How Haryana’s new ‘dictionary meaning of forest’ will affect the Aravallis?

Context: While following the directive of the Supreme Court to identify forests, the state government of Haryana has notified new definition of forest in the state. However, the environmental activists express concern that the new definition of forest would exclude most of the state’s remaining Aravalli forests from legal protection under the Forest Conservation Act. 

Supreme Court Directive

• The Supreme Court, while hearing challenges to the 2023 amendment to the Forest (Conservation) Act in the Ashok Kumar Sharma vs Union of India case, directed all States and Union Territories to define what constitutes a “forest” and begin surveys to identify such areas.
• It mandated the formation of expert committees within one month to map “forest-like areas,” “unclassified forests,” and “community forests,” and required these reports to be submitted to the Centre within six months.

Haryana’s definition of Forests

• In a recent notification, Haryana’s Environment, Forest and Wildlife department stated: A patch of land shall be deemed to be ‘forest as per dictionary meaning’, if it fulfils following conditions:
  • It has a minimum area of five hectares (if it is in isolation).
  • It has a minimum area of two hectares (if it is in contiguity with the government notified forests); and
  • It has a canopy density of 0.4 (40%) or more. 
• All linear/ compact / agro-forestry plantations and orchards situated outside the government notified forests shall not be treated as forests under the above definition.   

Criticism of Haryana’s Definition:

• High Canopy Density Threshold (40%): 
  • Environmentalists argue that Haryana’s definition creates an unreasonably high threshold for recognising land as forest. 
  • The requirement of a minimum canopy density of 40% is seen as problematic because the Aravallis naturally consist of scrub and thorn forests adapted to low rainfall conditions of 300-600 millimetres annually. 
  • These ecosystems, though ecologically valuable, would fail to meet the high canopy density criterion and thus risk exclusion from legal protection under the FCA. 
• Large Minimum Area Requirement (2-5 hectares): In a dry state like Haryana, smaller forest patches are ecologically significant. The threshold of 2-5 hectares is unreasonably high and risks ignoring these smaller but vital ecosystems.
• Exclusion of Plantations and Orchards: Excluding plantations and orchards from the definition of forests undermines their ecological contributions such as soil conservation, carbon sequestration, and micro-climate regulation.

By setting such restrictive thresholds, Haryana’s definition risks excluding large portions of the Aravallis from legal protection under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA). 

Forest Conservation Act 1980: 

• Enacted in 1980 to check rapid deforestation. Aimed at maintaining ecological balance, preserving biodiversity, and preventing indiscriminate diversion of forests for non-forests produce without the prior approval of the Centre.

Definition of Forest

• In 1996, the Supreme Court in T.N. Godavarman v. The Union of India ruled that the word “forest” under the Forest Conservation Act 1980 must be understood in its dictionary meaning, covering all statutorily recognised forests i.e., reserved, protected, or otherwise. This landmark judgment meant that any forested land irrespective of size, ownership, or official status could be deemed a forest, thereby expanding the scope of the FCA. 
• Criticism: This broad interpretation of forest was later criticised for obstructing even small-scale developmental and public utility projects.
• Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023: To address this, the 2023 amendment to the FCA restricted its applicability only to:
  • Notified forests, and
  • Lands recorded as “forest” in government documents.

The amendment was challenged by retired IFS officers and NGOs like Vanashakti and Goa Foundation, who argued it diluted the Act and weakened protections.