Wood residues – the materials left over when trees are logged and processed – hold the potential to support resource-efficient energy access, revitalize rural economies and help mitigate climate change,
The forest department seized four trucks of logs worth three lakhs and sealed illegal saw mills at Rohmoria. A team, led by Magistrate, Bipul Das, and Ranger of Dibrugarh forest Division Kushal Deka, made raids at Bogoritolia under Rohmoria Police Station yesterday. It is to be noted that trees felled illegally at Dibru - Saikhowa are transported to Rohmoria where these saw mills run. The conscious citizens have welcomed the forest department's move.
India lost more than Rs 100 crore due to illegal felling and smuggling of rare and costly trees like sandalwood and teak between 2004 and 2006. The ministry of environment and forests admits that felling and smuggling of rare and costly trees like sandalwood and teak has been reported from various parts of the country during these three years and the worth of the trees lost was approximately Rs 102 crore. In the same breath it adds that "no large-scale illegal felling and smuggling of rare and costly trees like sandalwood and teak has been reported from different parts of the country. However, incidents of illicit felling and smuggling do take place,' while providing details furnished by different state governments and the directorate of revenue Intelligence in this regard. Quoting reports, the ministry says during 2005-07, a total of 2,666 sandalwood trees were illegally felled in Kerala while Karnataka reported 881 cases of smuggling of sandalwood involving a quantity of 35,299 kg. Maharashtra reported a loss of 1,404 sandalwood trees in illegal felling while there were a total of 253 case of smuggling of sandalwood involving 20.739 tonnes in Tamil Nadu during this period. And between 2006-07, cases were registered with regard to import of three consignments of sandalwood. In these cases 177.660 tonnes of sandalwood valued at Rs 1776.60 lakh was seized. Regarding illegal felling of sal and teak tree during 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06, Andhra Pradesh suffered a loss of 8208.89 cubic meters amounting to Rs1633.98 lakh, Assam 5022 cubic meters (Rs 311.62 lakh), Chhattisgarh 58380 cubic meters (Rs 1287.81 lakh), Gujarat 13586 cubic meters (Rs 1360.74 lakh), Karanataka 6184 cubic meters (Rs 513.76 lakh), Himachal Pradesh 407 cubic meters (Rs 4.96 lakh), Maharashtra 268088 cubic meters (Rs 2251.12 lakh) and Haryana 10 trees (0.18 lakh). Regarding steps being taken for the protection and management of forests, the ministry says it is primarily the responsibility of state governments. The measures in this regard include legal provisions like the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Funds are provided to states and union territories for strengthening infrastructure for protection of forests from illicit felling, fires and encroachments. Efforts are also made to involve local communities through formulation of joint forest management committees while meetings of the officials of the border states are held to strengthen inter-state protection mechanism. Patrolling of the area, creation of checkposts and barriers, mechanism of transit permit for movement of forest produce, formation of flying squads, mobile protection units and vigilance parties for regular inspection and survey and demarcation of forest areas are among other measures.
Forest minister J.P. Nadda today said the government would soon review the policy for exporting Khair wood and kuth to help protect the economic interests of the farmers. Presiding over a meeting of senior officers to review the functioning of the Forest Department here he said the government would consider relaxing the restriction on export of Kuth and take effective steps for proper management and exploitation of herbal plants. It would also take a decision regarding the rights of ownership on the trees grown on uncultured land, after considering all related aspects into consideration and in consultation with the Revenue Department. He said steps would be taken to exploit the state's immense potential for eco-tourism to help generate self-employment avenues for unemployed youth. Referring to the plans to deal with the monkey menace, Nadda said the government had decided to set up two primate protection parks and a number of centres for mass sterilisation of the animals, which were not only creating nuisance in towns but also causing extensive damage to crops in villages. He said a sterilisation centre was already operational at Tutukandi in Shimla and two more would be set up at Gopalpur in Kangra district and Tal in Hamirpur district at a cost of Rs 2.6 crore. He said these centres would be made operational within six months and a target had been set up for sterilising 5,000 monkeys in two years at each centre. The forest minister said the primate protection parks would be set up on the lines of Asola wildlife sanctuary in Delhi. One such park would be started next month at Tara Devi near Shimla, whereas, the other would be set up at Jheen in Hamirpur district. He said Rs 1.51 crore would be spent on the construction of each park. Youth were being imparted training for catching monkeys so that they could earn from the government scheme. He said encouraging cultivation of herbal plants on commercial scale could strengthen economy and the effort would be that each family in the local panchayat was associated in the venture. He said the Forest Department would develop plant nurseries in every district depending upon the climatic condition and mater would be discussed with the Ayurveda Department. He said peoples' participation was an important aspect of forest management and asserted that policy decisions should be taken keeping in view the public grievances. He said regular discussions would be held with field the officers for effective implementation of projects. Additional chief secretary, forests, Avay Shukla, gave a detailed account of the activities of the department. He said the policies were framed keeping in view the public interest.
