Examine the evolution of CAMPA from a compensatory afforestation mechanism to a vehicle for species-specific conservation. Discuss with recent examples.

The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 gave statutory form to CAMPA, channelling levies and Net Present Value (NPV) realised from user agencies diverting forest land into forest restoration [2]. A decade on, this fund-manager has matured into an instrument of targeted, species-centred conservation.

Original design: a compensation mechanism

• Born of Supreme Court directions and codified in 2016, it created national and State funds, with 90% devolved to States and 10% retained centrally [2].
• The logic was like-for-like restitution — plantations and regeneration to offset diverted forest — making CAMPA a fund manager rather than a designer of conservation programmes [3].
• Even the Act, however, permitted use for wildlife protection, seeding the later widening [2].

The shift towards species and habitats

• CAMPA money began financing scientific conservation research, not merely plantation targets.
• The first-ever satellite tagging of a Ganges river dolphin in Assam — by the Wildlife Institute of India with the Assam Forest Department and Aaranyak, funded by National CAMPA — was a global first for the species [4].

Recent examples: the species turn institutionalised

• The 7th Governing Body meeting (Coimbatore, July 2026) cleared four national projects: a river dolphin recovery action plan, Project Snow Leopard Phase-II with a second population estimation cycle, an Indian rhinoceros action plan, and a pan-India wild water buffalo approach [1].
• The Aastha Van Sanrakshan Yojana, ₹3,000 crore (2026–31), targets nearly 15,000 sacred groves, mainstreaming community faith-based conservation [1].

Persisting constraints

• Digital Annual Plans of Operation and fund-utilisation dashboards improve transparency [1], yet the CAG (2013) finding that State forest departments lack planning and implementation capacity still limits absorption of the States' 90% share [2].

CAMPA's trajectory shows compensation money maturing into ecological investment, aligning with Article 48A and SDG 15. Strengthening State-level technical capacity, outcome-based audit and community stewardship would let this shift deliver measurable recovery of India's flagship species and their habitats.