Acknowledging Himalayan states’ demand for special incentives to preserve their forest cover and ecology, Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh strongly favoured grant of “green bonus” to such states.

The states will start reaping the benefits of such a step from next year when the XIII Finance Commission submits its report. “I have discussed the issue with the chairman of Finance Commission for giving these benefits to the states having preserved their green cover,” he declared at the CMs’ Conclave on Climate Change in Shimla on Friday.

The minister rejected the demand for a separate ministry for Himalayan states or mountain development. “This will create more problems than solving the existing ones,” he said.

The minister, however, accepted a major demand raised by Himachal Pradesh to declare all forests 4,000 metres above the snowline as non-forest areas. “The new forest report coming up in the next few weeks will not include those areas, where no trees can be planted, as forest cover,” said Ramesh.

About the ‘green bonus’, he said: “I have already spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and taken up the issue with the Planning Commission to give some incentive to the states. We may start with a small amount and can expand it later.”

Speaking to the media later, the minister said: “Green bonus is similar to the demand raised by the chief ministers to reimburse the cost incurred on environmental services. My concept is that the states conserving ecology by protecting their green wealth should be compensated.” It would be, however, up to the states to pass on this incentive to the stakeholders involved in the preservation of the green cover and ecology at local levels, he added.

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