By Urvashi Narain, WAVES Senior Environmental Economist

 

Himachal Pradesh Forest Account Workshop Group PhotoEarlier this year, I wrote about Himachal Pradesh’s commitment to construct forest accounts. Well, Himachal is now well on its way.  
 
Himachal held its first training workshop on forest accounts in Shimla – focused on identifying policy issues that the forest accounts will inform, and to kick-off the work.
 
The workshop began with a keynote address from Prof. T.C.A. Anant, Secretary and Chief Statistician of India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Prof. Anant spoke of the central government’s efforts to green India’s national accounts, and welcomed the effort in Himachal Pradesh to build forest accounts, adding that this would help show the way to other states. Himachal Pradesh’s experience would also help inform efforts on how to develop standards for such accounts, especially when it comes to economic valuation.
 

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He cautioned, though, that while a lot of data are available to potentially build accounts, to move beyond one-off efforts it is important that these data meet certain standards – be generated using the same definitions, and be produced at a regular, predictable interval. “Institutionalizing of the data collection and reporting process will be critical,” he noted.
 
In congruence, Himachal is working towards building a system where the accounts are institutionalized and they become integral to forest management practices.
 
To make forest accounts operational, governments need to implement four interdependent components: establish institutional and management arrangements, compile the accounts and support policy analysis, build capacity in departments for regular updates, and communicate the results.
 

India's Chief Statistician Prof. T.C.A. Anant

Prof. T. C. A. Anant, Secretary and Chief Statistician of India, delivering the keynote address at the workshop.

 

Institutional and management arrangements are probably the cornerstone of building forest accounts in any state or country. These include not only establishing mandates for forest accounts to be part of work programs of appropriate government departments, establishing formal data sharing and data reporting arrangements, but also establishing a high-level steering committee that can oversee the process and facilitate policy dialogue.  

Compilation and policy analysis are two separate, but inter-related, components. The first component is focused on providing the basic data and indicators, while the second on using the data to inform policy. It is important that the accounts be compiled to address key policy questions, because the accounts are more likely to be institutionalized if the information they provide is demanded. 

Capacity building is achieved by learning-by-doing and formal training and should aim at the two key aspects, the users’ side (policy applications) and the suppliers’ side (technical compilation and database management). Finally, through regular communication government can provide information to key stakeholders and also disseminate information that can be used to inform policy.

Himachal Pradesh is making good progress on all four project components. 
Himachal has notified a high-level inter-departmental steering committee with a mandate to provide overall guidance to the efforts to build forest accounts. The government also established a technical working committee with officers from the Forest Department and the Department of Economics and Statistics, departments that together will be responsible for compiling the accounts. This group has been meeting regularly to discuss data needs and gaps.    
 
At the workshop, the government announced that the forest accounts would focus on four policy issues:
  • Q1: What is the forest wealth (physical and monetary stock of timber) of Himachal Pradesh? How has this evolved since 1971 (when Himachal was granted statehood)?
  • Q2: What is the contribution of timber and non-timber forest products to the state GDP, how are these benefits distributed, and how can they be increased sustainably?
  • Q3: What is the value of forest ecosystem services to the hydropower sector and how can these be optimized?
  • Q4: What is the contribution of forests to the tourism sector in the state and how can these be increased sustainably?

Himachal Pradesh workshop table

Policymakers particularly wanted the accounts to help them understand the contribution of forests to the hydropower and tourism sectors, two key growth sectors for the state. Tarun Shridhar, Principal Secretary of Forests in Himachal Pradesh, highlighting the importance of these sectors, noted that “there is little understanding of the impact that forest conversion or loss would have on these sectors.” Shrikant Baldi, the Principal Secretary of Finance, on the other hand, noted that “if we don’t understand the full value of the products and services provided by forests, sufficient resources will not be devoted to the maintenance of forests, with a negative impact on the economy.”

Participants spent time identifying what components of forest accounts would need to be compiled to answer their questions (shown in the table above) and outlining a timeline for the work.    

The workshop started the process of capacity building and is the first of a series of face-to-face trainings that will be organized. Nothing, of course, will be as critical to the process of building capacity as learning-by-doing, as government officers begin to compile the accounts. 

Finally, communications. Again, the workshop served the purpose of creating greater awareness for the work on forest accounts. We saw growing interest on the topic from the media. You can read a range of press coverage on the issue.