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India’s First CDM-approved Wasteland Restoration Project Launched

Written by Mridul Chadha

Published on August 21st, 2010

 India’s first project aimed at recovery of barren land and its restoration through afforestation has been approved under the Clean Development Mechanism in the state of Haryana. The project will cover eight villages in the Sirsa district and will benefit hundreds of farmers.

The Forest department of the state government has entered into an official contract with the farmers of these villages wherein they will be paid through the Clean Development Mechanism for plantation of plants such as Jund, Eucalyptus, Sheesham, Beri and Dates. Farmers have already planted these and several other cash crops over a 300 hectare land.

The Forest department had provided extensive benefits to the farmers when the project was launched. The farmers are planting cash crops as well as orchards on wastelands which have not been cultivated since 1990. Incentives such as 100 percent subsidy …………………………………………….

Read more : http://cleantechnica.com/2010/08/21/first-restoration-of-degraded-land-by-afforestation-cdm-project-launched-in-india/

Rs 25,000 crore kitty for tackling climate change: Ramesh

PTI, Aug 21, 2010, 06.18pm IST

NEW DELHI: India is going to be affected "the most" by climate change but the government has made a provision for Rs 25,000 crore to mitigate its impact, environment minister Jairam Ramesh said.
Replying to a debate on a private member's resolution for setting up a fund for dealing with climate change, the minister said money is being raised through cess on coal and compulsory afforestation fund.
Besides, the finance ministry has sanctioned Rs 5,000 crore as recommended by 13th Finance Commission………………………………….

Read more: Rs 25,000 crore kitty for tackling climate change: Ramesh - Developmental Issues - Environment - Home - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/developmental-issues/Rs-25000-crore-kitty-for-tackling-climate-change-Ramesh-/articleshow/6388070.cms#ixzz0xG42zu5e

Hurdles before India's biggest FDI project

Sandeep Mishra, Aug 21, 2010, 01.20pm IST

Basant Behera is a confused man. A small farmer from a nondescript village in Orissa cannot be faulted for not understanding implications of mega projects or even the Forest Rights Act. He doesn't know if he should accept or return the cheque the administration gave him to relinquish his right over the land on which he had been growing betel vines for years.

If he accepts the cheque, it will make the government's job of acquiring land for the proposed Rs 52, 000-crore Posco project that much easier. Basant and Rohit Behera of Bhuyanpal village in Jagatsinghpur could, in fact, be the first to take home cheques worth Rs 1. 15 lakh each as ex-gratia from the administration…………………
Read more: Hurdles before India's biggest FDI project - India - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Hurdles-before-Indias-biggest-FDI-project/articleshow/6386861.cms#ixzz0xG4FhgOX

Road work held up for want of forest clearance 
Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 19
The Public Works Department (PWD) has not been able to start work on as many 266 road projects for want of the mandatory clearance under the Forest Conservation Act.

This was stated by PWD Minister Gulab Singh in the Vidhan Sabha during the Question Hour. He said the government had taken steps to expedite the process for obtaining clearance but the procedure was quite tedious.

The problem was compounded after the Supreme Court ruled that states would also have to pay the Net Present Value (NPV) of the forest land involved for obtaining clearance.

The government paid Rs 26.02 crore as the NPV in 2009 and this year it had earmarked Rs 13.55 crore for the purpose…………………….

Read more : http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100820/himachal.htm#6

Indian panel deals 'new blow' to Vedanta mine plan

(AFP) – 7 hours ago

NEW DELHI — Plans by resources giant Vedanta to build a mine on land held as sacred by an Indian tribe have been dealt a fresh blow after another government panel opposed the project, reports said Saturday.

India's Forest Advisory Committee said approval for the mine in eastern India should be denied, citing environmental violations and an adverse impact on a local tribe, The Hindu newspaper and other media reported.

The 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh tribespeople in Orissa state believe the remote Niyamgiri Hill range -- where the mine is mooted -- is the home of their God Niyam Raja, and rely on the land for their crops and livelihood.

London-listed Vedanta, the second-largest aluminium producer in India, wants the mine to ……………….

Read more http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jwIpCqjA9EABpUbzGfpPO5-IAmvA

Use of benefit cost analysis with equity considerations to evaluate social forestry projects in India

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Title:	Use of benefit cost analysis with equity considerations to evaluate social forestry projects in India
Author:	Khetarpal, S. K.
Degree	Master of Science - MSc
Program	Forestry
Copyright Date:	1989
Abstract:	Benefit cost analysis (BCA) has been found to be an inadequate tool for evaluating social forestry projects because of its indifference, to income distribution and inability to evaluate some environmental benefits (Sirivastava and Pant, 1979). Application of BCA, with consideration of income distribution, to the evaluation of social forestry projects in India is the subject of this thesis. A social forestry project has been implemented since 1982 in Maharashtra State (India) with the help of the Government of the U.S.A. to meet increasing requirements for fuelwood, fodder and small timber, to save existing forests, and to improve income distribution. Most of the village (common) lands included in the project for establishing fuelwood and fodder plantations are degraded and severely overgrazed. More productive but distant public forest lands are also available for establishing plantations. Whether or not the use of public forest lands for establishing fuelwood plantations is socially more efficient than planting on village (common) lands, is investigated and answered. The various approaches to incorporating equity in economic benefits are reviewed and the Squire and Van der Tak (1975) method is used. Five alternative plantation programs are considered in this thesis. Three of the plantation programs have been implemented since 1982 under the Maharashtra State social forestry project. The other two plantation' programs; are plantation programs on the public forest lands proposed to meet social forestry objectives. Costs other than the labour employed during the off-agriculture season have been valued at market prices. The labour cost during the off-agriculture season is valued at the shadow price of labour. A methodology is established for valuation of indirect benefits from saving the forests from deforestation. Social benefits are valued by attaching equity weights. From the results of the economic and social benefit cost analysis it is concluded that the program of distributing free seedlings to the farmers for planting on the field boundaries is economically and socially far more efficient than any other plantation program considered in this thesis. Establishing of fuelwood and fodder plantations on public forest lands is economically and socially more efficient than establishing plantations on degraded and severely overgrazed village (common) lands.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/27498
Series/Report no.	UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/]
Scholarly Level:	Graduate

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