Compensetory Afforestation

Compensatory Afforestation is the primary condition of any forest land transfer approval granted by central government under provisions of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (FCA), which is above 1.00 ha. It is one of the most important requirement or condition for prior approval of the Central Government for diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes while the purpose of compensatory afforestation (CA) is to compensate the loss of 'land by land' and loss of 'trees by trees'. Any proposal submitted by the State/UT Government seeking prior approval of Central Government under the FCA, shall have a comprehensive scheme for compensatory afforestation, duly approved by the competent authority of the concerned State or UT administration.

The land for CA, in general, is a non-forest land, where equivalent CA (in ha) has to be done. If non forest land is not available or is lesser in extent of the diverted land, the CA or balance CA can be done in the degraded forest land in double the extent of the diverted land. The selection of land for CA should be contiguous to or near a forest land.  However, if not available within the proximity of diverted forest, the land could be selected somewhere else in the same forest division or in other forest division within the State or even in other State as the case may be.   If non-forest land is not available, double the extent of CA shall be done in a degraded forest land. Number of plants to be planted over Non-Forest Land identified for CA, shall be at least 1000 plants per hectare.

Status of CA