NEW DELHI: International environmental groups have welcomed the report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill that has recommended inclusion of traditional forest dwellers within the purview of the legislation. They also hailed the renaming of the Bill as the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill, 2006.

"We appeal to Parliament to accept the Bill in its JPC-amended form, as it implements the international environmental commitments and principles of forest biodiversity protection and protected areas in respect of the indigenous forest communities," a joint statement issued by the groups said here on Saturday.

Consistent with principles

The JPC-amended Forest Bill is consistent with and promotes the implementation of the international commitments on sustainable use and management of forest biodiversity in relation to indigenous forest communities, they said. It also prevents the eviction of indigenous forest communities from forest land, and addresses the international principles of environmental conservation organisations on forest biodiversity.

The JPC-amended Bill complies with commitments and principles set by the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, U.N. Forum on Forests, V IUCN World Parks Congress, WWF Statement of Principles on Indigenous Peoples and Conservation.

However, the statement points out that the views of the National Forest Commission were not consistent with the principles of forest biodiversity protection and thus the assumptions that the JPC-amended Bill would weaken forest biodiversity protection were baseless.

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