When an economist writes on the fudging of Forest survey data, it is an indication of a situation having gone from bad to worse. However, Ajit Ninan also falls into the trap of assessing ‘forests’ as land with tree growth. @moefcc 1/n deccanherald.com/opinion/panora…
What of #grasslands which can #sequester #carbon quite as rapidly and sustaining side ranging biodiversity? What of #coastal #sand #dunes, which apart from protecting us from the fury of cyclones, also provides an amazing diversity of niche spaces for aquatic beings,. @E_S_G 2/n
...major biodiversity reserves, fertile fish breeding sites & also regulate nutrient flows & silt, supporting wide ranging human activities including fishing & farming? What about riverine systems & their flood plains that support all our cities, industries & agriculture? 4/n 
The problem with this Forest Survey is that it is stuck in a colonial mindset of counting land with trees as valuabl & the rest not. @scigovin has uncritically accepted this poor assessment of biotic richness & diversity, & thus failing, quite often... 5/n
..in protecting critical ecosystems which may not have trees. What we need is an intelligent and participatory Ecological Survey of India, done democratically and involving Forest Rights Cmts and Biodiversity Mgmt Cmts, not only technocrats and bureaucrats... @MmhonlumoKikon 6/n
... failing, quite often, in protecting critical ecosystems which may not have trees. What we need is an intelligent & participatory Ecological Survey of India, done democratically involving Forest Rights Cmts and Biodiversity Mgmt Cmts, not only technocrats and bureaucrats. 7/n
.. (possibly well, if good governance and welfare of all was ever a motto followed by those in power), and #India thus contributing its due part to the stability of planetary scale ecological dynamics. @DeccanHerald @leipak @bhargirao @JagdishKrishna8 @PrakashJavdekar @UNEP 8/8
