Conservation of forests

Dr. Vishiesh Verma
“Plants are the basis of all life on earth, providing clean air, water, food and fuel. All animal and bird life depends on them and so do we”, said Stephen Hopper, one of the scientists.
A few years ago UNO’s Food and Agricultural Organization, on the occasion of World Food Day to highlight the importance of forests in solving the food problem, published the saying of Nund Rishi (the saint of Char-e-Shrief)  “Food will last so long as the forests do”. This saying of the saint has become the catch-word for human survival. Nund Rishi lived in his ashram near Gulmarg in the midst of dense forest from where he could see the fertile valley down below and realize that miracle was due to fertile soil produced by hill forests. These hill forests were the source of the prosperity of the valley. It is not true only of Kashmir Valley but true of whole of India. Himalayan forests are the basis of fertile valleys of Indus, Ganga, Brahamputra, Krishna and Cauvery. The process of fertilizing the valley is a slow one that had taken place for millions of years; the simple transfer of land to agriculture purposes provides no guarantee for its being fertile.
The main sources of surface water in our country are rivers. The rivers originating from the Himalayas have their sources in the glaciers, but in keeping these flowing regularly the catchment area forests play an important role. Forests absorb the rain water, filter it, and then release it gradually. That is why rivers flow all the year round. Forests are the mothers of the rivers in South India as well as Western and Central India. The direct impact of deforestation may be seen on the flow of rivers. Cherrapunji town in North-East India, which receives the maximum rainfall in the country, has a problem of water shortage because forests have been destroyed over there. Deforestation has led to greater run off of top soil. The mountain slopes bare of vegetation or top soil can’t hold the generous supply of water that comes in the form of rains. Instead the water cascades down in landslides, taking with it more soil and rocks. When the forests were untouched the rain water would percolate and replenish the plentiful mountain springs that was a perennial source of water. Modern science too recognizes that forests are mothers of rivers and factories of soil manufacturing. With this in mind, the World Forestry Day is celebrated annually on 21st March to raise awareness about the importance and conservation of forests all over the world.
The forest is a biological unit having a vast social organization of living communities at work. This special organization includes not only trees but many other living organisms from the plant world viz shrubs, herbs, mosses, lichens, algae, fungi, bacteria and animal organisms including the mineral complex on which they thrive. The Flora and fauna of the forest are interdependent on each other.
India is extremely rich in its ecology which is varied with genetically diverse forest resources and is one of the world’s top twelve nations having mega diversity in terms of biological resources. The plant wealth found in India’s forests is made up of 45,000 species of trees, shrubs, herbs and climbers which account for about 12% of the global plant wealth. The flowering plants alone number 21,000 species.
India’s forests are the home of over 75,000 species of animals of which about 372 are mammals, 2,000 birds, 1,693 fishes and as many as 60,000 insect species. For the Britishers, Indian forests were an in exhaustible source of durable timber and other forest products. Teak forests along with the Malabar Coast were over-exploited by them. Forests contribute substantially to the social and economic development of the country. They have major role to play in enhancing the quality of our environment. The history of forests is linked with the history of civilization. The 4,000 years old Agnipurana mentions that a man should protect trees to ensure material prosperity and religious merit; 2,500 years ago Gautama Buddha preached that a man must plant trees.
According to one estimate the real value of a 50 tonne medium sized tree, by adding the prices of all items of its produce and social benefits, tendered during the 50 years of its life time; economic benefits of around Rs 15,70,000 is generated to the community in the form of generation of i) oxygen valued at Rs 2.5 lakh (ii) controlling of soil erosion and improving soil fertility by Rs 2.5 lakh, (iii) Recycling of wastes to the tune of Rs 3 lakh (iv) controlling of air pollution valued at Rs 5 lakh and other secondary benefits to the tune of Rs 3.5 lakh. Thus one can visualize how much economic benefits trickle down silently to the community through a single tree over its life span of 50 years.
In the modern society the utility of forests is very poorly understood. Our agrarian society is inextricably linked to the survival of forests. Loss of forests due to human encroachment has caused serious ecological damage to the long-term viability of India’s rivers, soils, agriculture and biodiversity resources that form the basis for survival of human society itself. Therefore, conservation of forests to protect and secure food, water, medicine and other life supporting resources for the present and future generations is essentially a utilization necessity.
The Frontiers of forests have been among the first casualties as human population exploded. It is estimated between 1950-80 more than 45 lakh hectares of forest land was diverted for various non-forestry activities, consequent on this, defacto forest cover has shrunk to around 19% of the total land area. The national forest policy requires a tree cover of 33.3 % for the country and not 33.3 % of reserved forest. Dreadfully now the forest cover is less than 16% of the land.  The tree cover in J&K state has been reduced to less than 11% of the total area in the past 20 years. The main reason for this mass destruction of forests has been human pressure on forests and their thoughtless use. On the other hand World Wide fund reported, between 1970-2002 forests cover has dwindled 12 % and human race is plundering the planet at a pace which outstrips its capacity to support life. Afforestation is often proffered as a painless substitute for the natural forests we are losing. Nature alone makes forests, man makes only plantations. A three tier canopy may come about on vacant land but only if it is left alone for ten thousand years, all other conditions remaining favorable. For all practical purposes, a natural forest is non-renewable resource whose loss should be minimized.
Franklin D Roosevelt said, “Forests are the ‘lungs’ of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people”.
(The writer is a former Reader Coordinator of University of Jammu.)

Follow our WhatsApp channel