An explanation of how a highly-valued horticultural species does not need anti-felling laws but protection from sweeping changes in land use.
The Indian Express, 29 January, 2016
The Goa government’s move to allow felling of coconut trees without permission has fuelled a debate on, among other issues, the correct definition of ‘tree’. Dictionaries describe a tree as a perennial woody plant whose branches spring from and are supported by a trunk. There is no standard legal definition as different courts of law worldwide have used various yardsticks — girth, height, girth at a certain height etc.
The Indian Express, 29 January, 2016
The Goa government’s move to allow felling of coconut trees without permission has fuelled a debate on, among other issues, the correct definition of ‘tree’. Dictionaries describe a tree as a perennial woody plant whose branches spring from and are supported by a trunk. There is no standard legal definition as different courts of law worldwide have used various yardsticks — girth, height, girth at a certain height etc.
Coconut (Cocos nucifera) belongs to the Arecaceae (palm) family. We know palms do not grow branches. But a plant does not need to qualify as a ‘tree’ to be legally protected. A number of medicinal or aromatic herbs figure on the IUCN Red list of endangered species and are duly protected.
In India, every state government draws up a list of the plant species they want to protect outside forest areas. Typically, a species is picked based on its abundance and commercial value. Rare species which are in high demand, such as red sandalwood, are naturally listed. On the other hand, felling of fast-growing timber species — eucalyptus, for instance — is usually allowed as a short-period crop.
Horticultural species such as mango or coconut are valued for their cyclical returns and there is no incentive for a farmer to cut a fruit-bearing tree. And when old, diseased or barren trees are removed, they usually make room for the next generation of a species. That is why one needs no permission to fell coconut trees in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha — the coastal states that contribute to over 90% of India’s coconut production. West Bengal is an exception; felling of any tree requires permission in the state.
In 2012, the Environment Ministry’s report on Felling and Transit Regulations for Tree Species Grown on Non-forest/Private Land said that there “is a case for full exemption from regulatory regime…in all states of such… species with very sporadic distribution in forests but grown by farmers on large scale.” Species like guava, coconut, cashewnut, citrus and areca nut were named on the horticultural list recommended for exemption.
However, enabling the farmer to decide how best to manage her orchard or plantation is not the only approach. Philippines, a country producing more coconuts than India, legislated its Coconut Preservation Act of 1995, which prohibits felling of any coconut tree not “60 years old” unless it is diseased, weak or economically non-productive. The law, however, allows felling of trees when the agricultural land devoted to coconut production is converted into an industrial, commercial or residential area.
And therein lies the catch.
As long as a plot is earmarked and used for agriculture, a farmer is unlikely to get rid of her coconut trees that yield fruits every year and bring money. Even if she sells off her orchard, the trees are likely to be safe as long as the new owner cannot put the land to non-agricultural use. The equation changes with a change in land use. Even the most productive coconut grove cannot be as profitable as a mega factory or a housing estate.
In Goa, more than the government’s move to do away with permission for felling coconut trees, the timing and the circumstances of the move make it controversial. In August 2014, the state government passed the Goa Investment Promotion Act, 2014. Section 7 (3) of the Act says that once an area is notified for investment promotion, the provisions of the Regional Plan, the Outline Development Plan, all other acts of local bodies, and the land revenue code “shall cease to apply” to the notified area.
Under this Act, the Goa government notified 12 hectares of agricultural land — a coconut orchard — for industrial use on December 21, 2015.
The trees stand in the way of a Rs 140-crore distillery and brewery project. There is every chance that more and more orchards will make way for factories, housings or highways with similar change in land use in the near future.
It is perhaps inevitable in a largely green state like Goa that certain natural areas will have to be sacrificed to accommodate development. By 2014, the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (Goa IDC) had already set up more than 20 industrial estates which house more than 1,600 operating industrial units over a utilised area of 1,000 hectares. Much of Goa is anyway made of laterite that lends the redness to its soil. Without exhausting such relatively unproductive areas, pushing industry to lush agricultural zones by changing land use is what makes Goa’s coconut move dangerous for the species and the Goan way of life.
Otherwise, an average Goan would be thanking the government for letting her decide how to manage her coconut trees.
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