Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management And Planning Authority (campa)
Afforestation is establishment of trees in an area where no previous tree cover exists.
-
In India, the CAF (Compensatory Afforestation) Act was passed by the centre in 2016 and the related rules were notified in 2018.
-
Compensatory afforestation means that every time forest land is diverted for non-forest purposes such as mining or industry, the user agency pays for planting forests over an equal area of non-forest land, or when such land is not available, twice the area of degraded forest land.
-
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act was enacted to manage the funds collected for compensatory afforestation which till then was managed by ad hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
-
As per the rules, 90% of the CAF money is to be given to the states while 10% is to be retained by the Centre.
-
The funds can be used for treatment of catchment areas, assisted natural generation, forest management, wildlife protection and management, relocation of villages from protected areas, managing human-wildlife conflicts, training and awareness generation, supply of wood saving devices and allied activities.