Compensatory Afforestation

Compensatory afforestation is a dubious and controversial environmental “offset” that is adding to environmental damage instead of mitigating or compensating it. Compensatory afforestation may actually be accelerating the invasion of India’s forests by big corporations, in collusion with a permissive state, by legitimising the destruction of forests, greenwashing the land grabs, and encroaching on common property resources and community-held lands. This article is based on a study of the Polavaram multipurpose project in Andhra Pradesh, the Durgapur mines in Maharashtra, the Teesta hydroelectric project in Sikkim and the Lower Subansiri hydroelectric project in Arunachal Pradesh.