Keywords
Afforestation
Tribal
Forest
Livelihood
Survival
How to Cite
Abstract
Compensatory afforestation is the rehabilitation of forest to compensate for the loss of forestland that has been diverted for non-forest use. The Forest Conservation Act (FCA) 1980 defined compensatory afforestation as “afforestation done in lieu of the diversion of forest land for non-forest use”. In India, to use forest land for non-forest purposes like industrial establishment, mining, infrastructure facilities, and other development initiatives, the users must undertake compensatory afforestation in an equal area of non-forestland or twice the area in the degraded forestland. The user agencies have to pay the monetary cost of the “net present value (NVP” of diverted forest land and rehabilitation expenditures. The forest department determines the cost of the diverted forest land. A “compensatory afforestation fund management authority (CAMPA” receives and manages such funds and regulates forest regeneration activities under the supervision of the forest department. However, both the central and state governments have permitted enormous amounts of forest land for non-forest purposes over the years. In comparison, non-forest or degraded forest land is scarcely available to offset the provisions of compensatory afforestation. As a result, the forest department is intruding on Adivasi land to utilise the CAMPA fund. Such land includes Patta land, podu (shifting cultivation) land, pastureland, community land, common land, and potential CFR rights areas. These are the principal capitals of tribal communities in the hilly areas, and they are vital to their survival. A study was conducted in two tribal villages of the Kandhamal district to examine the effect of compensatory afforestation. Group discussions and unstructured interviews were conducted to collect the data. The compensatory afforestation has affected the villager’s livelihood and limited their access to the forest. Furthermore, it impacts the villager’s forest rights and subsistence
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