MoEF&CC waives NPV and compensatory afforestation for private plantations in forest areas

Key facts

• The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has amended forest conservation rules to allow private plantations in forest areas without payment of Net Present Value or creation of compensatory afforestation plots.
• Plantations undertaken with state-government agreement, aligned to approved working or management plans and under state forest department supervision, will be deemed 'forestry activities' and hence exempt from NPV and compensatory afforestation requirements.
• State governments have been given discretion to design utilisation frameworks and decide revenue-sharing arrangements for such plantations on a case-by-case basis.
• Environmentalists warn the move could weaken safeguards, reduce conservation funding and affect forest-dependent communities if Gram Sabha consent and Forest Rights Act provisions are overlooked.