This report assess the role social differences such as caste, and other household characteristics, play on leadership and collective action, taking the case studies of forest commons. Primary data for the analysis was drawn from a survey of eight community forest user groups in the mid-hills of Nepal.
At a time when illegal felling of trees by timber traders with alleged help from forest officials in the forests of Asom have become the order of the day, a team of All Assam Students' Union (AASU) members and journalists of Sonari town in Sivasagar district visited the Abhaypur Reserve Forest in the district and was able to unearth a shocking picture of the destruction of forests going on inside the reserve. The visit of the AASU members and local journalists to the reserve forest yesterday was undertaken following a citizens' meet on killing of rhinos and destruction of forest land in the State, which was held at Kaziranga recently under the aegis of AASU and Asom Unnati Sabha (AUS). The team witnessed mass felling of valuable trees after they crossed the Nailong River, situated just 2 km from the Namtola Beat of the Reserve. Vast tracts of forest land at sector numbers 26, 27, 28 and 29 of Abhaypur Reserve Forest have become plain fields. The team also witnessed wheel marks of trucks at the area, used for transportation of the logs. Interestingly, the delegation also heard a few rounds of bullet fire inside the forests. According to theories, the bullets are fired to alert the timber traders and their accomplices
This report contains the "Natural Resource Accounting of Goa State' and the valuation of environment and forest ecosystem of Goa state. In this report basic concepts on environmental accounting and different approaches of valuation are described. More specifically report covers the valuation in the specific sectors viz., air, water, municipal solid waste, and forestry.
Nagaon district tops the list among all districts of Asom in having the highest number of illegal saw mills operating in different prohibited forest reserves. An unofficial source also alleged that the district at present has more than a hundred illegal saw mills which are functioning under the very nose of the forest and police officials. The different prohibited forest areas include Dabaka, Lumding, Kaki, Salana, Chapanalla, Anjukpani, Lawkhowa, Garajan, Ambagan, Borghuli, Amchai, Madartoli and other forest reserves. All of these reserves have now been converted into a haven of illegal timber smugglers, many of whom are being given protection and shelter by a section of powerful political leaders of the ruling party, sources added. In the meantime, the DFO Nagaon has launched several drives against the timber smugglers and illegal saw mills, and have even managed to detect and lay seize to several such mills, notably from Panikhati, Arjuntol, Jagari, Hatichung, Kawaimari, Jakhalabandha, Chapanala, Silghat, Mairabari and Dhing areas. But such operations have proved to be ineffective in curtailing the spread of the net of timber smuggling which is assuming alarmingly proportions in all the forest areas. It has been found that even after the seizure of mills, the proprietors easily manage to free them from the court, due to their nexus with higher officials of the forest and police departments. Recently, owing to the initiative of the forest officials of Salana Range several such illegal saw mills were seized by the district forest officer from different places of Kaliabor area, but no follow-up action has been taken by the forest department against the timber smugglers and saw mills till date. Most of the mills are freely operating is different places of the Samaguri LAC. More than 37 such illegal mills were functioning under the shelter of a section of political leaders of the ruling party of the LAC, it is alleged. It is also alleged by the conscious people of the areas that in the Samaguri LAC itself there are many such mills illegally functioning at Lawkhowa, Ambagaon, and Borghuli. The people of the Kaliabor and Samaguri LAC have requested the Forest Minister of the State, an elected MLA of the Samaguri LAC to give his personal attention to the matter, and to also visit the forest areas to take stock of the situation. It may be mentioned that, Nagaon district alone is endowed with 9 forest reserves, but except a couple of them the others have all turned into barren land due to indiscriminate felling of trees resulting in slow disappearance of the flora and fauna. According to an unofficial source, more than 200 big saw mills are functioning in the district with timbers