NCERT Extracts - Forest and Wildlife Resources in India
Category : UPSC
Flora and Fauna in India
- In fact, India is one of the world's richest countries in terms of its vast array of biological diversity, and has nearly 8 per cent of the total number of species in the world (estimated to be 1.6 million).
- Some estimates suggest that at least 10 per cent of India's recorded wild flora and 20 percent of its mammals are on the threatened list.
- Many of these would now be categorised as 'critical', that is on the verge of extinction like the cheetah, pink-headed duck, mountain, quail, forest spotted owlet, and plants like madhuca insignis (a wild variety of mahua) and hubbardia heptaneuron, (a species of grass).
- Based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), we can classify as follows:
- Normal Species: Species whose population levels are considered to be normal for their survival, such as cattle, sal, pine, rodents, etc.
- Endangered Species: These are species which are in danger of extinction. The survival of such species is difficult if the negative factors that have led to a decline in their population continue to operate.
- The examples of such species are black buck, crocodile, Indian wild ass, Indian rhino, lion tailed macaque, sangai (brow anter deer in Manipur), etc.
- Vulnerable Species: These are species whose population has declined to levels from where it is likely to move into the endangered category in the near future if the negative factors continue to operate. The examples of such species are blue sheep, Asiatic. elephant, Gangetic dolphin, etc.
- Rare Species: Species with small population may move into the endangered or vulnerable category if the negative factors affecting them. continue to operate. The examples of such species are the Himalayan brown bear, wild Asiatic buffalo, desert fox and hombill, etc.
- Endemic Species: These are species which are only found in some particular areas usually isolated by natural or geographical barriers. Examples of such species are the Andaman teal, Nicobar pigeon, Andaman wild pig, mithun in Arunchal Pradesh.
- Extinct Species: These are species which are not found after searches of known or likely areas where they may occur. A species may be extinct from a local area, region, country, continent or the entire earth. Examples of such species are the Asiatic cheetah, pink head duck.
Asiatic Cheetah
- The world's fastest land mammal, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubantus), is a unique and specialised member of the cat family and can move at the speed of 112 km./hr.
- The cheetah is often mistaken for a leopard. Its distinguishing marks are the long teardrop shaped lines on each side of the nose from the comer of its eyes to its mouth.
- Prior to the 20th century, cheetahs were widely distributed throughout Africa and Asia.
- Today, the Asian cheetah is nearly extinct due to a decline of available habitat and prey. The species was declared extinct in India long back in 1952.
- The greatest damage inflicted on Indian forests was during the colonial period due to the expansion of the railways, agriculture, commercial and scientific forestry and mining activities.
- Even after Independence, agricultural expansion continues to be one of the major causes of depletion of forest resources.
- Between 1951 and 1980, according to the Forest Survey of India, over 26,200 sq.km. of forest area was converted into agricultural land all over India.
- Substantial parts of the tribal belts, especially in the northeastern and central India, have been deforested or degraded by shifting cultivation (jhum), a type of 'slash and burn’ agriculture.
Are colonial forest policies to be blamed?
- Some of our environmental activists say that the promotion of a few favoured species, in many parts of India, has been carried through the ironically-termed "enrichment plantation", in which a single commercially valuable species was extensively planted and other species eliminated.
- For instance, teak monoculture has damaged the natural forest in South India and Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii) plantations in the Himalayas have replaced the Himalayan oak (Quercius spp.) and Rhododendron forests.
- Large-scale development projects have also contributed significantly to the loss of forests.
- Since 1951, over 5,000 sq.km of forest was cleared for river valley projects. Clearing of forests is still continuing with projects like the Narmada Sagar Project in Madhya Pradesh, which would inundate 40,000 hectares of forest.
- Mining is another important factor behind deforestation. The Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal is seriously threatened by the ongoing dolomite mining.
- It has disturbed the natural habitat of many species and blocked the migration route of several others, including the great Indian elephant.
- Many foresters and environmentalists hold the view that the greatest degrading factors behind the depletion of forest resources are grazing and fuel-wood collection.
