Bamboo no longer a tree, ordinance amends forest law

NEW DELHI: The President on Thursday cleared an ordinance amending the Indian Forest Act, 1927, to exempt bamboo extracted from non-forest land from the felling and transit permit — a move that experts believe will encourage industrial use.

There has been a long-standing demand to remove bamboo from the list of trees, because scientifically it is a grass, and also a resource that forest-dependent communities heavily rely on.

Inclusion in the Forest Act as a tree means extracting bamboo and its trade is heavily regulated.

“For industrial use, bamboo is great; for forest-dependent communities, it is not so,” Parth Shah, founder-president of Centre for Civil Society, a Delhibased policy think tank, which has been advocating for removing regulations on the extraction of bamboo from both forest and non-forest lands. “It is very important the forest bamboo be freed up, too.”

The total forest and tree cover is 24.16% of India’s geographical area with majority of it covered by bamboo plantations.

The move will encourage private plantation and trade in bamboo. Despite being one of the most bamboo-rich countries, India does not have a substantial industry based on it. China, which has the largest stock, doesn’t just have a vibrant bamboo-based industry but has captured the export market for bamboo products over the years as well.