FOREST CLEARANCE AND REPLACEMENT IN BRIEF - PowerPoint Presentation

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FOREST CLEARANCE AND REPLACEMENT IN BRIEF

UDAY R. SHARMA, PhD, Consultant

STRUCTURE

CONTEXTCO-WORK WITH MOFESTRATEGIES AND ACTIONSACHIEVEMENTS AND SUPPORT ROLENEW PROSPECTS FOR ORGANIZED PLANTATIONS

CONCLUSION

 BOTTLENECK

Forest clearance delay has been identified as one of the major bottlenecks affecting major infrastructure projects in Nepal

Goal:

Develop mechanisms to rapidly obtain forest land for nationally important, growth enhancing infrastructure projects and to effectively manage new compensatory plantations.

APPIIC’s Support

2006/07

– 2015/16

2016/17 – 2017/18

Hand over 213.68 ha/year

1256.54

ha/year (Nearly 500% more)

Took 2-3 year for decision

Less than

one year

some exceptions

2063 Forest Guidelines, many

issues

Increased clarity in 2073 Forest Guidelines

Only land-for land compensation

Opened the gate for land for cash compensation

APPIIC STARTED TO “CO-WORK” WITH MFSC

SINCE AUGUST 2016

ARUN 3 and Upper Karnali

FOREST GUIDELINES, 2074, PROVED INSUFFICIENT WHEN PDA BECAME INVOLVED

PM AS THE CHAIR OF IBN DIRECTED DURING ITS 27

TH

BOARD MEETING TO FURTHER REVISE FOREST AND PA GUIDELINES WITHIN THREE MONTHS WITH INVOLVEMENT OF CONCERNED STAKEHOLDERS

STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS

Harmonizing ProceduresLegal Framework RevisionsForest Replacement and Fund FlowsAwareness Raising and Capacity Building

APPIIC has taken the holistic approach: Not just Forest Clearance, but also Forest Replacement

ACHIEVEMENTS

Forest Guidelines, 2074: Despite criticisms, the Guidelines has several improvements over the earlier Guidelines Updated Guidelines has resolved number of outstanding issues: APPIIC’s role reflected in half of the issues

The Guidelines introduced option & principle of “land for cash”

The Guidelines can be made better:

Forest Guidelines …

Evaluated the effectiveness of current Forest Guidelines: Report proposes 11 measures for revision of the current Guidelines to make it more effectiveSupport to MOFE to develop NPV-based evaluation criteria, standard norms and templates to operationalize the cash compensation related article of the Guidelines (Article 9)

PA Guidelines

Support to DNPWC in drafting the Protected Area (Forest clearance and replacement) Guidelines. The new guidelines will incorporate the Net Present Value payment provisionRevised draft of PA Guidelines is under review by DNPWCLearning of Study Tour to India being incorporated in the PA Guidelines

DEVELOPER PAYS

NPV + Lease/year + Cost of compensatory plantation + 5 years of management

NPV is X5 for NP/Reserves; X2 CA

Destructive project pays more:

5 ha

100 ha

100 ha

80 ha

Hydro power

Cement

Suggested Mechanism

Relevant activities

Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation

Department of Forests

Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation

Forest Enterprise and Management Division of MFSC

District Forest Offices

Offices of Protected Area

Receives request for forest and Park land

Assessment and delineation of land

Agreement

Forest clearance

Handover of land

Periodic monitoring

Steering Committee

Forest Product Development Board

Receive payments

Procure private land

Undertake plantations

Maintain plantations for five years

FEMD

DoF

DNPWC

FPDB

Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation

Department of Forests and Soil Conservation

Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation

Forest

and Watershed

Division of MFSC

Divisional Forest Offices

Offices of Protected Area

Receives request for forest and Park land

Assessment and delineation of land

Agreement

Forest clearance

Handover of land

Periodic monitoring

Plantation Authority

Receive payments

Locate degraded forest

land

Undertake plantations

Maintain plantations for five years

Hand over forests to DFOs

Secretary/FEMD

DoFS

DNPWC

FPDB

DEVELOPERS

National Plantation & Forest Product Development Authority

Authority can resolve several outstanding issues related to ReplacementIndependent institution created by separate Act of the ParliamentFinds degraded sites for planting, including village enclaves within protected areas or national forests

Receives all funds paid by developers directly into its account to execute works

Authority: Forest Land Bank

Authority can create FLB especially when land-for-land compensation is involvedAPPIIC commissioned a study which prompted MOFE to provide option of land-for-cash compensation in the updated GuidelinesThe land parcels received for compensation in the past were found mostly scattered all over the landscape and were difficult for DFOs to manage, and not particularly useful for forestry purposes.

Heavy seedlings mortality

CONSOLIDATING SUCCESS

Help revise current Forest Guidelines and PA Guidelines with NPV and new compensation mechanismsPre - Feasibility study to establish National Authority has been completed and findings presented to MOFEProvide inputs in the drafting of Federal Forest Policy and Act

CONTEXT OF FEDERALISM

Success of easing this bottleneck hinges on effective federal forest policy and act:All diversions of forest to non-forestry uses must have the prior permission of the Federal Government

National Plantation and Forest Product Development Authority (NPFPDA) be established by the Federal Act

Provinces execute the actual plantings, care-taking and getting financial returns

APPIIC ROLE AT FEDERAL AND PROVINCE LEVELS

Help the Authority carry out commercial plantations in each Provinces Build Capacity and raise awareness at all federal and province levels Solicit start-up fund to establish the Authority

Help modernize the Authority offices, especially by setting up effective financial and administrative system

Conclusion

This is an opportunity to begin an era of organized large-scale commercial plantations in Nepal. It should be considered as a win-win between Green and Brown Sectors