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Government mulls private investment in forests
By agencies
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Monday, 05 June 2006, 19:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Environment and Forests Minister A. Raja Monday stressed the need to hasten private sector participation in the development of degraded forests and wasteland in partnership with local communities.
"I am happy to note a very significant change in the attitude and approach of the corporate sector, who are now willing to invest in pollution control as an integral part of industrial production," said Raja.
"However, the pace of investment in this field needs to be accelerated for improved results," the minister said.
Environment secretary Prodipto Ghosh said, "There is tremendous scope for corporate conglomerates to address environmental concerns. Hence, it is necessary for us to implement a competitive process of bidding."
India has over 127 million hectares of arid, semi-arid land spread across 10 states and amounting to 39 percent of the country's land area.
"The ministry is developing memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to implement multi-stakeholder partnerships to allow for private sector investment in the restoration of degraded forest areas and community lands with the sharing of benefits with the local community," Ghosh said.
He said there are around 300 projects in the pipeline that seek to address environmental concerns and issues through private sector participation.
The government earlier this year approved the National Environment Policy (NEP), which has taken stock of the factors leading to land degradation with the intent of arriving at remedial measures.
The NEP recognizes that fiscal and sectoral policies need to take explicit account of their unintentional impact on land degradation so that the livelihoods of vast populaces are not irreparably damaged.
Central Pollution Control Board chairman V. Rajagopalan, however, questioned the advisability to seeking investment from corporate bodies to undertake projects for development of forest and community lands as profit motives could well do more damage than good to environment.