Chapter 2: Forest and Wildlife Resources (Geography)

Wildlife sanctuaries are demarcated by the government; the other three are community efforts.

(d) Demarcation of wildlife sanctuaries

Reserved – most valuable for conservation; Protected – protected from further depletion; Unclassed – other forests and wastelands of government, private individuals and communities.

Biodiversity is the immense variety of life forms (plants, animals and micro-organisms) found on the Earth, each with its own role in nature.

It is important because humans, along with all living organisms, form a complex web of ecological systems in which we are only a part and depend on it for our existence. Plants, animals and micro-organisms recreate the quality of air, water and soil that produces our food; forests are the primary producers on which all other living beings depend. Biodiversity gives us food, medicines, fuel, timber and other products.

The variety of living organisms on Earth; we depend on it for air, water, soil fertility, food, medicines and other products.

• Colonial exploitation: forests were cleared for railways, agriculture, commercial and scientific forestry, and mining.
• Agricultural expansion: large areas of forest were converted to farmland after independence.
• Large development projects, such as river valley projects, submerged large forest areas (e.g. the Narmada Sagar project in Madhya Pradesh).
• Mining (e.g. dolomite mining in the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal) disturbs habitats.
• Enrichment plantations (single commercially valuable species such as teak, sal or pine) replaced natural forests.
• Habitat destruction, hunting and poaching, overexploitation, environmental pollution and forest fires, together with unequal consumption of resources, are other causes.

Clearing for railways, agriculture, mining and dams, monoculture plantations, hunting, poaching, pollution and forest fires have depleted flora and fauna.

• In Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan, villagers have fought against mining, citing the Wildlife Protection Act.
• In many areas, villagers themselves protect habitats and reject government involvement. The inhabitants of five villages in Alwar district of Rajasthan declared 1,200 hectares of forest as the Bhairodev Dakav 'Sonchuri', with their own rules that ban hunting and protect wildlife against outside encroachments.
• The famous Chipko Movement in the Himalayas resisted deforestation (people hugged trees) and showed that community afforestation with indigenous species can be very successful.
• Farmers and citizens' groups like the Beej Bachao Andolan in Tehri and Navdanya have shown that adequate levels of diversified crop production are possible without synthetic chemicals.
• Joint Forest Management (JFM), started in Odisha in 1988, involves local communities in managing and restoring degraded forests; in return they get non-timber forest produce and a share of the timber harvested.
• Many communities treat certain trees and forests as sacred groves (e.g. the Mundas and Santhals worship mahua and kadamba trees; the Bishnois of Rajasthan protect blackbuck, chinkara, nilgai and peacocks).

Through village-declared sanctuaries (Bhairodev Dakav Sonchuri), movements like Chipko and Beej Bachao Andolan, Joint Forest Management, and the protection of sacred groves and animals.

• Laws and protected areas: the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 banned hunting and gave legal protection to habitats; national parks and wildlife sanctuaries were set up.
• Special projects for endangered animals, such as Project Tiger (1973), and projects for the one-horned rhino, the Asiatic lion, crocodiles and others.
• Protection of insects and plants, not only large mammals: butterflies, moths, beetles, and plants such as some medicinal plants, have been included under the Wildlife Act.
• Community participation: Joint Forest Management, sacred groves, village sanctuaries and movements such as Chipko.
• Afforestation and social forestry with local species, and the use of alternatives to firewood and timber.
• Sustainable practices in farming (e.g. Beej Bachao Andolan, Navdanya) and avoiding overgrazing and forest fires.

Good practices include strict laws and protected areas, projects for endangered species, community participation (JFM, sacred groves, Chipko), afforestation and sustainable farming.