Split opinion over green cess

Instead of imposing cess on citizens, department should consider diverting plantation funds towards Western Ghats conservation activities opine experts

Experts are divided on their reactions to the Karnataka Forest Minister’s announcement about the state government’s plan to impose a monthly ‘green cess’ in cities that receive water from rivers originating in the Western Ghats. Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre had on Wednesday said that he had instructed the additional chief secretary to submit a proposal on a monthly cess of Rs 2 or Rs 3. As per the Minister, the funds would support the conservation of Western Ghats and its rivers, apart from activities to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts in the region. While some ecologists and conservationists have welcomed the move, others raise the issue of fund misappropriation.

“It is indeed a good move. However, cess should be imposed on all services provided by an ecosystem: provisioning services that include tangible benefits such as timber and other forest produce, regulating services such as carbon sequestration, climate moderation, groundwater recharge, etc., and cultural services including recreation and aesthetics. The Deccan Peninsula has water and food security due to the rivers of Western Ghats. We need to collect this cess from other states that are receiving water from these rivers, too,” said a city-based conservationist.

Dr TV Ramachandra, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) also lauded the step and said that it is the right step towards monetary valuation of ecosystem services, which is key to sustainable development.

“We have conducted a study of ecosystem services in Uttar Kannada district of Western Ghats and found that just the tangible benefit such as timber, fuel, water, etc. amounts to about Rs 10,800 crores per year. Similarly, cultural benefits from Western Ghats amount to about Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh per hectare per year,” said Dr Ramachandra.

Ecologists say the need of the hour is natural capital accounting.

“Our current system for calculating GDP is distorted. We should consider having ‘Green GDP’ and account for the degradation cost of the ecosystem,” added Dr Ramachandra. However, some conservationists say the department has sufficient funds to take up conservation activities in the Western Ghats region, given it puts a full stop to unwarranted undertakings, including plantation in reserve forests. This fund should be diverted under legal procedure and money should be spent on core activities.

“The forest department has been spending crores on plantation activities. Plantation is happening even in reserve forests of districts with more than 33% of forest cover such as Uttara Kannada and Shivamogga. Plantation can happen at encroachment eviction sites, patches prone to encroachment, along the roads, near schools and community places, etc. Thus, instead of imposing cess on citizens, the department should consider diverting ‘plantation’ funds towards conservation activities,” said a city-based conservationist.

Western Ghat will revive itself from degradation. Only intervention required is eviction from encroached forest patches– Activist

According to a wildlife activist, this will only lead to misappropriation of the fund. “Western Ghat has evolved over millions of years, and it will revive itself from degradation. The only intervention required is eviction from encroached forest patches. As long as the region is not damaged further, it will resuscitate on its own,” said the activist.