SECL achieves significant strides of ACA guidelines

South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), a prominent subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL), has made substantial progress in environmental sustainability by effectively implementing the Accredited Compensatory Afforestation (ACA) guidelines issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).

This initiative aims to increase forest cover and encourage afforestation on non-forest lands, thereby supporting national environmental goals and earning valuable carbon credits.

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Coal mining projects often require forest land, necessitating Forestry Clearance (FC) as part of the environmental approval process.

A major challenge in securing these clearances is the identification of suitable Compensatory Afforestation (CA) land. In response, the MoEF&CC issued guidelines on January 24, 2023, for ACA, aimed at streamlining the FC approval process, reducing CA costs, and enhancing afforestation efforts.

The ACA guidelines encourage both government institutions and private landowners to undertake afforestation on fallow lands, thereby increasing the Trees Outside Forests (TOF) and supporting biodiversity.

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In response to the ACA guidelines, SECL identified around 2,245 hectares of afforested non-forest de-coaled land, with 1,424 hectares in Chhattisgarh and 821 hectares in Madhya Pradesh.

These lands were identified as suitable for ACA and were proposed to the respective State Forest Departments for notification as ACA land banks. This move is expected to expedite the FC process for future coal mining projects that require forest land diversion.

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