Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority(CAMPA) – CAMPA Act 2016
By Balaji
Updated on: February 17th, 2023
CAMPA or Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, or CAMPA Fund Act, 2016, is Indian legislation enacted to enable the utilization of funds accumulated through penalties on the diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes. CAMPA Act provides for the “establishment of National and State Compensatory Afforestation Funds under the Public Account of India and each State.”
The funds are collected from the payment for NPV (net present value of the forest, compensatory afforestation, and other project-specific payments. CAMPA Act compensates for the loss of areas covered by the forest. Besides this, the CAMPA Act is responsible for maintaining sustainable forests.
Table of content
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1. What is CAMPA?
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2. CAMPA Act Objectives
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3. What is State CAMPA?
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4. How will the CAMPA Act help increase forest cover in India?
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5. CAMPA Act Key Provision
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6. CAMPA UPSC
What is CAMPA?
The CAMPA bill is a comprehensive legislative framework for managing and utilizing funds accruing to the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA). The entire amount collected as “compensatory afforestation” lies with the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change.
The compensatory afforestation fund receives money from persons who divert forest land to non-forestry uses. The money is then used to conserve, regenerate, or improve forest resources and provide green cover instead of forests redirected to other services. Below you will learn about the objectives of the CAMPA Act, CAMPA Fund, State CAMPA, the Structure of the Governing body of State CAMPA, its significance, and key provisions-
CAMPA Act Objectives
The main objective of the CAMPA Act is to ensure speedy afforestation and regeneration of forest areas diverted for non-forest purposes and raise the country’s forest cover.
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF) shall be used for:
- Afforestation, regeneration, assisted natural regeneration, catchment area treatment plan, and wildlife protection works in degraded forest areas, including Reserved Forests, Protected Forests, Conservation Reserves, Community Reserves, outside forests, and non-forest areas.
- Ensuring livelihood security and augmentation of income of local people through the generation of community assets based on waste/degraded land.
- Afforestation, regeneration, or assisted natural regeneration on private lands subject to conditions that may be prescribed by the Central Government.
What is State CAMPA?
The instrumenting body or the authority responsible for performing and fastening the activities of the establishment of funds under each State’s public accounts and India’s public accounts. In 2008, after the Supreme Court’s invention, State CAMPA was established in each UT/State of India. The State CAMPA is responsible for administering the money received from SCAF. After the administration, the State CAMPA utilizes the collected amount for
- Wildlife conservation and protection
- Infrastructure development
- Assisted natural regeneration
- Compensatory afforestation and similar activities.
Structure of the Governing body of State CAMPA
The structure of the Governing body of the State CAMPA is as follows-
List of Members |
State CAMPA Designation |
Secretary (Forests) |
Member Secretary |
Chief Minister |
Chairperson |
Chief Wildlife Warden |
Member |
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests |
Member |
Principal Secretary (Planning) |
Member |
Principal Secretary (Finance) |
Member |
Chief Secretary |
Member |
Minister of Planning |
Member |
Minister of Finance |
Member |
Minister of Forests |
Member |
What is CAMPA Fund?
The CAMPA Fund is a monetary compensation value deposited by the authorities along with the deposition of the land’s net value per the CAMPA Law for diverting the forest land for non-forest purposes. The creation of the CAMPA fund was ordered by the Supreme Court of India in 2020. In order to manage the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAF), CAMPA was established in 2004. However, this acts as CAMPA Fund’s custodian.
In August 2019, 47,436 crores of Rupees were handed by the Indian government to the various Indian States as CAMPA Funds with the primary objective of helping the country in achieving the afforestation objective. These funds are part of the compensatory Afforestation and are long-pending dues collected from the industries as environmental compensation for nearly a decade.
How will the CAMPA Act help increase forest cover in India?
The fund will be used for compensatory afforestation, additional compensatory afforestation, penal compensatory afforestation, the net present value of forest (NPV), and other activities.
- It will help speed up the implementation of compensatory afforestation and other related activities on the ground.
- It will help bring investments in large-scale plantation and forest conservation activities.
The funds will be utilized for afforestation, regeneration, conservation, and protection of forest areas and improvement in wildlife habitats. They will also be used to meet the cost of other works and activities concerning compensatory afforestation.
CAMPA Act Key Provision
The key provision that the CAMPA Act brings in is using this fund to meet the expenses incurred by the state governments on afforestation, rehabilitation of wildlife habitats, and eco-restoration activities. The Act puts a cap on the money used for compensatory afforestation.
The CAMPA Act will give a boost to green coverage in India. Afforestation and eco-restoration activities are imminent to reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality and mitigate climate change. The money from this fund can be used for undertaking various related activities.
CAMPA UPSC
The CAMPA Act is an important topic from the UPSC Exam perspective, and various questions have been asked on this topic in UPSC Previous Year Question Paper. This topic is related to Conservation, and candidates can expect questions from the CAMPA act in their GS Paper 3 and GS Paper 2. We have provided all the important information related to this act, and candidates must go through it properly to prepare for the upcoming UPSC Exam.
CAMPA Act UPSC Questions
Question: Which of the following statements is/are correct about the Compensatory Afforestation Fund?
- The Fund will be primarily spent on afforestation to compensate for loss of forest cover, regeneration of forest ecosystem, wildlife protection and infrastructure development.
- The Bill also establishes the National and State Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authorities.
Select the correct answer from codes given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (c)