Forest cover target revised

On increasing its forest cover, Karnataka's 'can-do' spirit appears to have taken a beating.

For, the state forest department has failed to achieve its target of bringing 25 per cent of the state under forest cover by 2007. The actual target realised was only 21 per cent.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a workshop and exhibition on bamboo here last week, Karnataka's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) A K Varma said the department in concurrence with the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment has set 2,012 as the new deadline to achieve 25 per cent forest cover, which also includes private plantations.

The failure to meet the target and the move to reset deadline are not only pointers to the heavy pressure being mounted on the green cover by the galloping economy, but also to the laid-back approach of protectors of forests.

"We need to increase forest cover if we are planning for the future. That, in fact, had forced country's planners to a target of achieving 33 per cent of forest cover. But by scaling down to 25 per cent, we are only weakening our resolve to protect forests," said a wildlife activist who did not want to be named.

However, Varma countered: "The target for 2012 had been set at 33 per cent. But we receive only Rs 300 crore per annum from the state budget, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Centre. We need Rs 8,000 crore to be able to meet the target."

On bamboo cultivation in the state, Varma said the Centre had released Rs 9 crore to the state in December 2007 under the National Bamboo Mission (NBM). Launched by the Union Ministry of Agriculture, NBM is geared at planting select species of bamboo on a commercial basis over 1.7 lakh hectares across the country during 2007-12.

Union Minister of State for Forests and Environment S Regupathy, who inaugurated the workshop, appealed to all states to take advantage of NBM to generate income and restore degraded forests.

India is home to about 145 bamboo species, Regupathy said, and added: "The management of existing bamboo forests and raising their productivity is important as the focus of the forest policy has shifted from timber production to ecological restoration through involvement of locals in forest management."

In Karnataka, the NBM envisages bamboo plantations of 12,620 hectares and the fund requirement is pegged at Rs 135 crore for a five-year-period (2007-12).