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Auditing Forests: Guidance
for Supreme Audit Institutions
Nameeta Prasad,
Director,
International Center for
Environment Audit and Sustainable
Development, Jaipur
Definition of forest
• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2005) defines forest as:
– Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ
– It doesn’t include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use
• In India
– Indian Forest Act and Forest Conservation Act do not define what is a forest (forests those which under government protection—RF/PF
– Supreme Court in T N Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India 1995 defined forest in terms of dictionary meaning
• Debate on exact definition still going on
Forests– some definitions
• Forest cover
– defined as an area more than 1 ha in extent and having tree
canopy density of 10 percent and above
• Tree cover
– means the area covered by crown of trees that is too small to
be delineated by digital interpretation of remote sensing data at
1:50,000 scale used for forest cover assessment
– India's National Forest Policy aims at maintaining 33 percent of
country's geographical area under forest and tree cover.
Forests: Why important
• Forests amongst the most diverse and widespread
ecosystems on the earth
– Critical in meeting human needs for water, food, shelter,
medicine, fuel wood, fodder, and timber.
– Provide a wide range of environmental services, which include
biological diversity conservation, watershed protection,
protection of soil, mitigation of global climate change, and
protection against desertification (FAO, 1999).
Forests: Why Important
• Also important economically
– Source of livelihood and paid employment for local economies,
and make a major contribution to national economies through
domestic and export sales of forest products.
– According to the World Bank, 1.6 billion people rely heavily on
forests for their livelihoods
• Also play a major social role and contribute to people's
quality of life
Types of forest ownership and forest
management
• According to FAO (2005), forest ownership, is either:
– Privately owned
• Land owned by individuals, families, private cooperatives, corporations,
industries, private religious and educational institutions, pension or
investment funds, and other private institutions. Private owners may be
engaged in agriculture or other occupations including forestry
– Publicly owned
• Land owned by the state (national, state and regional governments) or
government-owned institutions or corporations or other public bodies
including cities, municipalities and villages or
– Other. Neither publicly nor privately owned.
The role of government in protection of
forests
• Balancing the different ways that humans engage with
forests depends on good policy and, more often than
not, requires governments to play the role of judicious
arbiter
– One of the key tools that governments can use is appropriate
national and regional legislation and policies
– Issue of sustainability
Regulatory framework
• National Forest Policy, 1988
– Maintenance of environmental stability through preservation/ restoration of the
ecological balance by serious depletion of the forests
– Conserving the natural heritage of the country by preserving remaining natural
forests with the vast variety of flora and fauna
– Checking soil erosion and denudation in the catchment areas of rivers, lakes
– Checking the extension of sand-dunes in the desert areas of Rajasthan and
along the coastal tracts
– Increasing forest/tree cover by afforestation and social forestry programs
especially on all denuded, degraded and unproductive lands
– · Meet requirements of fuel-wood, fodder, minor forest produce and small
timber of the rural and tribal populations
– Increasing the productivity of forests to meet essential national needs,
encouraging efficient utilization of forest produce/substitution of wood
– Creating a massive people's movement with the involvement of women, for
achieving these objectives and to minimise pressure on existing forests
Regulatory framework
• The Indian Forest Act, 1927
– consolidates the law relating to forests, the transit of forest-produce and
the duty leviable on timber and other forest-produce
• The Forest Conservation Act 1980
– enacted to help conserve the country's forests
– strictly restricts and regulates the de-reservation of forests or use of forest
land for non-forest purposes without the prior approval of Central
Government
• lays down the pre-requisites for the diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes.
• The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006
– recognizes the rights of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other
traditional forest dwellers over the forest areas inhabited by them and
provides a framework for according the same.
Regulatory framework
• National Mission for a Green India (GIM)
– To increase forest/tree cover to the extent of 5 million hectares
(mha) and improve quality of forest/tree cover on another 5 mha of
forest/non-forest lands;
– To improve/enhance eco-system services like carbon
sequestration and storage (in forests and other ecosystems),
hydrological services and biodiversity; along with provisioning
services like fuel, fodder, and timber and non-timber forest
produces (NTFPs); and
– To increase forest based livelihood income of about 3 million
households.
– Implementation guidelines
• http://moef.gov.in/sites/default/files/GIM_Implementation_Guidelines.pdf
Role of SAIs
• SAIs can audit
– performance and the compliance of government activities with
regard to forest management
– but also the soundness of government accountability systems
and practices
– SAIs can assist the government by strengthening the way
government manages its internal controls, by reviewing these
controls and providing suggestions about how to improve them.
