Ending and reversing deforestation by 2030: Is South Asia keeping its promise?

On November 2, 2021, world leaders signed the Glasgow Leaders’ Declaration on Forests and Land Use and committed to working collectively to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. They also committed to delivering sustainable development and promoting an inclusive rural transformation. They pledged $19 billion of public and private funds to “halt and reverse deforestation and land degradation by 2030”.

It has been almost a year since the declaration has been signed. The world has seen much economic and political turmoil, as well as climate disasters. While the climate disasters exposed the precarious state of our environment, the economic and political turmoil pushed environmental concerns to a low priority. Such developments were unfortunate as they watered down the momentum and hope that had emerged out of that Declaration. This is especially true for countries in South Asia.

A lot is riding on this global commitment, especially after the failure of the 2014 New York Declaration on Forest (NYDF), but how are the signatory countries from South Asia placed in terms of meeting their commitments? Let’s have a look.

Nepal

The Glasgow Declaration was important for Nepal as it was already reeling under rampant deforestation. From 2002 to 2021, Nepal lost 4.05kha of natural forest, making up 8.1% of its total tree cover loss during this period. Media reports allege that community and national forests were cleared for expanding power transmission lines and constructing roads. They raise doubts over effectiveness of local, provincial, and national governments in reigning in deforestation.

Bhutan

This Himalayan kingdom is known for its commitment to conservation. In fact, it is bound by Constitution to preserve 60% of its land under forest cover. There is no surprise then that it witnessed the least decrease in tree cover (0.9%) in South Asia from 2001 to 2021. Situation has started to change a bit after pandemic, which battered Bhutan’s economy. The households are still feeling the impact of job losses and wage cuts.

Under such circumstances, the government is now considering exploiting its rich forest resources to boost timber production. The goal is to meet domestic demands and reduce imports. According to experts, Bhutan has the scope for increasing its timber harvest without leaving permanent damage to the environment. They point to the fact that the country has used only 5% of its total forest area for commercial forest production so far.

A concern that remains for Bhutan is forest fires. This continues to be a key threat to the forests, especially coniferous forests. Annually, large forest areas are lost to fires, and most of the fire incidents are reportedly caused by human activities such as burning of agricultural waste. Some experts have proposed cutting down “overcrowded forests” that are vulnerable to more and bigger forest fires. According to them, “careful thinning” and “prescribed burning” would improve forests’ health and build ecological resilience to fire, pests, and diseases.

Bangladesh

Deforestation has been a persistent issue in Bangladesh. In fact, it is one of the pressing ecological problems of the country, which lost 214kha of tree cover since 2000, which is more than a 11% decrease in total tree cover.

Both climate and environmental advocates have expressed doubt over country fulfilling its promise of ending deforestation. Despite its commitment, Bangladesh is reportedly setting up a coal power plant near mangrove ecosystems of the Sundarbans—which has already lost over 200,000 hectares of mangroves to make way for prawn farming. This, however, is a “conservative estimate.” There is also a widespread concern over the enduring negative impact of plantation projects funded by multilateral financial institutions. According to civil society organisations, the government hasn’t demonstrated willingness to formulate appropriate forestry policies and strategic programmes to protect its forests.

Pakistan

The recent deadly flooding in Pakistan has put the focus back on the country’s efforts at conserving its natural defence systems—the forests. The country reportedly loses almost 27,000 hectares of natural forest area, thanks to overt dependence on forest resources, especially on firewood as a main source of energy.

In 2020, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) revealed that Pakistan’s deforestation rate is the second highest in Asia, after Afghanistan. Only 5.7 per cent of land (about 4.54 million hectares) is under forest cover. According to study published in Frontiers in Environmental Science in March 2022, “weak law enforcement, and policy implementation, the conflicts between government and locals on ownership rights through bureaucratic interference, unstable land tenure rights, lack of protected areas, and exclusion of conservation and community-based management are the major factors of non-effectiveness of the forest management regimes” in Pakistan.

Sri Lanka

Even before the island nation plunged into deep economic crisis, the signs of violation of environmental laws had started surfacing. Mahindra Rajapaksa, the ousted Prime Minister, reportedly allowed encroachment and clearing of forests to favour villagers and loyalists. A country that lost 202kha of tree cover between 2001-2021, could ill-afford this.

There is growing apprehension that economic crisis will put all environmental safeguards in the backburner. With prevailing hyperinflation and reduced income opportunities, people may turn toward natural resources, including forests, to sustain themselves. For example, more and more people will turn to firewood for fuel, which can lead to further deforestation.

Source: Global Forest Watch

Why did India stay away from Glasgow Declaration?

Curiously enough, India remained non-committal at the CoP26 in Glasgow. This did not reflect well on the country, which needs a renewed focus on conservation of its forests. If we go by the data, India lost 2.07 million hectares of tree cover from 2001 to 2021. Between 2001 and 2021, an average of 48.3Mt of carbon per year was released into the atmosphere because of tree cover loss, totalling to 1.01Gt of carbon. More than ever, the world wanted India to sign that Glasgow Declaration as the country had been indicating changes to existing Forest Conservation Act, 1980 to make way for deforestation, on the pretext of carrying on development projects.

Signing Glasgow Declaration would have stalled the government’s efforts to whittle down the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, a law that has been crucial in reducing deforestation by virtue of having established a strict process of getting approvals when forests are diverted for non-forestry purposes.

With most of the countries in South Asia finding it hard to address competing priorities and getting influenced by economic compulsions, it is difficult to envision concerted efforts towards meeting 2030 commitments on deforestation.