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Legislative bills

Open Letter to Rajya Sabha MPs: Over 1,500 Citizens Oppose Forest Conservation Bills

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

A group of over 1,500 citizens, including former civil servants, ex-military personnel, and representatives of environmental groups, academic institutions, and social organizations, has written an open letter to Rajya Sabha MPs to reject the two bills on forest conservation and biological diversity passed by the Lok Sabha last week. The activists claim that the bills are detrimental to forests and tribal communities, as they would destroy five decades of environmental jurisprudence the country has built. They argue that the amendments would ease forest diversion for extractive development, commercialize and privatize forests, and extinguish community rights and control over forests.

Key Takeaways:

  • The letter was signed by over 1,500 citizens, including former civil servants, ex-military personnel, and representatives of environmental groups, academic institutions, and social organizations.
  • The activists claimed that the bills are detrimental to forests and tribal communities, as they would destroy five decades of environmental jurisprudence the country has built.
  • The amendments would ease forest diversion for extractive development, commercialize and privatize forests, and extinguish community rights and control over forests.
  • The bills would cause widespread displacement and dislocation of nature-dependent communities and contribute to massive erosion of natural resource-dependent livelihoods.
  • The Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) reviewing the bills did not take cognizance of well-documented concerns raised on irreversible adverse implications to the country's national, socio-economic, and ecological security.
  • The JPCs overlooked recommendations made by several subject-related Parliamentary Committees advancing protection and conservation of India's forests and biodiversity, and associated rights.
  • The Environment Support Group, a signatory to the letter, stated that the BDA Bill would advance biopiracy, bio loot, and bio extraction, and contribute to rapid and irreversible loss of biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge and rights.

Statistics:

  • Over 1,500 citizens signed the open letter to Rajya Sabha MPs.
  • The bills were passed by the Lok Sabha last week, with the Lok Sabha passing a Bill comprehensively weakening the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (BDA), and the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (FCA).
  • Dozens of Parliamentarians and hundreds of thousands of environmental and social action organizations and researchers opposed the bills.
  • The Environment Support Group highlighted that the BDA Bill would lead to rapid and irreversible loss of biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge and rights.

Sources:

  • IE Online Media Services Pvt. Ltd.
  • Contify.com (distributed by)

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