In a letter to Orissa chief minister Navin Pathnaik and environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan, the ecologists have expressed concern over the state government's decision of afforestation in non-forest land in lieu of the trees being cut in forest land.
“This activity will entail conversion of non-forest land into forest land to carry out afforestation and in the process deprive another lot of people of access to common land," said the letter signed by Belinda Wright of Wildlife Protection Society of India, Biswajit Mohanty of Wildlife Society of Orissa, Debi Goenka of Conservation Action Trust, Ashish Fernandes of Greenpeace, Kartik Shanker of Dakshin Foundation and Centre for Ecological Sciences, Ravi Chellam an wildlife biologist and Sharad Lele of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment.Â
They said the afforestation in the country has been far from satisfactory and can seriously damage the existing coastal ecosystem and expressed displeasure over cutting down of trees in huge police presence. Read the full report here.
Source: Hindustan Times, New Delhi.