– SAIs can also suggest how government can improve the ways
it assesses and mitigates risks related to management
processes.
Auditing forests: INTOSAI
Phase I: Identify risks
Phase II: Understanding the forest management entity’s efforts to mitigate risks
Phase III: Evaluate and test the capacity of the management entity to mitigate risks
Phase IV: Choose audit topics and priorities
Phase I: Identify risks
• Identify risks to protection and conservation of forests
• Some examples of risk are:
– Biodiversity and ecosystem loss due to logging
– Forest fire risk
– Illegal mining risk
– Conflict risk– movement of people from PAs
– Illegal use of lands– grazing
– Control of alien species
– Growing demand of fuelwood and fodder
Phase II: Understanding the forest
management entity’s efforts to mitigate risks
• Forest management entity may already be undertaking efforts to resolve the various issues it faces
• Gain understanding of the steps taken by the management entity and other key players involved
• Some efforts that could be taken to mitigate risks
– Establish policies
– Enact legislation
– Forest biodiversity inventory
– Designate areas for permanent forest
– Better protection facility
– Classification of forests
Phase III: Evaluate and test the capacity of the
management entity to mitigate risks
• Make an assessment of the measures put in place by
the government for protection of forests by means of
measures like
– Laws, rules, regulations, programs, IT tools, manpower,
funding
– Whether the entity’s control systems in these areas are
inadequate or have the potential to create further risks
• Relevant staff and senior officials of the forest management entity
should be interviewed to arrive at a conclusion
Phase IV: Choose audit topics and
priorities
• The SAI needs to consider:
– auditors capacity to answer questions about the audit and its
findings
– level and nature of public attention surrounding the subject
– amount of money involved
– nature and extent of the impact that might result from the audit
findings
Steps in designing an audit programme
5: Decide audit criteria
4: Formulate potential audit objective and researchable questions
3: Identify related risk
2: Decide the sub-topic
1: Choose primary audit topic
Primary audit topic
• List of topics audited by SAIs
– Performance Audit to the Actions Implemented for the Management of
Forestry Resources
– Application of policies and rules on forestry
– Audit of the effective use of land and forest resources in Forest
management office for Moscow area and Moscow city
– Protection of valuable forest habitats in the Natura 2000 network areas
– Audit of Forest Fire Control System
– Audit of the project of sustainable management of native forest
– Project for forest environment preservation
– Forest Fire Prevention and Fight
– Management of Recreational Forest
– Audit on the Federal Program: Sustainable Amazon
Deciding Audit Criteria
• Audit criteria may be developed from
– international conventions agreements (bilateral and
multilateral)
– national regulations
– Policies
– best practices
– benchmarks
Case Study 1
• Performance audit of Implementation of Forest
Conservation Act, 1980 Forest Department, Madhya
Pradesh
– Objectives of the performance audit were to assess whether:
• provisions of the Act were followed by the State Government in case of
diversion of forest land for non-forest purpose;
• conditions imposed by the GOI and the State Government for diversion of
forest land were adhered to;
• mandatory conservation measures such as compensatory afforestation,
catchment area treatment etc. were carried out effectively and efficiently;
• financial management was effective; and system of monitoring and
evaluation was in place and effective.
• Audit findings:
– Utilization of forest land for non-forest purposes without obtaining prior approval from the Central Government
– Non carrying out and failure of compensatory afforestation plantations
– catchment area treatment was not carried out at all
– Safety zones not created around the mining area
– Non-reclamation of mining area
– Environment clearance not obtained
– Plantations were not monitored and evaluated at all by the nodal officer, the Conservators of Forests or an outside agency or any of their representatives
• Conclusion – Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 was enacted with the objective of
maintaining a sustainable balance between the developmental needs of the country and the conservation of natural environment.
– This objective largely remains un-achieved in the State of Madhya Pradesh due to poor implementation of compensatory conservation measures.
– Non-carrying out of conservation measures in large number of cases; non-utilization of funds received from user agencies; and failure of significant number of compensatory plantations reflect that the State Government was unable to mitigate the adverse effects of degradation of the environment resulting from diversion of green forests for non-forest purposes.
– Further, there were significant cases of violation of the Act where neither any penal action was initiated by the Government nor any compensatory conservation measures was carried out after getting these cases regularized from the Central Government.
Case Study 2
• Performance audit of national parks including wildlife
preservation in Himachal Pradesh
• The audit objectives were as follows:
– to assess whether the protection development and
management of wildlife and its environment in the protected
areas and outside has been carried out efficiently and
effectively
– to see the extent of compliance with the Wildlife (Protection)
Act 1972 and
– to see whether monitoring of implementation of various
activities was effective
• Audit criteria
– Provisions of the Act, guidelines, rules, action plans and orders
of the Government of India and of the State Government, as
well as orders of the Supreme Court.
