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the-south-asian.com March 2004 |
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March
2004 Wildlife Music Dance Environment Art Books
Books Between
Heaven and Hell
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Page 1 of 2
FOREST HUMP: ECOLOGICAL NIGHTMARE IN THE MAKING by Dr. Sharad Soni
Every year the World Forest Day comes and goes but deforestation continues the whole year round. It has assumed such alarming proportions in India that it is seriously affecting the fragile ecosystem. With dense forest cover shrinking to a mere 11.71 per cent, leading environmentalists see a serious imbalance emerging. They are the earth’s largest depository of natural resources and house half of the planet’s dryland species. But man’s greed is putting a saw through the fragile ecosystem and over the years half of the world’s forests have been transformed into a concrete jungle. Indiscriminate felling of trees for fuel and timber or for housing and agriculture purposes has gone on unabated despite the clichés mouthed by environmentalists and a line of successive governments. Forests are a vast reservoir of varied animal species and exotic plant life that delicately balance the earth’s biological system. But hardly anyone gives a thought to the biosystem and warnings by environmentalists and millions of acres of forest cover is being systematically destroyed with roads and railway tracks running through them. Every year the World Forest Day comes and goes but deforestation continues the whole year round. It has assumed such alarming proportions in India that’s seriously affecting the bionetwork. Experts say that this would have serious repercussions, as rapid shrinking of forestlands would gravely threaten the existence of a sizeable section of the flora and fauna. According to the Forest Survey of India, 1991, dense forest cover for the country as a whole is merely 11.71 per cent. Leading environmentalists see a serious imbalance is being seen in India's eco-system because of deforestation. In turn, it's giving way to the problems such as depletion of ground water, soil erosion, acute shortage of potable water and a sharp decrease in bio-diversity. More importantly, a grave damage is being done as a result of massive chopping down of trees for fuel, rampant forest fires, clearing the forests for harvesting purposes or for mining and industrial activities. Because of these factors the forest lands have shrunk alarmingly and are poised to gravely threaten the daily needs of a sizeable section of population dependent on forests. About four percent of India's land area is protected under the Bill of National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries. With the enactment of the Wildlife [Protection] Act, 1972, a uniform legal framework came into existence to protect the forests and wildlife. Today there are 80 national parks covering an area of 34,684 sq. km. Numerous committees have come and gone to rectify the ills of forest management, recommendations have been made but these are promptly forgotten. The government has been setting up committees for preservation of forests but their recommendations usually gather dust and all the effort and money goes waste. Though the environment ministry usually likes to trumpet its 'achievements', the truth is that nothing substantial has been achieved despite the implementation of the National Forest Policy, 1988 one of whose basic objectives was " the maintenance of environmental stability through preservation and where necessary, restoration of the ecological balance that has been adversely disturbed by serious depletion of the forests in the country." Ironically even as most of the advanced countries have re-forestation as one of their primary agendas, in India this has remained only in the dusty files of the ministry. Today there is a global concern to restore the ecological balance between man and nature and there have been high level agendas set to the task of conservation of forests and sustainable use of natural resources which would essentially prove to be beneficial in maintaining that balance. It is already an established fact that the forests have a vital role to play in the environmental conservation as well as economic development of a country and the more land under forest cover, the more prosperous a country is. The Indian National Forest Policy, 1988, stipulated that one- third of the total geographical area should be put under forest cover. The reality, however, is dismally different. Merely 19.47 per cent of the area is under forest cover and that too, has been over-exploited for a number of reasons. The indifference to this shortfall of nearly 14 percent has led to the imbalance of the natural environment for a sustainable development of the eco- system. The Indian policy makers have turned a Nelson's Eye to the exploitation of forests by poachers who raid them of their resources for timber, fuelwood fodder. The Indian Institute of Forest Management [IIFM] has estimated that wood smugglers steal over 235 million cubic metres of fuelwood from forests every year. The exact figure may be higher. Regarding the requirement of green fodder for livestock, India needs a minimum of 882 million tonnes annually, of which only 434 million tonnes are gathered from agricultural and open lands or from harvested forests. The massive shortfall of 448 million tonnes is met by the heartless exploitation of forest lands.
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