28 June 2015, MailOnline India news - The Union environment minister has a plan to regenerate the degraded forests of the country. But experts are warning that it may not revive India's lost wildlife and biodiversity, because artificial ecosystems cannot be a substitute for the natural process.

The efforts to replant greenery in the degraded areas have often seen single species planted, which is not the best thing for biodiversit 

Forest experts have claimed that massive afforestation in the degraded areas comprises monoculture plantations (planting single species). They said that this would be counterproductive and would never be able to create the ecosystems required for wildlife and biodiversity to thrive.

Finding fault with the environment ministry's plan to regenerate forests in 2.97 lakh square km (that is lying degraded out of the 6.97 lakh square km of total forest land), the experts said "this would not achieve the objective", as "creating or trying to create artificial ecosystem can never be a substitute for natural ecosystem, which is created over a substantial time".

According to former Project Tiger director PK Sen, the whole concept of afforestation practiced since 1960 in the country has boomeranged.

"Afforestation, especially with Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), is a massive scam in itself, with most of the fund pocketed by states and agencies. In most afforestations carried over a span of five or 10 years, the same lands were replanted as the cutting cycle was just four-five years. Species like Acacia and Eucalyptus were raised, which were then cut for their timber within five years and overlapping plantations were carried out," Sen said.

"Monoculture neither has biodiversity nor an ecological value," he said, adding: "To sustain wildlife and biodiversity, only natural plantations need to be protected like the tropical forests".

Former National Board for Wildlife member Prerna Bindra said: “Our priority should be to conserve existing biodiversity-rich forests to protect wildlife and the vital ecosystem services they provide. Here, I do not mean just forests but other vital ecosystems like wetlands and grasslands, which are highly productive and harbour endangered wildlife, besides playing a key role in groundwater regime, sequestering (storing) carbon etc.”

“Plantations are, essentially, monocultures. They cannot replace natural forests, which take generations to grow and evolve,” she said.

Asserting that the very concept of regeneration is impractical in terms of conservation, a senior forest official, who headed the National Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary said: “The productivity of degraded forest lands is very low. Since it does not have much water retention, the plantation becomes less viable and grows only after 25-30 years.”

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-3142471/Experts-warn-artificial-forest-regeneration-plan-WON-T-revive-stricken-green-spaces.html