– Priorities fixed by the department for conservation and
protection of wildlife.
– Plans for scientific management and systematic growth of
national parks and wildlife sanctuaries
• Audit findings
– Non-preparation of management plans
– Representative potential areas not notified as protected areas
– Irrational creation of protected areas network without keeping in view the ecological status of a particular area
– Variation between notified area and actual area
– Eco-sensitive zones around protected areas not constituted
– Non-declaration of wetlands as protected areas for conservation
– Regular census of all the animals and birds in the wildlife area had not been conducted.
– Non-protection of animals from poaching and illicit trade
– Operation of rights/concessions and other illegal/prohibited activities in wildlife protected areas
– Encroachments in wildlife areas
– Unauthorized construction of roads in protected areas
– Illegal grazing in protected areas
Case Study 3
• Performance audit of conservation of Wildlife in
National Parks and Sanctuaries, Chhattisgarh (2006)
• showed that
– Objective of conserving wild life and its habitat was accorded
very low priority
– Limited communication network and anti-poaching operations
were largely neglected
– Forest guards were untrained and old
– Wildlife population had also shown a steep decline.
Case Study 4
• In Arunachal Pradesh, Performance audit of Wildlife
preservation revealed
– objective of preservation of wildlife in accordance with the Wild
Life Protection Act, 1972 and National Wild Life Action Plan
(NWLAP) 2002-16 was not achieved in full
• due to the absence of financial control
• delay in formulation of Management Plans
• State Government’s inability to tackle the encroachment problems
• lack of planning and prioritization of preservation/conservation measures
Thank you
Auditing Biodiversity
Nameeta Prasad,Director,
International Center for Environment Audit and Sustainable
Development, Jaipur
Let’s start with a quiz!
Which of the following pictures
best illustrates the answer to
the question:
What is Biodiversity?
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http://ryanjacoby.typepad.com/.a/6a00e54fbcba8b883301348443ce9d970c-popup
www.shropshireyouth.com
www. healingfeast.com
www.sciencedaily.co
m
poster.4teachers.org
www.divediscover.whoi.edu
Biodiversity
What is Biological Diversity?
Biodiversity, or biological diversity, is
• the variability among living organisms from all sources including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part
• This includes diversity within species, between species, and in ecosystems – (Convention on Biological Diversity, article 2 – Use of Terms).
The Biosphere
The Ecosystem
The Community
The Species
The Organ
The Cell
The Molecule
Importance of protecting biodiversity:
ecosystem services
• Humans need diversity of nature for important services
• Nature is source of economic opportunities
• Humans derive many essential goods from ecosystems
including seafood, game animals, fodder (food for
animals), firewood, timber, and pharmaceutical
products.
• MA identified 24 ecosystem services
Grasses
Fuel-wood
Fodder
Leaf litter
Grazing
Lopping
Fruit/seeds
Agri. Expans.Forest Fires
Micro-climate
Urbanisation
Interception
Regeneration
Food for downstream
fauna fish
Stream hydrologyDiversity
Food for
wildlife/birds
Habitat structuring
Soil protection/
formation/rejuvenation
Assimilation
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM
Ecosystem Services
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Ecosystem Services and People
www.unep.org/maweb/en/Framework.aspx
How much are these services worth?
www.greenantilles.com
Ecosystem services in decline
• reported that 15 of them are in decline
– provision of fresh water, marine fishery, number and quality of
places of spiritual and religious value, ability of the atmosphere
to filter pollutants, regulation of natural hazards, pollination, and
capacity of agricultural ecosystems to control pests.
• Many ecosystem services are neither widely recognized
nor adequately valued in economic terms.
– In 1997, the combined economic value of ecosystem services
was estimated at between US$16 and $54 trillion per year.
Those services would be extremely costly or impossible to
replace.
