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Short abstract:

This paper looks at how data and calculative practices around carbon shape the way forestlands are imagined and appropriates in Northeast India. However, the performativity and success of these practices depend on the state who regulates it through forest and climate policies.

Long abstract:

Over the last decade, there has been a growing interest in reimagining the forested landscapes of Northeast India as carbon sinks, carbon neutral regions, or regions with abundant carbon stocks. This is reflected in reports like the State of Forest Report (2021) released by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) which show that the region accounts for 28.87 percent of India’s total available forest carbon stock. Seen within the climate change context, an emphasis on such calculations and numerical figures signal the reorganisation [in meanings and use] of forestlands by the government to align with India’s global climate commitments. This paper engages with discussions around the performative nature of data and calculative practices around carbon that shape the way forests are resignified within the discourse of climate change mitigation. It argues that imageries guided by calculations and numerical figures have the potential to resignify land, thus repurposing them for different uses. However, it requires socio-political networks to appropriate it on the ground. Drawing on findings from my fieldwork in Nagaland, it is seen that the performativity of data to change material meanings of forest depends on the acceptance of the state government and its recommendation through policies. Unless the government produces rules and regulations to initiate new modalities of forest carbon on the ground, these resignification remains unchanged. Furthermore, the performative nature of data and accounting practices encourage communities to study and perform rural development within the framework monetising forests through carbon (as observed in the ground).