Article:
Karnataka has recently decided to declassify 6.64 lakh hectares (nearly 67%) of its ‘deemed forests’ amounting to 9.94 lakh hectares, transferring them to Revenue authorities. This move has sparked debate amongst legislators in Karnataka, who argue that a significant amount of agricultural and non-forest land has been unjustifiably classified as forests.
Understanding Deemed Forests
Deemed Forests account for approximately 1% of India’s forest land. These are controversial because the term refers to plots of land that look like forests but have not been officially recognized as such by the government or historical records.
The concept of deemed forests is ambiguous as it’s not clearly defined in any law, including the Forest Conservation Act of 1980. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court, in the T N Godavarman Thirumalpad case of 1996, adopted a broad definition of forests under the Act. This definition includes all statutorily recognized forests, whether they’re designated as reserved, protected, or otherwise, and encompasses any areas recorded as forest in government records irrespective of ownership.
Decoding Deemed Forests in Karnataka
A state government-appointed expert committee defines ‘deemed forests’ as land exhibiting characteristics of forests regardless of ownership. This includes thickly wooded areas belonging to the Revenue Department that have not been transferred to the Forest Department, recommended to be transferred, distributed to grantees but uncultivated, or plantations managed by the Forest Department.
Reports published by the expert committee in 1997 and 2002 identified 43.18 lakh hectares of forest land designated for conservation in Karnataka. This figure included 33.23 lakh hectares of notified forest area as per forest records, and 9.94 lakh hectares of ‘deemed forests’.
Controversies Surrounding Deemed Forests
In 2014, the government re-evaluated the classification of forests. It discovered that some ‘statutory forests’ had been erroneously classified as ‘deemed forests’. The government pointed out that there was no well-defined, scientifically valid criterion for applying the dictionary definition of forests, which led to subjective classifications of areas as deemed forests. This led to conflicts between the Forest Department and other departments like Revenue, Irrigation, Public Works, and Energy. Additionally, random classification caused difficulties for farmers in some regions, and commercial demands for mining in some areas marked as deemed forests also ignited tension.
Reformation in Area Coverage
Subsequently, newly formed committees identified 5.18 lakh hectares of deemed forest land that could potentially be released from the total area. After a recent study on the actual extent of deemed forest areas, this figure has been revised to 6.64 lakh hectares. In 2019, the state filed an interim application in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking exclusion of the revised area, but the SC did not issue a decision on the application.
Forest and Tree Resources in Karnataka
According to the India State of Forest Report 2019, Karnataka’s total forest cover is 20.11%. Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), conducted this assessment. The FSI carries out a National Forest Inventory to gauge the growing stock in forests and Tree Outside Forest (TOF), bamboo resource, carbon stock, and dependence of people living in Forest Fringe Villages on fuelwood, fodder, small timber, and bamboo.
The geographical features of Karnataka include the Hilly region (Malnad) comprising the Western Ghats and the Plain region (Maidan) representing the inland plateau. The Western Ghats’ evergreen forests cover around 60% of the state’s forest area and are one of India’s four Biodiversity Hotspots.
Karnataka also boasts a network of protected areas, including 5 National Parks, 30 Wildlife Sanctuaries, and 15 Conservation Reserves. Moreover, the state holds approximately 10% of the country’s tiger population and 25% of the elephant population.