REGULATIONS
Since 1864, Indian forests have been managed scientifically on the principle
of sustained yield of timber. A number of policies, legal and administrative
measures were introduced over the years keeping pace with changing socioeconomic condition and the recognition of the role of forest. The first National
Forest Policy came in 1894 which was subsequently revised in 1952 and further
in 1988. Policies changed from revenue orientation to forest conservation and
people participation was sought for the first time in 1988, Forest Policy. In the
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same way with a view to forest conservation IFA 1927, with state specific
amendments in some state and rules made there under, Wildlife Protection Act.
1972, Forest Conservation Act.
1980 Environmental Protection Act. 1986,
Biodiversity Act. 2002, and Forest Right Act. 2006 and rules 2008 are in force
for conservation and management of forest and to maintain ecological balance.
The intricate relationship between local communities and forest, based on the
principle of coexistence, is integral to the conservation and sustainability of
ecosystems. The people living in and around forest have been dependent on
forest for their subsistence and livelihood and have traditionally played a
significant role in conservation of forest. The National Forest Policy 1988
recognized the symbiotic relationship between the tribal people and forest and
advocated association of communities living in vicinity of forest towards
protection, conservation and development of forest .
Joint Forest Management (JFM) was started in 1990 based on the principle of
care and share and has taken roots in country with over one lac JFMCs covering
more than 20 million ha of forest. The state like Jharkhand has passed Resolution
under JFM to give 90 per cent of sale proceeds of timber to the concerned JFMC
and hundred per cent in case of Eco-development committee (EDC) meant for
PAs. But, sorry plight is that it has not come in force till date in its true spirit. So,
there is a need to strengthen the power and responsibilities of the JFMCs. Most of
JFMCs are in dormant state which need to be activated and the involvement of
JFMCs and people living in and around the forest in protection and management
of forest should be ensured.
The forest in India has been managed scientifically since dates back 1864.
India is having working plan for conservation and management of forest. But
today it is pitiable situation that most of the states have no updated and revised
working plan for a number of forest divisions or districts. Not only that even
those working plan which has been updated and revised that has been prepared
using traditional methodology and emphasis is given on growing stock, that is
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timber production only having no focus on NTFP/MFP and ecological values.
Under the norms and guidelines of MoEF, government of India, growing stock
and other data base should be prepared using GIS, GPS and DGPS and in
addition to growing stock/ timber production assessment, emphasis must be given
on NTFP and ecological values. So, in preparation of working plan norms and
guidelines of government of India must be taken into account with a view of
conservation and management of forest on sustained basis and in broader aspect.
More over , under the umbrella of macro working plan, a village level micro plan
for sustainable forest management and conservation of forest should be prepared
and such provision should be made under macro working plan it self as well as
under JFM regulations and that should be made mandatory. For preparation of
micro working plan at village level, technical assistance/know how and
knowledge will be provided by local forest department and so much so the forest
should be conserved and managed in true spirit of such micro plan under the
umbrella of macro working plan involving local communities.
Forest Right Act. 2006 and Rule2008 has come into force since last 3 to 4
years. This very Act. is the first Act. enacted in independent India that has
addressed the question of community ownership of MFP and rights and
management, governance of forest at the legislative level. The FRA, 2006 has
been implemented in India with the help of rules framed there under . Till now
more than 1.23 million titles are held by individual except 8498 community
rights, (MOTA 2012). The implementation of FRA 2006 is slow with respect to
recognition of other rights such as community rights, and the rights to protect,
regenerate and conserve community forest resource. The enactment of this Act,
broadened the scope of cooperation between JFMCs and Gram Sabha by putting
JFMC under Gram Sabha with the ownership of MFP and right to protect,
regenerate and conserve community forest resource (MoEF 2006). JFMCs and
the Gram Sabha have over lapping control on forest. The Gram Sabhas do not
have a legal tool to protect forest. So FRA authorizes them to take assistance
14
under IFA 1927 and State Forest Act. FRA provides a statutory procedure to
recognize community forest resource (CFR) and community forest rights.
Equally important are the roles framed
for implementation of FRA which
provide a statutory bases for protection of CFR and other forest produce. Section5 of FRA empowers Gram Sabha and local community to protect, regenerate and
conserve CFR. But, the roles framed for implementation of FRA lack the
mechanism of community based forest governance as mandated in the legislation.
Right, powers and responsibility given to local community on such scales must
be accompanied by clear rules and mechanism for sustainable harvesting of MFP,
requirement of democratic fair forest governance within the Gram Sabha and its
accountability for non-performance (MoEF 2007). First and foremost thing is
that Gram Sabha and local community should be made aware of their right and
responsibilities in the context of FRA and for this sub division level and District
level committees constituted under this Act. should come forward and if needed
some ideal NGOs be involved for awareness.
