COMPENSATORY AFFORESTATION MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING AUTHORITY(CAMPA)

The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 has succeeded in controlling the indiscriminate release of forest land for non-forestry purposes. Prior to 1980, the rate of diversion of forest lands for non-forestry purposes was about 1.43 lakh ha. per annum. But, with the advent of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the rate of diversion of forest lands has come down to around 15000 ha. per annum and mostly diversion of forest land is allowed to meet the developmental needs for Drinking water projects, Irrigation projects, Transmission lines, Railway lines, Roads, Power projects, Defence related projects, Mining etc. For such diversions of forest lands for non-forestry purposes, compensatory afforestation is stipulated and catchment area treatment plan, wildlife habitat improvement plan, rehabilitation plan etc. are being implemented, to mitigate the ill effects of diversion of such vast area of green forests. To monitor the effective implementation of the compensatory afforestation in the country, an authority named as "Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA)" is being constituted at the national level. A monitoring cell is also being set up in the Ministry of Environment & Forests to monitor the movement of proposals at various stages and the compliance of the conditions stipulated in the forestry clearances by the user agencies.