Nagpur: Can the monetary value of the tree change the value of the environment? – Questions that do not need answers but are still raised by environmental lovers after the latest norms released by the State UDD development department (UDD).
According to experts, norms “none other than the dilution of” from the latest amendments to the protection of Maharashtra (urban areas) and preservation of tree law, 1975.
While the revised law is intended to protect green protection and tense the rules of tree logging, which Issued by UDD it has permitted the provisions to pay the value of the tree if applicants who want to fall trees cannot do compensation plantations.
Environmental lovers are worried that clauses will be “misused”, especially in the case of large-scale projects.
“A tree is an ecosystem by itself and there is no amount of money that can compensate for it.
These norms are the banter of tree laws and will only open the way for easy tree logging.
If there is a project that will appear, the number of trees It will be cut down and their monetary value will be added easily in the project costs, which leads to the destruction of the green cover, “said Environmental activist Anasuya Kale Chhabrani.
Activists also quoted the latest and first guidelines on the rating of the tree set by the Committee appointed by the Supreme Court.
Like, the tree monetary value is the age multiplied by RS74,500.
“Going with this, the cost of the old trees proposed to be cut down because various projects will be in Crores or more.
And according to the Guidelines for the APEX court, the age of the tree needs to be known.
At present, local authorities do not have a scientific mechanism for counting it,” said activist.
While the production of oxygen and absorption of carbon has become a common parameter in estimating the economic value of trees, environmental experts and Prachi Tree experts Maurkar said it was far more than that.
“Tree contributions are unlimited – in addition to releasing oxygen and absorbing carbon-dioxide, it maintains groundwater levels, preventing soil erosion, providing habitat for various species of biodiversity, controlling air pollution and more.
How can money provide compensation for all this?” she says.
UDD guidelines also state that transplants can be done under the guidance of an expert.
Call it another big gap, said activist, “we all realize that only a few species of the size of a certain thickness that can be transplanted.
There is enough evidence to prove that transplants are nothing but a big failure and waste of money, especially in Central India.
Without a success story, how Can the government provide this provision? “