New forest policy on anvil; climate change a key feature, says official

More than 30 years after it was last launched, a new national forest policy that would deal with issues such as climate change and human-wild life conflict is now on the anvil, a key official said on Tuesday.

Director General of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) Suresh Gairola said the revised draft -- finalised after the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change examined public comments -- is under the consideration of the government.

"We are hopeful that very soon we will get Government of India approval," he told reporters at the Institute of Wood Science and Technology here.

It's going to be the country's fourth forest policy after the ones launched in 1894, 1952 and 1988, he noted.

Gairola said some areas like climate change and human-wild life conflict which were not considered very important when the last policy was launched in 1988, would figure prominently in the upcoming one.

Over the years, climate change and human-wild life conflict have become major issues, Gairola pointed out.

He also said ICFRE is ready with the final draft of the new ten-year National Forestry Research Plan (2020-2030) after more than two years of research, and it will be released soon.

The draft has taken into account the commitment made by India to sequester carbon dioxide to the tune of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes additionally by the year 2030 from forestry sector, among other things, Gairola said.

Meanwhile, ICFRE is preparing a detailed project report on forestry intervention to rejuvenate 13 major river basins in the country, including the Krishna and Cauvery.

The DPR is slated to be completed by June next year, he said.