The Centre's budget outlay for environment and forests for 2018-19 is exactly what it was last year to the second decimal point, and portends reduced funds for coastal management, environment protection and sustainable development programmes and conservation of natural resources and ecosystems. The budget outlay for the Union environment and forests ministry for 2018-19 is Rs 2,675.42 crore, the exact figure earmarked and revised for 2017-18. The expenditure budget tabled in Parliament on Thursday shows a decrease in funding for the national coastal management programme from Rs 446 crore last year to Rs 165 crore for 2018-19 and for the environment protection and sustainable development programme from Rs 275 crore last year to Rs 235 crore for 2018-19. The outlay proposes increases for tiger conservation (Rs 350 crore for 2018-19 from Rs 345 crore in the previous year), elephant conservation (Rs 30 crore from Rs 27 crore last year) and for the development of wildlife habitats (Rs 165 crore from Rs 150 crore last year). The funds allocated to the National Green Tribunal, the nation's apex environmental court, for 2018-19 is Rs 75 crore, an increase over Rs 41 crore last year. The 2018-19 outlay for the Central Pollution Control Board, an agency which monitors air and water quality, will rise to Rs 100 crore from Rs 74 crore last year. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, in his budget speech, cited government initiatives to improve air quality and access to drinking water. He said a special scheme will be implemented to support efforts by Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to tackle air pollution and subsidise machinery to address crop residues that contribute to air pollution. Jaitley also said the government's Amrut programme focuses on providing water supply to all households in 500 cities for which plans of Rs 77,640 crore have been approved. But a senior environmental researcher said the environment budget for 2018-19 appeared to be a mere accounting exercise. "It provides no clear rationale for current allocations and measures," said Leena Srivastava, the vice-chancellor of the New Delhi-based The Energy and Resources Institute School of Advanced Studies. "The budget seeks to provide water to all in about 500 cities but gives scant attention to the efficient management of scarce water resources in India's drying cities," Srivastava said. An environment ministry programme aimed at the conservation of corals and mangroves that had received Rs 15 crore last year has no earmarked funds this year.