On Monday, the ongoing Bonn Climate Conference saw some heated discussions between countries. While rich countries like the United States and the European Union prevented developing nations from including climate finance in the agenda, poorer countries questioned ‘empty discussions’ that do not result in concrete climate actions. 
In her report, LCW’s Climate Change Research Lead Mrinali explains how rich nations have gone back on their promise of funding the climate fight.

LCW Policy Talks

Tomorrow, we’ll be hosting an interaction with Mrinali who wrote our May Natural Resource Policy Brief analysing a flawed system to value forests in India lost to development projects. These interactions are a part of our paid membership, but this time, we are opening it up to everyone! The interaction is at 4 pm over Zoom. Please do register and join in.

New in our Database
 
We currently have 678 ongoing conflicts documented in the LCW database. Last month, our team of researchers added 10 conflict cases to our database. We list a few:   

1. In Tamil Nadu, environmentalists petitioned against the East Coast Road expansion, stating that it would affect the ecology of a lagoon. In the same state, villagers in Tirunelveli oppose a proposed solar plant, claiming that the plant is being constructed over common lands. Viswanathan Sridhar brings us details.
2. In Maharashtra, Shubham Kothari reports that adivasis gathered to protest deforestation by city authorities in Mumbai, demanding forest rights titles. Whereas Maitreya details the protests against two upcoming renewable energy projects: flooding due to a wind farm near Pune threatens a wildlife sanctuary situated near it, and farmers protest against a solar park in Nashik, who claim that their lands were taken over by bypassing the law.
3. Over 5,000 households face eviction by the state forest department in South Delhi, from an area notified as a reserve forest, writes Asmi Sharma
4. In Nagaland, around 600 residents living around Dimapur railway station contest eviction notices labelling them encroachers, reports Emilo Yanthan.
5. Dalits in Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district held protests against the illegal transfer of their lands for an aquaculture business. Rachit Tiwari brings details.

 
Creating land banks in Odisha
 
On May 15, the Odisha state government issued a resolution on creating land banks for compensatory afforestation. This process is used to compensate for the loss of forested areas to development projects. This is the first circular passed by a state government in light of the new Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2022, which prescribes that non-forested areas be used as land banks for such afforestation. The new rules were introduced last year to remove “major bottlenecks” in granting permissions to clearing forests, as previously reported by LCW.
 
The Odisha state resolution directs that such land banks be created in each district by including degraded revenue forest lands only, and not lands formally notified as forests. The resolution, however, does not mention the usage of private forests for these land banks.
 
Experts, however, have previously argued that such land banks have been used to bypass land acquisition laws and avoid compliance with forest rights of forest dwelling communities.

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Editors
 
Mrinali, Climate Change Research Lead
Furquan Ameen, Associate Editor