India has a vast biological diversity in the context of forest resources having
ten biodiversity/ bio-geographical zones and within the zone itself there is
diversity. So there is diversity in diversity. India is one of 17 mega-diverse
countries as identified by conservation International, and has four biodiversity
hotspots. India contains 668 PAs comprising of wildlife sanctuary, National park,
Tiger reserve, Elephants reserve, Community reserve and biosphere reserve. At
the same time in India, a large population is dependent on forest for their
livelihoods. Thus, in context of REDD+ , the scope of biodiversity is not
restricted to species diversity and population, but also encompasses the strong
dependence of local communities on the ecosystem services for subsistence and
livelihood purposes. As the definition of REDD+ suggests, the regime provides
an opportunity for not only carbon oriented management of natural resources but
also the scope to develop biodiversity conservation as an important objective of
the management of natural ecosystem. The mandates of National Forest Policy
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1988 and National Environment Policy 2006 recognized the need to address the
conservation of areas of biodiversity importance, increasing forest productivity
and restoring degraded area. Indian Forest Act. 1927, Wildlife Protection Act.
1972, Environment Protection Act. 1986, Biodiversity Act. 2002 are the
legislative provisions developed as follow up to such national policies conducive
to REDD+.
In view of the above context sustainable management of forest is in the core
of REDD+ mechanism. So, forest certification by the third party as to the
sustainable management of forest should be brought under some regulation. At
present, forest certification is voluntary and not mandatory and moreover it is
only for export/import of timber. So, the ambit/domain of forest certification
should be enhanced in the context of REDD+ and brought under some regulation.
Government of India has started the dialogue and moved a food ahead and soon
some regulatory measure and policy would emerge.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION:From RED to REDD And then REDD+ Which is not confined to only checking
deforestation and forest degradation but makes its domain open adding more and
more viz- conservation,sustainable forest management, enhancement of carbon
stock and so and so.
REDD+ presents opportunities to cater to the varied
needs and interests of a wide range of stakeholders. On the one hand, it lends
itself towards meeting emission reduction targets of Annex I countries, and on
the other, it has the potential to significantly contributes towards strengthening
SFM and sustainable development efforts of developing countries. However,
implementing REDD+ at the national and local level requires reducing gaps in
understanding the issue as well as increasing capacity (technical, human and
financial) for implementation of SMF, particularly in developing countries.
India has played a pivotal role in framing the modalities of REDD+ in
international negotiations on climate change. Because of its long standing
16
commitment towards conservation and management of its forest resources, India
is favourably placed to gain access to both financial and technical resources
available under the provisions of UNFCCC. The resources generated from
REDD+ well not only help strengthen implementation of existing forest policies
and programmes but also contribute towards community development,
biodiversity conservation, enhancing provision of ecosystem services including
carbon services as one of the co-benefits.
The current levels of assistance under ODA are largely insufficient for
meeting SFM requirements and REDD+ objectives, and therefore, adequate
funding should be made available under the existing financial mechanism to
support all activities that are eligible under REDD+.
While the developing countries must secure political commitment for
sustainable management of forests, the developed countries must provide
adequate support to the developing countries to further strengthen their
commitment towards REDD+. Additional operating funds should be made
available for on-going SFM activities that help enhance carbon stocks.
In addition to be the institutional mechanism being negotiated at the
international level, implementing REDD= at the ground level needs to be backed
by strong institutional support at the national, state and local level. The entities
that will be implementing REDD+ activities at different levels need to function in
a well-coordinated manner in order to take decisions and incentivize actions that
are in alignment with the national policies and internationally agreed objectives.
Achieving the desired results requires adequate capacity support in terms of
dedicated professional staff, technical base as well as provision of adequate
financial resources.
Orientation programmes on REDD+ could be made mandatory for in-service
candidates, officials from various sectors and community foresters. A mechanism
by means of which regular technical guidance can be provided to officials of the
FD and local-level institutions needs to be established by MoEF.
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The local forest dependent communities would be central to the
implementation of REDD+. It is a statutory requirement under the FRA to have
Gram Sabha based forest governance. Also, the National Mission for a Green
India document states that committees set up by the Gram Sabha under FRA will
be centrally engaged for implementation of Mission. FRA may be regarded as a
tool for sustainable management of forest. Rights and responsibilities should be
ascertained in true spirit of this act. similarly, for REDD+, the Gram Sabha will
be the overarching village-level institution to oversee and implement REDD+.
The FD along with the local-level forest governance units will play a key role in
sensitization and capacity building of the local people so they can reap maximum
benefits from forest conservation activities in their area. The Gram Sabha and
JFMCs with technical support from the FD are principal agencies in
decentralized management of forest. These institutions need to be strengthened
for effective decision making and planning to be inclusive and responsive to the
needs of the local communities for the design of the REDD+ architecture.
The FD at the district level will provide the Gram Sabha with technical,
monitoring, and legal support. The State REDD+ Cell will function as a link
between the district-level authority and the national REDD+ Cell to incentivize
measurable action at the field level. The National REDD+ Cell well be engaging
at the international level to ensure that the REDD+ activates undertaken at the
national level are in accordance with the principles agreed under the Framework
Convention on Climate Change and are eligible for international support.
While in the REDD+ readiness phase, fund-based mechanism for REDD+
projects is recommended for supporting REDD+ activities, but later possibilities
of a market-based mechanism could also be explored. The national Mission for a
Green India may present an opportunity to have a fund-based mechanism of
financing REDD+ projects. Financial assistance may be provided to communities
for preparing the baseline and later their efforts in forest conservation can be
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compensated on the basis of assessment of carbon stock and implementation of
SMF.
