Precarious state of forests in Goa, a wake-up call

On World Forest Day, Goa sits precariously along with some other parts of the world in destruction of its richly-forested area.

Though the state is an integral part of the beautiful 7,953-km long Western Ghats range that needs protection, the ground reality is harsh and speaks volumes of the government’s commitment, or lack of it, to safeguard the biological wealth.

Coming under intense pressure of the development agenda, Goa, as one of the richest reservoirs of biodiversity in the Western Ghats, faces the threat of destruction of its forest area due to its tiny size.

Its success as a tourism destination and a craze for second homes has triggered a raucous buzz of development activity that is perilous for one of the world’s hottest biodiversity hotspots – also called the Sahyadris in this section.

The forest department website states, “The forests of Goa are known for their grandeur and majesty. They are like a green pearl of the tourist paradise state. The forests are the life supporting systems of the state as they are the store house of precious rivers and other natural resources.”

Further, the website states that Goa’s total forest area is 2,219 sq km, 59.94 per cent of the geographical area of 3,702 sq km. This includes 543 sq km of very dense forests, 585 sq km of moderately dense forests and 1,091 sq km of green forests. The area with tree cover being 334 sq km (9.4 per cent), the total forest and tree cover (green cover), as the website states, is 2,553 sq km – a total of 68.96 per cent.

On the other hand, the recorded forest area of Goa is 1424.46 sq km. Around 200 sq km of this geographical area comes under private ownership. A total of 33.08 per cent of the geographical area is thus government forest while 5.40 per cent is private forest. This means 61.52 per cent of Goa’s land is non-forest area.

“The government relies on maps of Forest Survey of India (FSI) which show vast area of forests but the entire area as per FSI maps is not notified. In Goa, a total of 2,553 sq km is forest and green cover area (68.96 per cent), but only 33.08 per cent of the geographical area comprises government forest and is notified and protected,” Abhijit Prabhudesai, an environmentalist and a member of Rainbow Warriors, a voluntary organisation, said.

By its own admission, forest department states on its website that around 200 sq km of Goa’s geographical area comes under private ownership.

In a landmark verdict in the Godavarman case in 1996, the Supreme Court had directed identification of private forests, even degraded types, for protection, but Goa government is in a denial mode about dense forests.

Goa was one of the few states to actually to initiate the work. Sawant and Karapurkar committees had been constituted in the late 1990s one after another, and identified some portions of private forests, but the work has not yet been completed even after nearly three decades.

“The government hates forests, as they are an obstacle to corporate greed. Forest department has succumbed to pressures from government and is doing everything to deny the existence of forest cover. The protectors themselves have turned into enemies of the forest,” Prabhudesai said.

The south Goa-based activist was part of the Araujo Committee which was formed subsequently. “I have been part of the Araujo Committee and we painstakingly visited forested areas of South Goa and identified them. But all this work is undone, as also the identification work done by Thomas Committee for North Goa. Most of the areas identified by the committees have been excluded, as the freshly appointed Review Committee, comprising only government officers, are denying that they are forests, in contempt of Supreme Court orders and Goa government’s criteria,” he said.

In Goa, the department has initiated several schemes to carry out reforestation programmes. But due to pressure on land resources, there is hardly any space for tree planting programmes. At the central level, India has declared its aim to increase the present 19 per cent cover of forests to 33 per cent. But only 13 per cent forests are notified so far, though FSI maps showing 19 per cent forest cover are projected as fact.

“If this is actually reduced from 19 per cent to 13 per cent, it would be complete disaster for India,” Prabhudesai warned.

The recent amendments to Forest Conservation Act, 1980 is a disaster, since it directly and permanently reduces forest cover to 13 per cent for the country. This amendment is full of dilutions to allow diversions for corporate greed, linear projects, lands along railways, highways and borders, real estate, mining and industry, he alleged.

The vast areas of forests that have been diverted for industry and other purposes during the last few years are galore and this trend needs to be reversed. Hasdeo coal grant, highways, real estate, and mining leases in Goa, are examples. National highway expansion across Goa without any forest clearances has destroyed a lot of forest cover, activists have alleged.

The recent amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act, 1974 have also come under fire from activists. Goa Bachao Abhiyan, a voluntary organisation recently criticised the government for these amendments, strongly demanding that sections 17 (2), 39A and 19 (2) be repealed, as rampant land conversion and haphazard development could result in water shortage like Bengaluru.

“Our life revolves around ecosystems, and forest is its spine. It includes living creatures, water bodies and ground water. People think air and water are free and to be exploited freely and polluted,” an environmentalist said.

The central and state government’s development agenda is focussed on a narrative of creating infrastructure, improving transport and telecommunications and other requirements. In several cases, environmental issues are grossly neglected.

“Whatever focus we have on environment is centred on recycling of waste and water, using wind and solar power, which means generation rather than conservation,” the environmentalist said.

Environmentalists are unhappy about monetising of the environment – the shrinking of tiger reserves, protected areas and eco-sensitive zones without much thought. “The forests and wild life is neglected, invasive species have invaded them, dangers of forest fires have increased, and anyway, forests are not being enriched. The forest species of trees which are hard to be replaced are disappearing,” an environmentalist said.

Goa government also failed to pursue the matter of inscribing the Goa stretch of the Western Ghats as a UNESCO world heritage site, despite initiating the process, which is now in limbo. It had requisitioned the help of Wildlife Institute of India to put up its case before the world body.

In conclusion, Prabhudesai said that Goa may be doomed without forests that give us food, water, environment, our sustainable economies, our culture and our very survival. “On this World Forest Day, the people should rise up and force the government to protect all the forests that have not been identified, and to complete the identification process of these unprotected forests," he said.