Krithika

[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

🧵
The 2023 @ForestSurvey (FSI) registers a marginal increase in #India’s #forest cover by 156 km², a deceitful inflation that hides an inconvenient truth of colossal loss of natural #forests as an analysis by #PrakritiSrivastava @krithika_1193 & myself shows. Besides, the @ForestSurvey report #ISFR2023 has disregarded #SupremeCourt orders.
Read our analysis https://t.co/RFVvr33roC
#IFSReport2023 #ForestSurvey #IndiaForestReport
#IndiaForestSurvey

[Jairam Ramesh @Jairam_Ramesh]

Today the PM is giving one more evidence of the difference between his 'talk' and 'walk' on environment and forest matters.

The Ken-Betwa river linking project for which he is laying the foundation stone today poses a serious threat to the biodiversity-rich Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

Panna is a most remarkable success story of revival. By early 2009 its tiger population had been completely wiped out. But today thanks to the tiger reintroduction programme launched fifteen years ago - India's first - presently Panna has around 90+ tigers (including cubs and sub-adults) and is thriving with sustainable tourism- based livelihoods.

The project will submerge over 10% of the core area of the tiger reserve. Not only prime tiger habitats - but also those of other species like vultures - will be lost. The ecosystem will be bifurcated. More than 23 lakh trees are to be felled. Construction activities will be a severe disturbance. Three cement factories are being planned, one already commissioned in the vicinity of the park. And there are questions on the basic assumptions on surplus water itself.

What is unfortunate is that there are alternatives for executing the project (like locating the dam upstream) without causing such extensive ecological damage.

[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

Saving #tigers? by submerging, blasting destroying the heart of a #tiger reserve?
#Panna, A tiger reserve painstakingly revived after all its tigers went #extinct in 2009. Home to the almost-extinct #caracal & the smallest wild cat-the rusty spotted cat.Nearly 90 sq km of prime natural forests cleared. felled, destoryed. 23 L trees to be cut.
If #India claims to save tiger, indeed by a world leader in tiger conservation, this project must stop.

Terrible news to wake upto on #Christmas2024 . 'News' channels going gaga over the #UN 'Champion of the Earth Award' winning PM inaugurating the #kenbetwaproject which will drown & destroy #Panna #Tigerreserve. Drown the gorgeous #Ken gorge, nesting site of critically #endangered long billed #vultures.
The #kenbetwaproject lacks a robust environmental, social, biodiversity impact study, is shrouded in secrecy. The notion that the #river Ken has surplus water has been crtiqued by hydrologists. On my visit there, there was a lot of anger among farmers/people served by Ken, they themselves water starved.

Read my chapter on Panna in my book #TheVanishing
& this by @Indian_Rivers
https://t.co/QOemL2WWjb

[Vaishali Rawat @VaishaliRawat]

India's forest policies are headed in an utterly mindless direction, citizens pay attention!

Defying 3 SC orders, inc. a Feb '24 SC order upholding challenges to the Forest Conservation Amendment Act, the centre has allowed using existing forests for compensatory afforestation.

[Article 14 @Article14live]

Violating 3 #SupremeCourt orders & its own rules, #Modi govt has cleared, since Feb 2024, 56 proposals to cut prime, natural forests & afforest areas that are already forest, write Prakriti Srivastava @prernabindra & @krithika_1193

https://t.co/mJqRQ5EdWv

[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

The @moefcc & its regional offices have cleared 56 proposals to divert prime, natural forests for #development projects in blatant voilation of #SupremeCourt's Feb 19, 2024 order in the #forest amendment law case, write #PrakritiSrivastava @krithika_1193 & I for @Article14live

[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

A masterclass in how NOT to report @EconomicTimes . Sensational, irresposible, #journalism (if v can all it that) serves no purpose, fuels conflict, rumours , scare-mongering, maligns #wildlife , leads to lynching of a of of animals including of other species altogether including of jackals.
The tragic killing of innocent lives....children, caused , by a multitude of factors -including how #conflict is largely manmade, mishandling of #wildlife , destruction of habitat --and this is how one of #India#s leading #media houses reports it?

[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

The @ForestSurvey and @Moefcc has delayed its 2023 report/not been put in public domain.
Why?
Is it that their misleading methodology, use of incomplete data & worse non-compliance of #SupremeCourt orders stands exposed?
Read #PrakritiSrivastava @kr@krithika_1193
& my analysis of the #FSI reports for @Article14live
uncovers critical flaws & the inconvenient truth abt India's claims of --constantly-- increasing #forest cover. @samar11 @betwasharma

[Krithika @Krithika_1193]

Read our piece to know how misleading methodology, ignored #SupremeCourt orders, and inconsistent and incomplete data paints an (incorrectly) inflated picture of India's --ever- rising #forest cover. Thanks @Article14live @samar11! (2/2)

[Krithika @Krithika_1193]

@FAO recently praised #India for the rise in #forest cover based on @ForestSurvey reports. However, #PrakritiSrivastava, @prernabindra, and my analysis of the #FSI reports for @Article14live, uncovers critical flaws. (1/2)

[Article 14 @Article14live]

Using govt data the UN's @FAO ranked India 3rd globally in increasing  #forests, while @globalforests reported a 23,300-sq-km forest loss. #PrakritiSrivastava @krithika_1193 & @prernabindra explain why govt data is misleading

https://t.co/JOeUJW11xG

[AyushmanINC @abpandey]

Thank you @prernabindra, @Krithika_1193 and #PrakitiShrivastava for highlighting this very important concern, that seems to be lost in all the noise around.

