PANAJI
The Goa government appointed a Review Committee under the Chief Conservator of Forest (CCF) to review private forest areas-- identified by the Thomas and Araujo Committees-- has recommended an additional 8.93sq kms of area as private forest.
The government has accepted the Review Committee’s recommendation made in 8th and 9th “ report proposing 10.84 sq kms of area be considered for notifying as private forest in the State.
As per sources, the government has accepted the recommendations made in both the reports. “In the 10th report submitted by the committee, 8.93 sq kms of area is proposed as private forest and recommended that same be notified,” sources said.
In 2024, in two separate orders, the government had notified 45.5 sq kms and 46.1 sq kms of area in the State as private forest in compliance with an order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
The committee prepared the 10th report after disposing of a total 2,798 survey numbers out of total 3,349, of which 3195 survey numbers were provisionally identified by Thomas and Araujo committees plus 154 survey numbers that were excluded by the Thomas and Araujo committees between 2012-18.
The State government criteria to identify private forests are that the area should be contiguous to government forest lands and, if in isolation, the minimum area identified should be 5 hectares.
The review committee reviewed the survey numbers after detailed analysis through Google Timeline Change corroborated based on court orders, tree felling, etc.
The committee in its first report had recommended 4.70 sq kms of area as private forest, while another 2.25 sq kms and 7.69 sq kms were proposed in the second and third report.
Similarly, in the fourth report, it identified 14.31 sq kms of private forest for notifying and another 3.92 sq kms in the fifth report and 11.6 sq kms in the sixth report. In the 7th report, over 20 sq kms of area was proposed as a private forest.
“The government has accepted all the reports and their recommendations,” sources said.
As per the criteria, the canopy density should not be less than 0.4.