The governments implement a series of rural development activities to
generate employment for the rural poor in these forested regions and alleviate
poverty. MNRGA, which ensures 100 days of employment to all poor adult
population in the country, is a significant step in this regard. The effective
implementation of these programmes among forest dependent communities will
reduce the dependence of the local communities on forests.
Provision of education to the children and other skill development trainings to
youth enables these forest dependent populations to diversify their livelihood
options and look beyond forest as their source of income.
Provision of infrastructure and support for improved agricultural practices as
well as other natural resource based activates like apiculture would ensure better
income to these poor households.
Forests provide a range of marketable NTFPs like fruits, flowers. Berries,
tubers, resins, honey, leaves, creepers etc. that has great nutritional, medicinal,
and other use values. However, many of these products fetches a good price in
cities and markets but the collectors (the forest dependent) sale these to the
intermediaries at abysmally lower prices. The support for marketing and value
addition by creating processing facilities would not only enhance the income but
also the employment opportunities in these hinterlands.
India’s forests harness a large potential for livelihood base activities for the
forest dependent communities, thus bridging the gap between the poor and forest
based market. With such a huge population depending on forest for subsistence
livelihood, the strategies for controlling forest degradation need to be focused on
reducing the dependence by creating alternative livelihood opportunities for the
forest dependent communities, providing alternative technologies to reduce the
gap in demand and supply of forest products and making the community adopt
sustainable harvesting practices. MNREGA is one of the ambitious programme
19
under various centrally sponsored schemes/programme. But, to make this
programme more effective and attractive if needs to be liberalized in many
respects so as to ensure more and more employment of local communities. It
needs inter departmental coordination and convergence of different schemes
under MNREGA. It will help ensure to reduce pressure on forest and degradation
on forest by generating job opportunities and livelihood of local communities.
This provides unhindered opportunities for the poor to utilize the traditional
knowledge in sustainable management of forest with the help of the forest
department and the Government of India. Linking the two, REDD+, and
alternative livelihood improvement activities will ultimately reduce pressure on
forests producing an increase in forest cover in future. Although, India is partially
ready for implementing REDD+ mechanism, but still the benefit sharing
mechanism needs to be framed properly, in order to overcome the livelihood
issues in REDD+ and to conserve the degrading forest cover.
The REDD+ regime has to enhance the carbon and other ecosystem services,
it should strengthen the efforts of biodiversity conservation, and help secure the
livelihoods of the ecosystem dependent local communities in India. The proposed
REDD+ regime provides an opportunity for sub-national actors, like States, to
address the delicate issue of poverty in resource-rich regions such as forested and
tribal dominated Sates. Such a regime also gives an opportunity for developing a
much-needed integrated approach for implementation of developmental programs
and enforcing biodiversity conservation at the local level. The state-level regime
could assign a statutory role for facilitating the integrated approach to an
identified agency like REDD+ Cell.
WORKING PLAN is the sanctum sanctorum record for forest management .It
should be prepared with utmost sincerity and
clarity .In addition to growing
stock/timber- production, data base should be prepared for NTFP also and it must
be focussed on ecological aspect too. Modern technology viz GIS, GPS, DGPS
SATELLITE IMAGERY should be used to make inventory of forest produce and
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other data base. And so much so management and conservation of forest should
be done in true spirit of the working plan. Under the macro working plan, micro
working plan for each every village together with
P.F history should be prepared and the forest be managed sustained basis
involving local communities and JFMCs, to mitigate degradation of forest and
arrest over exploitation/harvest of forest produce.
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REFERENCES:Sud Ridhima, Sharma Jitendra Vir, Bansal Arun Kumar International REDD+
architecture and its relevance for India
Ravindranth, N.H., Srivastava N., Murthy I.K., Malaviya S., Munsi M., and
Sharma N. 2012. Deforestation and forest degradation in India –
implications for REDD+
UNFCCC. 2011. Views on implementing COP decisions: Reducing emissions
from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries; and
the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and
enhancement of forest carbon stock in developing countries. (REDD+).
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Nayak Bhibhu Prasad, Kohli Priyanka, Sharma Dr. JV: Livelihood of local
communities and forest degradation in India: issues for REDD+
Aggarwal A, Paul V, and Das S. 2009. Forest Resources: Degradation,
Livelihoods, and climate change,
Bahuguna V K and Upadhyay A. 2002. Forest Fires in India: Policy Initiatives
for Community Participation.
Sud Ridhima, Sharma Vir Jitendra, Bansal Kumar Arun, Chandra Subhash
Institutional Framework for Implementing REDD+ In India.
Forest Survey of India (FSI) (2011), India State of Forest Report. MoEF,
Government of India.
Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) (1988), National Forest Policy.
Government of India.
Gokhale Yogesh, Fellow, TERI, New Delhi Conservation of biodiversity and
ecosystem services by REDD+ project in India
Ministry of Environment of Forests. 2009. India’s Fourth National Report to
Convention on Biological Diversity
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