Deemed forest denotification: Activists say it will finish the Western Ghats

Nearly a month and a half after the state government decided to denotify nearly five lakh hectares of deemed forests, green activists have started opposing the move. Former chairman of Western Ghats Task Force, Anant Hegde Ashisar came out with detailed information on why the government should not denotify the forests.

"Over 10 crore big trees and over 30 crore sapplings are under threat. This would be a death knell for the Western Ghats," he said.

Explaining the rationale behind their demand, Mr Ashisar said that these deemed forests were not dry land. "Many water bodies originate from these deemed forests. Moreover, they provide minor forest produce which are the lifeline of tribals. Once these forests are denotified, encroachment of these lands can be regularised. In many other cases, the land can be given for cultivation. In effect, the forests will vanish," he warned.

According to him, scientists had worked out an estmate after visiting several forests in the Western Ghats that every hectare of deemed forest has 100 trees and over 300 saplings. "Once denotified, they are under threat," he said.

He also said that the government should immediately categorise 20,000 hectares of land as deemed forests. "Revenue land which has a very high denisity of trees should be conserved," he said.

Deemed forests
Year Hectares
2002 9,94,881
2017 517,485
Govt plans to denotify
4,98,991 hectares