SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
ALEXANDRE MONIZ BARBOSA
As it occurs almost annually in January, news of a very similar nature was reported again, with the only variation being the year. With the latest updates we now know that the year 2020 was the eighth warmest on record since nation-wide records have been kept beginning from 1901. According to IMD-India, the annual mean land surface air temperature averaged across the country was +0.29 degree C above normal in 2020. IMD also said that 12 of the 15 warmest years have been during the recent 15 years – from 2006 to 2020, with the past decade (2011-2020) being the warmest decade on record. Next January, when the statistics for 2021 are revealed, are we likely to learn anything different? Or will the news be on the same lines? Going by the current trend, it can hardly be expected that 2021 will show a big drop in temperature. It may even be hotter than the past year.
Against this background of climate change and warmer years, we also now know for sure that 37,979 trees have been enumerated or are likely to be felled in the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary & National Park to accommodate the three linear projects. This was revealed in the State Legislative Assembly in reply to a question on the number of trees that will be cut. Of these 37,979 trees, 20,758 trees will make way for the double tracking of railway line, while another 12,097 would be felled to facilitate th enational highway expansion and 5,124 trees will need to be felled for the power transmission line. However, the user agency has assured to cut around 1,000 trees in the wildlife area. On the other hand, for the Mopa airport, 54,000 trees have been cut and 500 saplings have been planted in the reforestation scheme. Given this background, how long can the reforestation process take, and where will the land for the reforestation be identified?
The three linear projects that pass through the Mollem forest are under the scanner for one main reason – the number of trees that will be cut. There are a number of valid reasons given for the necessity of the projects, including defence strategic explanations. But, can Goa allow such a huge number of trees to be felled in that one area? That is a question that will never be easy to answer, in the balance of development and environment. That balance has to be discovered.
If Goa is facing a threat to its environment, it is not alone in this. Development the world over is encroaching into forests, causing concern not just among environmentalists but even business forums. The World Economic Forum (WEF) held its annual conclave last week, and the forum was focusing at the world in the post-COVID-19 pandemic scenario and the collapsing economies, yet it did not skip addressing climate change and deforestation. In one of the papers on regreening the globe of its 2021 Agenda, it speaks of what WEF is doing and states, “Halting deforestation is essential to avoiding the worst effects of global climate change. The destruction of forests creates almost as much greenhouse gas emissions as global road travel, and yet it continues at an alarming rate.” The stress here is on halting deforestation, and what is planned at Mollem is deforestation to a large extent, which is being opposed by a substantially large group of civil society members, including youth.
While there is talk of halting deforestation, of restoration or regreening of land, should Goa not relook at the number of trees that would need to be felled for the three linear projects? Also, wouldn’t it be far more advisable to avoid deforestation wherever possible, perhaps beginning with Mollem?
As per documents on the WEF website, ‘time is running out’ and to ‘avert a climate catastrophe, it is estimated that we have only one decade left to make any real and lasting change’. A solution, as the WEF sees it, is restoring ‘hundreds of millions of hectares of land’ which is already underway through the Bonn Challenge. The Challenge is a global goal to bring 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes into restoration by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. To this challenge India has pledged 2,10,00,000 ha and the total area under restoration is 98,10,940 ha. While past deforestation cannot be remedied, can the current plans to cut forest trees be stopped by finding solutions that avoid felling the trees?
As the WEF paper suggests, “The restoration of degraded landscapes relies on changes at, literally, the grassroots. The values and actions of women, men and youth who live and manage their land will determine the form and rate of its restoration. These communities are also the ones with the most to gain from land restoration – and the most to lose without it.” Goa has a significant number of such women, men and youth but does it have the land where the trees can be planted? The bigger task for the State would be identifying the land. As stated earlier, Goa is too small an area for such kind of major development projects, and when thousands of trees are cut, where is the space that can accommodate a new forest?
Further, planting saplings is not the solution. Monitoring the growth process of the saplings into trees is important. Considering the number of saplings that are distributed free every year, Goa’s forest area and tree cover should have been growing astronomically, but is not because while sapling may be planted, they are not later nurtured to ensure that they grow into trees. For that matter, restoring landscapes is not easy and tracking by traditional methods even more cumbersome. As per the WEF paper, alternative monitoring approaches could be adopted to track the regreening. There are innovative approaches to monitoring and evaluating contributions, including through social network analysis, remote sensing and outcome mapping. Can such programmes be adopted here? That may be the only manner to ensure that sapling planted grow into trees. Otherwise, tree plantation ceremonies will have no meaning. But, not felling trees would be the best possible option.
