Mendha Lekha, a tribal hamlet in Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra will become the first village in the country to be granted the right to harvest bamboo as per the provisions of The Forest Rights Act 2006(FRA) which quite ironically enlists bamboo as a ‘minor forest produce’! The Extraction of Bamboo which is treated as Timber as per the Indian Forest Act 1927 will no longer be in the control of the Forest Department. While it will surely benefit the Gond Tribals and the Naxal affected District of Gadchiroli to generate revenue, the fate of Bamboo Groves, a unique feature of Tropical Asian forests is sealed.
Do we know the Total percentile biomass bamboo contributes to in a Forest? Do we know their Regeneration rates? And Extraction of how many tons per unit Area will not degrade the forest? If no, then on what basis is Bamboo considered a minor produce? What are the measures to prevent over exploitation of this resource by the Gram Sabha which will ‘manage’ its extraction? These are the many questions to which I suppose we will not find convincing answers, and this is an example of how this new brand of environmentalism infected with the ‘co-existence syndrome’ has further eroded the Forest protection laws, made things more difficult than ever for the already weakened Forest Department and strengthened the forces involved in the use, misuse and abuse of nature.
Now before you comment about how tribals live in harmony with the forest, How they should have their right to maintain their traditional ways, how ‘sustainable development’ can take place, I would like state a very fundamental truth about Humans which is contradictory to the ‘co-existence theory’, that is ‘Humans CANNOT co-exist with Forest’ this is not an ideology, philosophy or any agenda it’s a basic character that has influenced human evolution. Our Ancestors left the Trees for Grasslands more than 4 million years ago! We developed erect posture as an adaptation of our grassland habitat, developed weapons to hunt ungulate prey which was abundant in grasslands, developed settled agriculture and then when our natural grassland habitat become saturated or degraded we destroyed forests and ‘created’ grasslands. Tribals don’t live in Forests they live in ‘grasslands’ which they have created in these Forests, grasslands which are growing in size due to the growth of tribal population.
The Second problem in the Co-existence theory is that the ‘world is a village’, forest produce are not just used locally but exported to National and International Markets, Markets for which the size and rate of supply CANNOT be Sustainable. The Bamboo from Gadchiroli will find its way into Nagpur’s construction industry, will stimulate more demand, degrade forests in the region and at the same time discourage Bamboo Cultivation which is sustainable in the truest sense.
Considering the trend of conversion of forests into grasslands and ultimately into barren lands, I think there is an urgent need to protect whatever little forests we are left with from all abusive human influences and extraction for ‘minor forest produce’ be it bamboo or tendu can hardly be called sustainable. It is best for us to encourage modern agricultural and animal husbandry practices and reduce unsustainable dependence on forests.
- Aditya Malgaonkar