Drivers of Change
• Drivers• natural or human factor that causes changes in biodiversity
• Direct and indirect• Direct drivers affect the ecosystem directly, eg: dams trapping
sediment in rivers and affecting the wetlands downstream
• Indirect driver affects the way direct drivers work, eg: laws and
regulations restricting demand for biodiversity
Drivers of Change
Demographic – Population Growth
2.1. Essence of Biodiversity 24Environmental Auditing Training Course
Source: Global Environment Outlook 5
Demographic – Population Density
25Environmental Auditing Training Course2.1. Essence of Biodiversity
Source: Global Environment Outlook 5
More half of the world’s population are
living in urban areas
2.1. Essence of Biodiversity Environmental Auditing Training Course 26
Source: Global Environment Outlook 5
2.1. Essence of Biodiversity Environmental Auditing Training Course 27
Source: Global Environment Outlook 5
Economic Development
28Environmental Auditing Training Course2.1. Essence of Biodiversity
Source: Global Environment Outlook 5
GDP has been growing, but inequalities
persist
29Environmental Auditing Training Course2.1. Essence of Biodiversity
Source: Global Environment Outlook 5
As wealth grows, demand for basic
material also grows
Source: Global Environment Outlook 5
Main Threats to Biodiversity• Convention on Biological Diversity: five major threats
– habitat change: loss and fragmentation
• Due to Change in land-use
– Invasive species
• Introduction of (non-native) alien species (intentional and accidental dispersal by
human activities)
– Overexploitation
• Increased demand and harvesting above or near maximum sustainable levels,
Unsustainable management of ecosystems, illegal practices (logging, fishing, and
poaching)
– pollution and nutrient loading
• Discharge and runoff (from agriculture and industry)
– Climate change
• Changes in human population, lifestyle and consumption patterns
Habitat change
Source: Global Environment Outlook 5
Unprecedented change in structure and function
of ecosystemsMore land was converted to cropland in the 30 years after 1950
than in the 150 years between 1700 and 1850.
Cultivated Systems in 2000 cover 25% of Earth’s terrestrial surface
(Defined as areas where at least 30% of the landscape is in croplands, shifting cultivation, confined livestock production, or freshwater aquaculture)
Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Significant and largely irreversible changes to
species diversity
– Humans have increased the species extinction rate by as much as 1,000 times over background rates typical over the planet’s history (medium certainty)
– 10–30% of mammal, bird, and amphibian species are currently threatened with extinction (medium to high certainty)
Loss of biodiversity
• 15,589 species faced are with extinction.
• threatened 784 species have become extinct in the wild
since 1500 AD.
• The current species extinction rate is estimated to be
between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the
natural rate.
• Forests have disappeared in 25 countries.
• More than 90 per cent of forests have been lost in
another 29 countries.
International awareness of biodiversity
• Convention on Biological Diversity
– first global convention dealing specifically with the conservation and
sustainable use of biodiversity
– signed at the 1992 Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro.
– Conference of the Parties to the Convention recognized that
Biodiversity remains the living foundation for sustainable
development.
• In 2002, “2010 Biodiversity Target,” set to significantly slow
the decline of biodiversity at the global, regional, and
national levels by 2010.
– One of its key elements is to bring awareness of biodiversity into
mainstream economic sectors and development planning.
36
Role of SAIs
• Governments have put legislation, policies, and programs in
place
– Because these activities are regulated by government, SAIs can play
a major role in auditing government’s actions. in this field
• SAIs around the world conducted at least 180 environmental
audits of ecosystems and biodiversity and 247 on nature and
recreation between 1993 and 2003.
• Like all environmental audits, an audit of biodiversity could
examine
– Financial issues
– compliance issues
– performance issues
Choosing and Designing Audits of
Biodiversity
Step 1
• Identify the country’s biodiversity and threats to it
Step 2
• Understand the government’s responses to these threats and the relevant players
Step 3• Choose
audit topics and priorities
Step 4• Decide on
audit objectives and lines of audit enquiry
Step 1
Identify the country’s
biodiversity
Identify threats to it
Identify biodiversity
– Survey of biodiversity (species- flora and
fauna)
– Classification according to risks
• Threatened
• Endangered
• Vulnerable
• Safe
• Endemic
• Alien species
Identify threats
• Identify threats to each kind of biodiversity
• Some threats could be:
– Poaching
– Threat due to fire
– Climate change
– Disappearing ecosystems due to pollution,
destruction/fragmentation of habitats
• Understand the causes behind these threats
– Changes in land use
– Urbanization
– Change in agricultural practices
– economic development policy, such as the increasing tourism in
the world’s biodiversity hotspots
Step 2
• Understand the government’s responses to these
threats and the relevant players
What is the government doing about these threats?
Who are the players and what are their roles and responsibilities?
Action government is taking to meet
these threats
• Auditors need to identify the actions of the government to
meet these threats in these areas:
1. Policies and programs
2. International treaties signed
3. Bringing in legislation and regulations
4. Economic tools and incentives
5. Environmental impact assessments
Main players and their roles/responsibilities
• auditor needs to identify the major players involved
• Players may include government departments and agencies
at the national (federal), provincial, state, or, local (municipal)
level.
