55% forestry data missing, govt looks to plug holes

NEW DELHI: The government has finally geared up to fill a gaping hole in its forestry statistics ��� almost 55% of forestry data in the country has been missing for years. In a move to find out how much wood and non-timber produce like tendu and medicinal plants actually get traded in, who produces them and who are the major consumers, the ministry of environment and forests is preparing a National Forestry Database Management System.

Government has estimated, on basis of studies, that 270 million tonnes of fuel wood, 280 million tonnes of fodder, over 12 million cubic metres of timber and several hundred thousand tonnes of non-timber produce like medicinal plants tubers and various fruits are taken from forests annually. The market value of these is estimated to be Rs 300,000 million per annum.

These figures do not reflect the non-timber produce taken from forests by hundreds of thousands of forest-dependent people in the villages.

Yet, the existing national accounts reflect the contribution of forestry to be about 1.2%, which government officials admit is severely under-reported. The consequences of under-reporting as well as non-inclusion of the economic benefits of watershed and other ecological services leads to the cost-benefit analysis of undertaking development projects at the cost of forests getting skewed, officials pointed out.

"The creation of the database system under a special scheme in the 11th Five Year Plan and funding support from International Tropical Timber Organisation will build the capacity across states as well as ensure that once this database system is set up, information will flow regularly in a standardised manner," said Bipin Bihari, DIG in the environment ministry.

The database is considered important as India is under international obligation to provide information to ITTO.

Also, as timber imports have become a big drain on the exchequer, while deciding on exim policy, the decisions are made on incomplete data. At present, roughly 50% of wood comes from non-forest areas and the accounting of this segment of the market has been very poor.

nitin.sethi@timesgroup.com