This article really brings out how close to precipice India stands. Despite court orders, illegal mining continues eating into India's forest cover. Commercial Tourism further increases this pain.

And then, to keep this worsening issue from public glare, the governments in power, who are responsible for creating the issue in the first place, use false and unscientific methodologies.

To understand the entire issue, the article is a must read.

[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

UN's @FAO lauded #India recently for its #forest cover increase, relying on @ForestSurvey reports.
But has it really?
#PrakritiSrivastava @krithika_1193 & I uncover hard-truths & show that #FSI uses misleading methodology, ignores #SupremeCourt orders, relies on inconsistent, incomplete data casting doubt on the veracity of their claims of India's --ever- rising #forest cover.

[Article 14 @Article14live]

India does not know where many of its forests are, who owns or governs them, if they are protected, encroached or cut for building hotels, dams or malls #PrakritiSrivastava @krithika_1193 & @prernabindra dissect #Modi govt’s dodgy forest data

https://t.co/JOeUJW0tI8

[Article 14 @Article14live]

Between 2013-2023, India lost 23,300 sq km of forest land, 95% in natural forests: @globalforests. On 20 May 2024, @NGTribunal asked @moefcc for an explanation, with govt claiming 2660 sq km increase: #PrakritiSrivastava @krithika_1193 & @prernabindra

https://t.co/JOeUJW0tI8

[Article 14 @Article14live]

Between 2013-2023, India lost 23,300 sq km of forest land, 95% in natural forests: @globalforests. On 20 May 2024, @NGTribunal asked @moefcc for an explanation, with govt claiming 2660 sq km increase: #PrakritiSrivastava @krithika_1193 & @prernabindra

https://t.co/JOeUJW11xG

[Krithika @Krithika_1193]

Read our piece to know how misleading methodology, ignored #SupremeCourt orders, and inconsistent and incomplete data paints an (incorrectly) inflated picture of India's --ever- rising #forest cover. https://t.co/5eO9FPDfFb

[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

The #GreenCreditProgramme #GreenCreditRules2024 r positioned to b #climate friendly. Hogwash.
The rules #greenwash the destruction of existing #forests, monetise them, allow existing #forests to be traded for #CompensatoryAfforestation under the #ForestConservationAmendmentAct 2023
They must be repealed, as must the #FCAA
Read #PrakritiSrivastava’s detailed analysis (& urs truly) in @SanctuaryAsia
Plz RT, share
https://t.co/gGWVLFI7iv

[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

🧵
Thanks @SaketGokhale for raising the issue of #constitutional challenge to the #ForestConservationAmendmentAct2023 in the #SupremeCourt in the #Parliament today . Excuse my unparliamentary language but the response you got from the Hon minister @byadavbjp was bunkum.
I am one of the petitioners among 13; 11 of whom are civil servants including former forest service officers- & those who have served in the @moefcc as forest secretaries
@debadityo @ArvindK92925776
1/

[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

🧵 Implications of #FCAA23 👇(long 🧵 alert! )

In a landmark interim order on Feb 19th, the #CJI led #SupremeCourt (shukriya 🙏!) bench upheld the validity of its 1996 #GodavarmanJudgment in our PIL challenging the constitutionality of the #Forest (#Conservation) Amendment Act 2023. As the case is expected to be heard soon, this thread covers (in part) what hangs in the balance for #India’s #forests #wildlife #ecological security.
Read the detailed article here: https://t.co/oHq7mTwxpF
Context: The 202/96 Godavarman Judgment was a seminal SC order which specified the scope of the principal FCA, 1980 to encompass forests as per dictionary meaning, irrespective of ownership or notification status. States were directed to set up expert committees (SECs) within a month to notify forests that meet this definition, bringing them under legal protection.
See: https://t.co/fFdfK9DrcG
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[Prerna Singh Bindra PhD 🐘🐅🐾 @prernabindra]

#India ranks 176/180 in #environment global index, ranks 2nd in #deforestation,
17.8% of the total deaths in the country r linked to #airpollution
₹3.75L cr- annual cost of envt degradation
We alllow ~98% destrcutve projects-mega dams included in #ProtectedAreas
#India is among the most #climate vulnerable country-battered by #floods #cyclones #droughts #hailstorms affecting #ecological #food #economical national security.
Yet laws that protect #forests #environment are deemded 'hurdles' by #environment ministers,. and diluted.
@krithika_1193 and I draw up an environment agenda for #Modi3 @moefcc @byadavbjp
in @Article14live