Tamil Nadu authorities decides to not lengthen Rosewood Conservation Act

Tamil Nadu will now not have particular laws to manage rosewood exploitation, because the State authorities has determined to not renew the Tamil Nadu Rosewood Bushes (Conservation) Act, 1994, permitting the laws to lapse after its prolonged time period resulted in February 2025.

A latest Authorities Order (G.O.) issued by Supriya Sahu, Extra Chief Secretary, Division of Surroundings, Local weather Change and Forests, stated the laws was enacted in 1995 to guard Dalbergia latifolia, generally referred to as rosewood — a uncommon and priceless tree species whose numbers had been declining as a result of unlawful felling and commerce. Initially handed for 15 years, the laws was renewed in 2010 for one more 15 years.

Nevertheless, the federal government has determined that persevering with the Act is now not obligatory. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Power) famous that extended restrictions on felling rosewood timber on patta lands have discouraged farmers from cultivating the species, regardless of its excessive market worth. “If the restrictions are lifted, farmers might be enormously benefited by getting aggressive and remunerative costs for the rosewood timber grown on their patta lands. It will inspire farmers to take up planting of rosewood timber in massive numbers on their patta lands,” the G.O. famous.

The Tamil Nadu authorities is at present pursuing the target of bringing 33% of its whole land space beneath inexperienced cowl, consistent with the Nationwide Forest Coverage. In keeping with the G.O., incentivising rosewood cultivation on non-public lands aligns with this aim.

Srinivas R. Reddy, PCCF (Head of Forest Power), stated present environmental legal guidelines, such because the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Non-public Forests Act, 1949, and the Tamil Nadu Hill Areas (Preservation of Bushes) Act, 1955, had been adequate to manage the elimination of rosewood from areas outdoors forest limits.

Mr. Reddy said {that a} separate rosewood-specific Act was now not related or required, and that the laws had confirmed counterproductive by stopping farmers from cultivating rosewood timber.

Consultants, nonetheless, say the Tamil Nadu Preservation of Non-public Forests Act, 1949 and the Tamil Nadu Hill Areas (Preservation of Bushes) Act, 1955 aren’t designed to deal with the conservation of particular person species, like rosewood, in a focused method and the Acts don’t supply particular incentives to non-public landowners to preserve rosewood, in contrast to the Rosewood Conservation Act, which explicitly regulated and penalised rosewood exploitation.

Ecologist Naveen Babu famous the species confronted important exploitation throughout each the colonial and post-colonial durations, and cautioned that repealing the precise Act might have hostile penalties.

Requested whether or not a mapping of rosewood timber on non-public lands had been carried out, the PCCF responded within the damaging, stating the species is discovered primarily in property areas throughout the Western Ghats, with some presence in forested areas of the Japanese Ghats.

Notably, Dalbergia latifolia is listed as a “susceptible” species within the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature Purple Record of Threatened Species and in Appendix II of the CITES (Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) listing.

Whereas the G.O. states farmers will profit from cultivating rosewood, consultants say that these timber take round 30 years to succeed in a considerable measurement. D. Narasimhan, former professor of botany at Madras Christian School, stated that rosewood is a slow-growing tree that sometimes takes round 30 years to succeed in harvestable measurement, however it instructions a excessive market worth as a result of its high quality and demand.

Furthermore, mature rosewood timber are necessary genetic sources for plant breeding, and their continued depletion might critically impression the species’ gene pool. As massive timber have already been closely harvested for industrial use and are actually uncommon within the wild, consultants stress the necessity for a complete stock to evaluate the present inhabitants, together with measurement lessons, each in forests and on non-public lands.