brought from different forest reserves, in open disregard of the prohibition order of the Supreme court in this direction. If the civil, police and forest department continues to be so indifferent it is not long when forests would altogether disappear from the area. It is worth mentioning that in the last couple of years, encroachment in Lawkhowa wild life sanctuary and other reserve forest is rampant with thousands of encroachers (suspected illegal immigrant Bangladeshis) having entered the forest and feeding off the valuable timber wealth and also eliminating the wild life in the forests. Wild animals have been found to be moving into the neighbouring villages, causing great concern among the department officials and naturalists. The Lowkhowa forest reserve is perceived to be the home of more than 200 varieties of migratory and local birds. However, in view of the depletion of the forest reserves, a conscious section of people appealed to the Forest Minister of Asom who hails from Nagoan to take appropriate measures to save the forest resources and also to take stern measures to punish the guilty, sources added.
Top representatives of the Forest departments of the North-east, NGOs and other agencies are attending a two-day regional workshop on "Bamboo flowering: Status and management strategies' which got under way at the Deovan-based Rain Forest Research Institute here today. Several State Forest departments, NGOs, paper corporations and consultants, both national and international, had participated in a similar national-level meet at the same venue in April, 2002. The Planning Commission incorporated the recommendations made at that meet in its document on "National mission on bamboo technology and trade development.' These recommendations have served as guidance for management of bamboo flowering in the north-eastern States in particular and the country as a whole. The present workshop is a sequel to the previous consultation meet and will highlight those issues which did not figure in the last workshop, RFRI research officer Dr TC Bhuyan said. Suggestions and opinions for the development of RFRI as a centre of excellence for bamboo research will also be entertained at the workshop, he added. Recommendations and strategies for future course of action will comprise the agenda for the concluding session of the workshop, slated for tomorrow.
At a time when the State Government is blowing its own trumpet saying that it is serious about preserving the forest resources of the State and has implemented schemes like the Seuj Prakalpa, massive denudation of forest cover in the reserve forest in Dhubri district has made the State Government's so-called "intention' a mockery of sorts. According to sources, Dhubri district has become a safe haven for timber smugglers which has threatened the very existence of the forest resources in the district. Unabated felling of trees in the reserve forests and roadside areas is going on in spite a ban being imposed by the Supreme Court. Due to the rapid deforestation in the district, reserve forests like the Pabatjhara, Rupsi, Guma, Mahamaya are on the verge of being names only. Smugglers are illegally trading the timber varieties like gomari, newly-grown sal, segun, titasap, that too in broad daylight, in these reserve forests under Parbatjhora and Dhubri Forest divisions. Valuable small and medium-sized logs are being carried on thelas and bicycles to Tamarhat Guma Ferry Ghat and supplied to Bengal on horse carts, through Boxirhat and Chhotaguma areas crossing the Gangadhar (Sonkosh) river on boats. A huge quantity of logs are daily being ferried along the banks of the Gangadhar at Guma Ferry Ghat. It is worth mentioning here that valuable timber are also sold in the weekly markets of Tamarhat and Paglahat. People here blame the forest department officials and guards for an unprecedented increase in smuggling incidents in the area. They have alleged that it is due to an unholy nexus of the forest department officials and guards with the smugglers that these illegal acts are being carried out. The local people have alleged that these smugglers have been paying huge amounts of money to the forest officials on a monthly basis. Reacting sharply over the Forest Department's inaction to protect the forest cover from getting depleted, the people here have said that if the Government does not takes any step to stop this illegal practice with an iron hand, the whole forest cover in the district would soon vanish and hence, would also affect the ecological balance.
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