CH 2 Forest and Wildlife

Chapter 2: Forest and Wildlife Resources
1. What is bio-diversity?
Biodiversity or Biological Diversity is immensely rich in wildlife and cultivated species,
diverse in form and function but closely integrated in a system through multiple networks
of interdependencies.
2. How is bio-diversity important for human beings?

• We share this planet with millions of other living beings, starting from
microorganisms and bacteria, lichens to banyan trees, elephants and blue
whales. This entire habitat that we live in has immense biodiversity.
• We humans along with all living organisms form a complex web of ecological
system in which we are only a part and very much dependent on this system for
our own existence.
• For example, the plants, animals and micro-organisms re-create the quality of the
air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil that produces our food without
which we cannot survive.
• Forests play a key role in the ecological system as these are also the primary
producers on which all other living beings depend.
3. How are forests useful to human beings?

Forests are useful in the following ways:
• Oxygen production: Plants use carbon dioxide and release oxygen during the process
of photosynthesis. Due to these forests are one of the key sources of oxygen production.
• They help prevent soil erosion.
• Act as aquifers: Forest help prevents water runoff during rain. They prevent the water
from flowing away and help it trickle down thus, replenishing underground water
levels.
• They reduce wind speed: large trees present in forest areas block the wind and help
reduce wind speed.
• It is a home for animals: A large number of animals and other soil organisms are
present. Forest areas, therefore, have a habitat rich in flora and fauna.
4. Why do we need to conserve our forest and wildlife?

• Conservation preserves the ecological diversity and our life support systems – water,
air and soil.
• It also preserves the genetic diversity of plants and animals for better growth of species
and breeding.
• For example, in agriculture, we are still dependent on traditional crop varieties.
Fisheries too are heavily dependent on the maintenance of aquatic biodiversity.
5. Explain methods of forest conservation adopted by government of India

after independence.
i. In the 1960s and 1970s, conservationists demanded a national wildlife protection
programme. The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act was implemented in 1972, with various
provisions for protecting habitats. ii. An all-India list of protected species was also
published. The thrust of the programme was towards protecting the remaining population of
certain endangered species by banning hunting, giving legal protection to their habitats, and
restricting trade in wildlife.
iii. Subsequently, central and many state governments established national parks and wildlife
sanctuaries about which you have already studied. iv. The central government also
announced several projects for protecting specific animals, which were gravely threatened,
including the tiger, the one horned rhinoceros, the Kashmir stag or hangul, three types of
crocodiles – fresh water crocodile, saltwater crocodile and the Gharial, the Asiatic lion, and
others.
v. Most recently, the Indian elephant, black buck (chinkara), the great Indian bustard
(godawan) and the snow leopard, etc. have been given full or partial legal protection
against hunting and trade throughout India.
6. Write a short note on 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 the surviving tiger
population in the world, these two nations became prime targets for poaching and
illegal trading.
• “Project Tiger”, one of the well-publicized wildlife campaigns in the world, was
launched in 1973. Tiger conservation has been viewed not only as an effort to save an
endangered species, but with equal importance as a means of preserving biotypes of
sizeable magnitude.
7. What are the categories under which forests are classified by government
of India? I. 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.
• Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West
Bengal, and Maharashtra have large percentages of reserved forests of its total forest
area
II. 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.
• Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan have a bulk of it
under protected forests.
III. Unclassed forests
• These are other forests and wastelands belonging to both government and private
individuals and communities.
• All North-eastern states and parts of Gujarat have a very high percentage of their
forests as unclassed forests managed by local 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.
MEASURES TO CONSERVE THE ECO SYSTEM

• In Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, villagers have fought against mining by citing
the Wildlife Protection Act. In many areas, villagers themselves are protecting
habitats and explicitly rejecting government involvement.
• The inhabitants of five villages in the Alwar district of Rajasthan have declared
1,200 hectares of forest as the Bhairodev Dakav ‘Sonchuri’, declaring their own set
of rules and regulations which do not allow hunting, and are protecting the wildlife
against any outside encroachments.
• Nature worship is an age-old tribal belief based on the premise that all creations of
nature have to be protected. Such beliefs have preserved several virgin forests in
pristine form called Sacred Groves (the forests of God and Goddesses).
• The Mundas and the Santhal of Chota Nagpur region worship mahua (Bassia
latifolia) and kadamba (Anthocaphalus cadamba) trees, and the tribals of Odisha and
Bihar worship the tamarind (Tamarindus indica) and mango (Mangifera indica) trees
during weddings. To many of us, peepal and banyan trees are considered sacred.
• Sacred qualities are often ascribed to springs, mountain peaks, plants and animals
which are closely protected. You will find troops of macaques and langurs around
many temples. They are fed daily and treated as a part of temple devotees.
• In and around Bishnoi villages in Rajasthan, herds of blackbuck, (chinkara), nilgai
and peacocks can be seen as an integral part of the community and nobody harms
them.
COMMUNITIES HAVE CONSERVED AND PROTECTED FORESTS

AND WILDLIFE IN INDIA.
• The famous Chipko movement in the Himalayas has not only successfully resisted
deforestation in several areas but has also shown that community afforestation with
indigenous species can be enormously successful.
• Attempts to revive the traditional conservation methods or developing new methods
of ecological farming are now widespread. Farmers and citizen’s groups like the Beej
Bachao Andolan in Tehri and Navdanya have shown that adequate levels of
diversified crop production without the use of synthetic chemicals are possible and
economically viable.
• In India joint forest management (JFM) programme furnishes a good example for
involving local communities in the management and restoration of degraded forests.

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Chapter 2: Forest and Wildlife Resources

2. How is bio-diversity important for human beings?

3. How are forests useful to human beings?

4. Why do we need to conserve our forest and wildlife?

5. Explain methods of forest conservation adopted by government of India

6. Write a short note on Project Tiger.

MEASURES TO CONSERVE THE ECO SYSTEM

COMMUNITIES HAVE CONSERVED AND PROTECTED FORESTS

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