The Nagaland Community Conserved Areas Forum (NCCAF) has raised urgent concerns about the Nagaland government’s push for large-scale oil palm plantations in the state. In a letter addressed to the Minister for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, NCCAF highlighted the potential environmental and social risks associated with the initiative.
Established on November 19, 2014, NCCAF represents 29 Community Conserved Areas (CCAs) encompassing 120 villages across Nagaland. According to the organization, 85% of CCAs have been self-initiated by the communities without any government intervention, while 15% have received support through various governmental initiatives. This underlines the communities’ commitment to conservation driven by their understanding of the forests’ intrinsic value, both for biodiversity and for the sustainable livelihoods they provide, according to NCCAF.
The letter emphasized that the introduction of large-scale oil palm plantations could severely disrupt the balance between conservation and community development. “While financial gains from oil palm cultivation might appear promising in the short term, the long-term environmental costs are far more damaging,” it stated. The NCCAF pointed out that research from other regions has shown that oil palm plantations often lead to “large-scale deforestation, the destruction of critical habitats, loss of biodiversity, soil degradation, and water contamination.”
NCCAF argued that the monoculture nature of oil palm plantations compromises ecosystem resilience, weakening forests’ ability to provide essential services such as “carbon sequestration and flood regulation.” The organization warned that in Nagaland, replacing rich, diverse forests with oil palm monoculture could be catastrophic for local biodiversity, impacting species reliant on these forests, and the communities who depend on forests for sustenance and livelihoods would face environmental degradation that would be difficult to reverse.
While acknowledging that the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change is not the direct implementing agency for the oil palm plantations, NCCAF urged the ministry to “take a strong stance against the large-scale expansion of oil palm in ecologically sensitive areas like Nagaland” and to advocate for alternative sustainable agricultural practices.
The letter stressed that “the preservation of Nagaland’s forests is a priority that transcends financial gains,” emphasizing that the long-term benefits of conservation far outweigh the short-term profits of monoculture plantations.
NCCAF expressed hope that the minister will consider their concerns in the broader context of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. The forum looked forward to a valued response and support in safeguarding Nagaland’s unique environmental heritage for future generations.