• auditor needs to define the role and responsibility of
each player
– At national level
– At local level
– Players responsible for policy, implementing programs,
monitoring them and standard setting.
Step 3
• Choose audit topics and priorities
– Identify the area in biodiversity which has the highest risks to the environment and the use of public funds
• Irreversibility of damage
• Amount of public funds expended
– Is the topic auditable?
• Do suitable sources of criteria exist .
• Sources of criteria
• government signed international biodiversity-related agreements
• government enacted laws and regulations
– Can an audit make a difference?
• What are the interests of the users of the audit report, particularly the primary users (e.g., Parliament)?
• What is the relative significance of the topic to overall governmental activities?
• Has the topic been audited before?
• What is the relevance of this topic to protect basic human needs?
Step 4
• Decide on audit approaches: audit objectives
and lines of enquiry
– What are the most relevant kind of audit
• Financial management and regularity audit
• Compliance with agreements, laws, and policies
• Performance audit
Financial management and regularity audit
– Use of public funds in projects and programs that focus on
conservation and biodiversity.
– Are the funds spent on biodiversity programs correctly
administered, according to spending authorities and
regulations?
– Are adequate financial resources allocated to protection
programs?
– Is the disbursement of funds monitored?
– Against what criteria is the disbursement of funds
measured?
Compliance audit
• Compliance to internal laws/rules/regulation
– Are government policies being complied with?
– Has the government developed policies that address the protection
and conservation of biological resources in the country? Do the
policies deal with the most important threats?
• Compliance to international conventions/treaties
– Are there any conflicts or gaps between national policies on
biodiversity and the country’s environmental laws?
– Are environmental laws and regulations being adequately enforced?
– Is there any conflict between national policies and the international
conventions that the country is a signatory to?
Performance audit
• Have the relevant agencies defined expected results for
their programs?
• Have they developed indicators and measures for these
results and are they being monitored and tracked?
• Is the data used to measure performance reliable?
• Are policies and programs on biodiversity achieving their
objectives and intended results?
• Why are policies and programs not achieving their
objectives and intended results, and how can the causes be
countered?
Case studies
Role of BSI in meeting India’s commitments
to CBD
• Botanical Survey of India is the premier body for
undertaking surveys by exploring the plant resources of
the country and identifying flora with economic virtues.
After ratification of CBD in February 1994 by the
Government of India, a larger role for the BSI was
envisaged and objectives of BSI were remodeled in
light of India’s ratification of the CBD.
• Audit findings:
– inadequate identification/ documentation and monitoring of
plant species.
– Very few surveys and explorations were carried out to identify
and document the Protected Areas and Fragile ecosystems.
Role of BSI in meeting India’s
commitments to CBD
– The Red Data Book was updated in 1990 and last updated version
was printed in 2003 thereby impacting conservation efforts.
– identification of different ethnic groups associated with usage of
plant species for different purposes was not done.
– BSI did not generate adequate data for in-situ conservation and it
did not carry out ex-situ conservation, which impacted
conservation of biodiversity.
• As such, BSI could not effectively fulfill its role in meeting
India’s commitment to CBD.
• Ministry of Environment and Forests needs to ensure that all
necessary infrastructure is provided to BSI to effectively
ensure conservation of precious biodiversity and also to
meet its commitments to CBD.
Regulation of Biodiversity in India
• National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) was established in
2003 by the Government of India for the regulation,
conservation and sustainable use of bio-resources of India.
– Even six years after its formation, NBA could not notify important
regulations like access to biodiversity, transfer of results of
research and intellectual property rights etc.
– ists of endangered medicinal plants in India and measures for their
conservation were not drawn up.
– NBA’s efforts in identifying threatened endangered and endemic
species and recommending guidelines for their conservation were
inadequate as list of endangered species was prepared for only
seven out of 28 states.
Regulation of Biodiversity in India
– It also failed to get the Peoples’ Biodiversity Registers and
database of biological resources prepared, both of which were
vital for efforts at protection and conservation of biological
resources.
– It had no information on grant of Intellectual Property Rights
outside India on any biological resource obtained from India or
knowledge associated with such biological resources which is
derived from India
Thank you!
Protection of forests and biodiversity in
Rajasthan
• Objectives
– To check the measures taken to protect forests and wildlife
through the protected area network
– To check measures taken to protect forests and wildlife outside
the protected area network
– To check compliance to rules and regulations in cases of
diversion of forests land for development activities
– To check utilization of funds for protection of forests and wildlife
economically and effectively
– To check measures taken for protection of traditional ecological
knowledge and biodiversity
