Bangalore: The Forest Department has revised its guidelines in order to streamline the contentious issue of granting permission for the felling of spontaneous trees (trees that grow naturally) in coffee plantations located in the State's eco-sensitive Western Ghats region.

The guidelines were revised after aggrieved coffee planters requested the Forest Department that a complete ban on felling of such trees be replaced with "a more reasonable direction that would enable the economic cultivation of coffee." The Forest Department also realised the practical difficulties in trying to implement a complete ban on felling spontaneous trees in coffee estates.

Too much shade bad

Coffee planters say that while shade is required, too much of it is detrimental for the proper growth of coffee. Also, if trees are not allowed to be felled, the canopy will spread, cutting of light and drastically reducing coffee yield.

They contended that as per the Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976 and the rules farmed under it, there was no need to obtain permission to fell trees in well stocked plantations of 750 trees or more per hectare (ha).

The Forest Department, however, saw it differently, buttressing its stand with a Supreme Court order (in civil writ petition no. 202/1995) which directed (in the case of Tamil Nadu) that spontaneous trees in coffee plantations should not be felled. With no affidavit being filed regarding the cutting of trees in coffee estates in Karnataka, the Forest Department chose to go by the court's directions issued in the case of Tamil Nadu.

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests issued directions in July 2006 "to stop felling any spontaneously grown trees in coffee plantations".

While issuing the new guidelines, the Forest Department has also made sure that they are in keeping with "the principles and spirit of the Supreme Court's directions."

As per the guidelines, permission for the cutting of spontaneous trees in coffee plantations will be given only at 10-year intervals; there should be not less than 750 well grown and yielding coffee plants per ha; the minimum girth of the tree to be felled should be at least 150 cm; and no felling permission will be given in spots that are steep and landslide prone and along streams and rivulets.

Also, five times the number of trees felled will have to be planted with native species.

Not for expansion

Crucially, the guidelines prohibit the felling of spontaneous trees for the expansion of estates. Further, land located in a natural forest, though under coffee cultivation, will not come under the description "plantation" but "forest." These areas will be excluded from the purview of the guidelines.

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