REDD Realities in India: Will the forests and forest people survive? - Forests and Implications of...

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    Forests and implicationsForests and implications

    ofofclimate changeclimate change

    ininArunachal PradeshArunachal Pradesh

    BamangBamang TagoTagoArunachal Citizens RightsArunachal Citizens Rights

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    The natural resources management

    and control over resources areidentified as a critical concern facedby the indigenous and tribal people

    of Arunachal Pradesh in particularand throughout the North Eaststates as a whole.

    Arunachal Pradesh is a Indigenoustribal state with 26 major tribes andmany more sub tribes so as the

    other states too.

    cont

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    Population of over a million

    Population density of 14 persons/sq

    km 79.25% is rural and 20.75% is

    urban

    64.2% belong to Scheduled Tribes

    There exists a rich cultural heritage

    of traditional governance followingtraditional rights, customs andsocial mores and entitlements.

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    91% of the reported land utilised is covered byforests 5.15 million ha or 61.55% is recorded forest area 61.05% is community and private owned

    20.46% is Reserved Forests and 18.49% is protectedforests

    According to State of Forest Report 2009, 67,353 sqkm or 80.43% of the total geographical area is forest

    cover 20,858 sq km is very dense forest, 31,556 sq km

    moderately dense forest and 14, 939 sq km of openforest

    New assessment shows a loss of 119 sq km of forestcover

    Forest Survey of India assessment terms communityand privately owned forests as unclassed forests

    with no legal status

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    Arunachal Pradesh is not included in the

    list of scheduled Areas, PESA(Panchayati Raj Extension to ScheduledAreas) Acts, 1996 or autonomous/

    District Councils not enacted in the stateand is not covered by special provisionsof Indian Constitution like that of

    Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikim etc,People traditionally enjoy ownership and

    management rights to natural resources

    covering rivers, mountains, land andforest.

    These traditional rights are not codifiedinto legal entitlements

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    Example: Land Acquisition Act, 1894, the

    Indian Forest Act, 1821, WildlifeProtection Act, 1972, Assam, ForestRegulation, 1891, Forest Conservation Act

    1980, National forest policy,1988,Environmental Impact AssessmentNotification-2006, Environment ProtectionAct, 1986 including Arunachal PradeshLand Records and Resettlement Act,2000, Arunachal Pradesh waterResources Regulatory Act, 2006, etc;

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    Drained by six major rivers Subansiri, Lohit,Dibang, Siang, Kameng and Tirap.Tawangchu drains the district of Tawang

    The Indian Government & the Arunachal

    Government eye the hydro power potential ofthese six river basins and has turned theState into a proposed power house of India

    Till date a staggering 137 MOAs/MoUs( As on23rd Nov, 2010) have been signed with bothpublic and private sector developers with acapacity of more than 58,000 MW

    The Lower Subansiri (2000 MW), Kameng I(1120 MW), Pare (110 MW) are underconstruction

    Ranganadi Stage I Hydro Electric Project of

    405 MW the first large hydro in Arunachal

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    The rich forests and biodiversity ofArunachal is subjected to growinganthropogenic and biotic pressure andhuge infrastructural developmentprojects

    At a time when the global community iscalling for to stop deforestation to halt

    climate change Deforestation contributes to between

    15% to 25% of the greenhouse gases

    On the other hand forests such as thatof Arunachal with rich biodiversity canact as rich carbon sinks

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    The HEPs under construction Lower

    Subansiri will submerge and deforest 4000ha, Kameng will deforest close to 800 ha.

    Deforestation figure for Middle Siang

    project is 2800 ha and it is a staggering5,500 ha for Dibang Multipurpose project. Proposed projects with capacities varying

    between 500 MW to 11,000 MW are goingto destroy at least 50,000 to 60,000 ha ofprecious forests and biodiversity

    One French-Canadian joint ventureinvolved in oil prospecting in Changlangand Tirap districts have applied to theMoEF for a forest clearance of 56,000 ha

    at one go!

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    Moreover, such massive diversion

    and deforestation will happen oncommunity owned lands.

    The compensation in terms of NetPresent Value (NPV) goes to thegovernment and that is now beingpaid to forest department forplantation

    But communities who haveprotected and generated theseforests for generations do not getanything

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    Forest department which has

    nothing to do with thesecommunity forests are insteadbeing paid a part of the NPVleading to thousand of crores ofrupees

    Not only do communities enjoytraditional and customary rights

    over these forests, the forests arepart of their culture and tradition,basis for identity, existence andlivelihood.

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    It is obvious that due to massive

    deforestation the communities inArunachal will suffer irreversible impacts climatic and geographic, cultural andlivelihood

    The communities who have protectedand conserved their forests and ecologyare the ones who will suffer immense

    consequences But, they do not have a voice in the

    planning and execution of such massive

    infrastructure projects They do not enjoy any legal support to

    exert their rights over their forests

    That void could have been met by therecentl enacted Forest Ri hts Act 2006

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    The Forests Rights Act empowers

    the communities to protect andconserve their own forests Forests cannot be diverted without

    settling rights and express consentof the communities

    Forest Rights Act can still play a

    major role in stopping this massivedeforestation

    In halting impacts of climatechange

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    Community collective rightsCommunity collective rights

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