e-Governance for Forest monitoring in India
Forests play an important part in any country’s social, cultural,
historical, economic, and industrial development, as well as in
maintaining its ecological balance. Forests meet the demands of a
diverse range of people. The premium on forests can be explained by
identifying them as primary producers and defenders of a variety of
natural resources. They share characteristics with many other resource
systems, such as agriculture, animal husbandry, watershed, biodiversity,
and energy, making sustainable, efficient, and fair governance
problematic. Forests supply us with a diverse range of goods and
ecological functions. They are an abundant source of biodiversity. A
vast number of underprivileged people who live in and around forest
areas rely substantially on these woods for a living. We must maintain a
healthy forest cover in terms of both size and quality, and we must use
it in a sustainable manner. Forests give numerous benefits to a wide
range of people. If not effectively managed, the variety of users can
lead to conflict and resource depletion. The term forest governance was
established to encompass the concept of democracy as well as the
participation of non-state actors in decision-making surrounding the
allocation and use of scarce forest resources. .
The Forest Survey of India (FSI) is a government of India institution
that is under the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Its primary
mission is to conduct surveys and assessments of the country’s forest
resources. It began in 1965 as an FAO/UNDP/GOI project named the
Pre-Investment Survey of Forest Resources (PISFR). PISFR’s activities
were expanded in response to growing information needs, and it was
renamed Forest Survey of India in 1981. PISFR’s major goal was to
determine the availability of raw materials for the establishment of
wood-based industries in specific locations of the country. The National
Commission on Agriculture (NCA) suggested in its 1976 report the
establishment of a National Forest Survey Organization to conduct a
regular, periodic, and thorough survey of the country’s forest
resources, which led to the establishment of FSI. Following a critical
examination of FSI’s activities, the Government of India amended its
mandate in 1986 to make it more relevant to the country’s fast changing
needs and ambitions. ”e-Green Watch” is a key e-governance effort of the
FSI, India .
The e-Green Watch is a user-friendly web-based tool that is transparent,
dependable, and accountable. It is an integrated e-governance platform
that enables the detection of temporal changes for effective online
monitoring and evaluation of respective States’ Compensatory
Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) forestry
sector activity. It is a comprehensive strategy to facilitate the
automation of various management procedures associated with the
utilization of CAMPA and other money supplied by states under various
centrally sponsored schemes for plantation and other forestry-related
works. The application can display the categories of Compensatory
Afforestation, Diverted Land, Plantations, Other Plantations, and Assets
on Google Earth images and the FSI portal. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, and Tripura were chosen as pilot states for the
initiative. Currently, 27 states/UTs are affiliated to the e-Green Watch
portal. The approach for systematic monitoring of ongoing plantations is
urgently needed for financial accountability and the adequate success of
plantations and other projects on the ground. The National Informatics
Centre (NIC) conceived and developed the e-Green Watch portal, and it is
actively involved in the creation, maintenance, and upgrading of the
portal’s technologies. FSI is analyzing and monitoring polygons uploaded
by SFDs/UTs to the e-green watch site and downloaded in kml (Keyhole
Markup Language) format. This particular system fits under G2G, G2C and
G2E models of e-governance due to the sharing of information between
government departments, upload of data by the employees for the
information of the public. The e-green watch technique includes the
following points (Figure 2):