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| Fig Tree. (Photo: MOEF GOI) |
India has about 19 per cent of its area under forest while ecologically it should have had not less than 33 per cent of land under forest cover.
Although India is characterised by various types of forests but it is dwindling over a couple of centuries. Recent efforts at afforestation are but an aberration in the general trend of decades.
On an average 1.5 lakh hectare forest was lost every year between 1951 and 1980. The rate of deforestation between 1980 and 1990 was at 55,000 hectare a year while between 1990 and 1995, it stood at 4,500 hectare of 450 sq km.
Recently the rate of deforestation has declined due to two factors –
Some strong punitive measures have been taken to check deforestation.
Due to afforestation programmes, the scale of deforestation has been compensated a bit. In 1996, newly afforested area was equal in expanse to deforested area. Even the afforestation is taking place but the real acreage has been decreasing.
Deforestation is the result of a number of factors:
1
Agricultural progress – Two types of agricultural practices have been prevalent in India for long. These are shifting agriculture and plantation agriculture. A substantial portion of Indian population has lived in and near forests for centuries. They largely depended on gathering of forest produce to sustain their livelihood.
Now those who had gathering economy have shifted to a more settled economy. The shift in their economic practices necessitated cutting of forests. These people practiced shifting agriculture, which requires fresh and virgin land every few years.
Shifting agriculture proved to be a major factor causing wide-scale deforestation. Finally, this practice was declared illegal with laws like Jhoom Farming Prevention Act, 1976. Though, the practice continued for few more decades as it took lots of persuasion and in sensitizing people living in those areas about the legal and environmental consequences of shifting agriculture.
The effectiveness of the laws is not surmised but it has definitely contributed in slowing down the rate of deforestation. Tribal population growth rate has been very high. Nagaland has showed highest population growth rate for long. Swelling tribal population and need for more dwelling units in their homeland put more and more pressure on forest land which saw vanishing trees.
In the areas where plantation form of agriculture is practiced, deforestation has not much increased in last few decades. Sustained efforts by various governments have ensured that after 1980, plantation area is not increased by cutting down the forests.
After the World War I, tea and other crops brought more areas under plantation acreage in India. In Himachal Pradesh, open forest areas were given to tea plantation even till 1985-86. But, this practice has almost stopped completely.
2. Fuel wood pressure – A 2015 report by Indiaspend.com said that more than 67 per cent rural households in India depended on firewood or wood chips. It also stated that over 95 per cent rural households in six states – Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal still used traditional fuel such as firewood, dung cakes and agricultural waste for cooking.
According to the Access to Clean Cooking Energy and Electricity Survey of States (ACCESS), only 14 per cent households in rural areas across six states surveyed used biogas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), electricity or natural gas as their primary source for cooking.
Another IndiaSpend report said that the use of LPG increased 7.5 times between 1993-94 and 2011-12 in rural areas across India. About 2 per cent rural households used LPG in 1993-94 while about 15 per cent households used LPG in 2011-12.
This overdependence of vast majority of rural India has caused massive cutting of trees from forests – big and small. Many state governments have passed laws to declare cutting of trees for fuel illegal e.g. in Kerala, Garhwal area of Uttarakhand, most of northeastern states and states along Western Ghats.
3. Resource utilisation pressure – Various industries and economic activities depend on utilisation of forest resources. Forest products are used and trees cut for paper and pulp industry, woodcraft, chemical and drug industries.
The pressure from woodcraft industry is particularly huge in Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Wooden packing of fruits worked like an industry in itself till 1996 in the country. It was particularly taking toll on forests in the northeast and Himalayan states. The practice has become less intensive in recent years.
Tribal subsistence economy also promotes destruction of forests for resource purposes but they have not been able to make economically competitive use of forests.
The loss is much more in comparison to economic gain. The economic gains from forest dependent industries are short-term while the loss is permanent.
4. Livestock pressure – Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir are among the states which have witnessed serious deforestation on account of livestock pressure. It has caused indirect deforestation.
Trans-Himalayan tribes, as part of their traditional practice, take their livestock towards higher altitudes for grazing purposes during spring. Tall grasses could hardly emerge in the region.
Lack of tall grasses results in an ecological situation where horizon A of the soil is not properly developed. In that situation, the vegetation growth becomes scanty.
Continuous grazing on newly emerged grassy surface causes uprooting of grass which leads to soil erosion reducing the capacity of the soil surface to hold running or rainy water. This leads to deterioration of ground water table which ultimately causes decay of tree vegetation in the region.
5. Development pressure – River valley projects have caused massive deforestation in India. About 4,97,000 hectare or 4,970 sq km forest was lost to river valley projects in the Himalayan region between 1952 and 1977.
Besides, about 1,27,000 hectare of forest was lost in the Himalayan region for large scale industries and another 57,000 hectare was lost to road construction in the same zone. Deforestation has continued for mining, railways, roadways, airports and helipads in the hilly regions.
Chhotanagpur region of Jharkhand has witnessed massive deforestation due to developmental pressure.
6. Wild fires – Among other factors for deforestation, wild fires are major contributor. High inflammability of trees – especially the old ones - is one big reason for loss of forest. Collision of trees, branches due to high wind speed during hot summers causes huge wild fires in forests. Western Ghats have witnessed several such fires.
Human errors – forced and unforced, both – are also responsible for forest fires. This is a major cause for destruction of forests in tribal dominated areas. Throwing of untrashed beedis by tribals or cigarettes by tourists and other visitors has led to many wild fires.
It is suspected that such fires were deliberately caused by some people with vested interests. In some cases, terrorists and insurgents have created fires in forests to escape security forces or to serve their own purposes.
1993-94 was a bad year for forests. According to the Forest and Environment Ministry’s data 1,428 incidents of wild fires were reported from Maharashtra in 1993, 644 forest fires in Gujarat, 600 in Himachal Pradesh, 461 in Madhya Pradesh, 418 in Jammu and Kashmir, 258 in Uttar Pradesh, 112 in Kerala and 90 in Tamil Nadu.
In April-May, 2016 forests of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh kept burning for several weeks. Some 1,600 incidents of fires were reported during the period. Air Force helicopters were pressed into use but did not help much to contain the fire. Finally, heavy rain on May 3 slowed down the fire, which went off after raging for few more days. About 4,048 hectare forest was lost to these fires.
7. Illegal cutting of trees –Kerala is facing big problem due to cutting of trees on large scale. Problem is not less alarming in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states. Those who get the contracts for cutting of some trees, are suspecting to be the ones who have ended up damaging the forest the most by overcutting.
8. Tree cutting by tribals – People living in the forest areas are generally those belonging to tribal groups of the Indian population. They have been cutting trees for various kinds of usage. Though, traditionally, such groups have been very forest-friendly but their age practices have become corrupt. Many have shed the old practice of planting more trees in their neighbourhood while continue to believe that cutting trees from forest is their inherited right.
9. Population growth – Population growth rate in the hilly regions has been high. So, population pressure has caused damage to forests. Immigration in hilly regions is another reason contributing to population pressure on forests of such areas.
