The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has disbursed more than Rs 47,000 to 27 state governments for the latter to undertake compensatory afforestation efforts and other activities to preserve the environment, reports PTI.

The funds were transferred under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) with the go ahead being given by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Apart from compensatory afforestation, which is undertaken to make up for forest lands which have been taken over for non-forest use, the funds will be spent for other green efforts such as wildlife management, moisture conservation, forest fire prevention and biodiversity management.

Funds collected for compensatory afforestation have historically been underutilised by states, despite a number of interventions by the Supreme Court. A proposed statute, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority bill, has been drafted to tackle this problem but has yet not passed both Houses of Parliament to become law.