Hyderabad: Climate action groups stage silent protest

Hyderabad: Against the backdrop of the joint parliamentary committee giving its go-ahead on the controversial Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill 2023 few climate action groups staged a silent protest in Hyderabad.

“While courts and reports keep pointing out the value of our forests, it is a fact that we are still too far from knowing exactly how many of these ecosystems serve us. Still, the government goes on treating our forests as dispensable. Be it the Aravallis, the mangroves all along our coast, Western and Eastern Ghats, biodiversity hotspots of North-East, our rich Central Indian forests - a great part of these could no longer be considered ‘forest’ and can potentially be sold, diverted, cleared, exploited without any regulatory oversight, if the new amendment bill is passed, said Ruchith Asha Kamal, Deputy Director, Climate Front India while staging the protest.

The proposed amendments severely compromise the constitutional mandate of the State (Article 48A) to safeguard forests, Article 51A (g) which places a duty on the citizens of India to protect and improve the natural environment and jeopardizes access to information, public participation and access to justice, which are essential components of Rio Declaration 1992 and fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. As a young Indian, I want to know if the government has a plan for the millions of Indians who are already reeling under extreme climate events across the country and anxious about our future, he added.