actually our neighbouring forest was not set alight last summer allowing much of the wild undergrowth to return and nourish the natural cycle of life the writer is a product designer and secretary of goa bachao abhiyan the only hope is to come to the defence of forests in what is now an emergency situation they intend to undertake in the runup to the united nations conference of the parties cop 21 in paris scheduled in december the underlying logic was to quantify and then manage the same through suitable policy something that could have been monetized in this doomsday scenario of global warming with the end of the monsoon came a delightful explosion of butterflies their hues changing over progressing months this unique goan landscape offers opportunities for tax collection on urban housing next to forests which just as those who pay extra to be in a window seat would be a tax for the benefit of green views water security and fresh air at the heart of this is a complete disregard for nature and a total surrender to a mindless unquestioning existence so heavily loaded in the pursuit of personal gain in the 1990s the supreme court responded to a petition which sought to identify the fast disappearing natural forests of india in this act of the deaf following the blind what is lost is the fact that those who keep their lands as forests will be at an advantage tomorrow as water tables dry up in denuded areas and rich forest land becomes much sought after for water and food security effective compensatory policies need to become an issue for the government to work on so that people hold on to their forests for profit rather than sell them someone must have forgotten to weed their gardens observed a naturalist and yet in our microcosm of goa forest officers generously provide permissions to clear large swathes of land without blinking architects continue to design buildings that blot out all natural features and our politicians squander away green areas left through misguided policies such as the ecotourism promotion and ad hoc change of land use the issue of global warming is that it has reached a tipping point this is what planners dream of as ideal living conditions and so too does the average person what we should take note of though is that india has made sustainable promises of enhancing forest and tree cover to create an additional carbon sink of 25 to 3 billion tonne of co2 equivalent as one of the key highlights of the indcs if global warming was fashion speak till last year it made itself felt in goa this year with unbearable summer heat and little rain rather than fighting to denotify the western ghats as a global hotspot and as in some misguided villages of goa to cut trees for ease of real estate development it would be wise to push for compensatory policies with the government using indias commitment