NEWS – Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced the rules for its Green Credit Programme (GCP)

Ten States, including Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, have identified 3,853 hectares of degraded forest land for the GCP, with Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh contributing 40% of this land.

HIGHLIGHTS

Operation of the Scheme:

• Registered entities pay for afforestation projects in specific degraded areas, which are executed by State forest departments.
• Each planted tree may yield one ‘green credit,’ tradable for companies to offset their compensatory afforestation obligations.

Compensatory Afforestation Laws:

• Industries diverting forest land for non-forest purposes must provide equivalent non-forest land and pay for afforestation.
• In states like Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, finding suitable non-forest land is challenging, leading to the use of degraded forest land for compensatory afforestation.

Purpose and Concerns:

• Green credits incentivize private investment in afforestation, aligning with sustainable development goals.
• However, assigning monetary value to credits and linking them to compensatory afforestation raise concerns about land diversion and commercialization of forest areas.

Implementation Challenges:

• The scheme is in a pilot stage, mainly involving government entities.
• The scheme aims for corporate social responsibility and regeneration but must not absolve institutions of their responsibility to provide suitable compensation land