- Though, there may be some substance in their argument, yet, the fact remains that a substantial part of the fuel-fodder demand is met by lopping rather than by felling entire trees.
- The Himalayan Yew (Taxus wallachiana) is a medicinal plant found in various parts of Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.
- A chemical compound called 'taxol’ is extracted from the bark, needles, twigs and roots of this tree, and it has been successfully used to treat some cancers - the drug is now the biggest selling anti-cancer drug in the world,
- The species is under great threat due to over-exploitation. In the last one decade, thousands thousands of yew trees have dried up in various parts ofHimachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh.
- Habitat destruction, hunting, poaching, over-exploitation, environmental pollution, poisoning and forest fires are factors, which have led to the decline in India's biodiversity.
- Other important causes of environmental destruction are unequal access, inequitable consumption of resources and differential sharing of responsibility for environmental well-
- The destruction of forests and wildlife is not just a biological issue. The biological loss is strongly correlated with the loss of cultural diversity.
- Such losses have increasingly marginalised and impoverished many indigenous and other forest-dependent communities, who directly depend on various components of the forest and wildlife for food, drink, medicine, culture, spirituality, etc,
- Within the poor, women are affected more than men. In many societies, women bear the major responsibility of collection of fuel, fodder, water and other basic subsistence needs.
- As these resources are depleted, the drudgery of women increases and sometimes they have to walk for more than 10 km to collect these resources.
- This causes senous health problems for women and negligence of home and children because of the increased hours of work, which often has serious social implication
- The indirect impact of degradation such as severe drought or deforestation-induced floods, etc. also hits the poor the hardest. Poverty in these cases is a direct outcome of environmental destruction.
Project Tiger
- Tiger is one of the key wildlife species in the faunal web. In 1973, the authorities realized that the tiger population had dwindled to 1,827 from an estimated 55,000 at the turn of the century.
- The major threats to tiger population are numerous, such as poaching for trade, shrinking habitat, depletion of prey base species, growing human population, etc.
- The trade of tiger skins and the use of their bones in traditional medicines, especially in the Asian countries left the tiger population on the verge of extinction.
- Since India and Nepal provide habitat to about two-thirds of me surviving tiger population in the world, these two nations became prime targets for poaching and illegal trading,
- "Project Tiger", one of me wellpublicised wildlife campaigns in the world, was launched in 1973.
- Initially, it showed success as the tiger population went up to 4,002 in 1985 and 4,334 in 1989. But m 1993, the population of the tiger had dropped to 3,600.
- Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, Sunderbans National Park in West Bengal, Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh, Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan.
Some Wildlife reserves in India
- Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam and Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala are some of the tiger reserves of India.
Types and Distribution of Forest and Wildlife Resources
- Reserved Forests: More than half of the total forest land has been declared reserved forests. Reserved forests are regarded as the most valuable as far as the conservation of forest and wildlife resources are concerned.
- Protected Forests: Almost one-third of the total forest area is protected forest, as declared by the Forest Department. This forest land are protected from any further depletion.
- Unclassed Forests; These are other forests and wastelands belonging to both government and private individuals and communities.
- Reserved and protected forests are also referred to as permanent forest estates maintained for the purpose of producing timber and other forest produce, and for protective reasons.
- Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under permanent forests, constituting 75 per cent of its total forest area.
- Jammu and Kasnmir, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Maharashtra have large percentages of reserved forests of its total forest area whereas Bitiar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan have a bulk of it under protected forests.
- All Northeastern states and parts of Gujarat have a very high percentage of their forests as unclassed forests managed by local communities.
- In India joint forest management (IFM) programme furnishes a good example for involving local communities in the management and restoration of degraded forests.
- The programme has been in formal existence since 1988 when the state of Odisha passed the first resolution for joint forest management.
- JFM depends on the formation of local (village) institutions that undertake protection activities mostly on degraded forest land managed by the forest department.
- In return, the members of these communities are entitled to intermediary benefits like non-timber forest produces and share in the timber harvested by 'successful protection'.
