Changing nature of forests in India

The India State of Forest Report 2015 has given a positive picture of country’s green cover. It stated that the total forest and tree cover is 79 million hectares constituting 24% of the geographical area of the country. While releasing this report, Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar said “the Green India Mission is the answer to climate change and we intend to increase the forest cover to the mandatory 33% in the coming years”.

The annual ritual of releasing the forest report claims a marginal increase in the forest cover, but it hardly addresses the reality of the changing nature of the forests in the country. The last patches of green cover can be found only in the hill regions of Himalaya, Western Ghats, and central part and in the eastern region. Unfortunately, these are the regions rich in mineral and water resources that attract large scale mining companies and dam building activity to harness water. The conflict over the use of forest resources is escalating to high pitch leading to civil war like situation in central and eastern India. 

In addition to these human-led conflicts over forests, invisible factors are leading to changes in the nature of forest ecosystems. In the Himalayas, the oak forests are being repla-ced by the pine monocultures.

Though the seeds of this change were sown in the commercial objective of the forestry policies implemented in the 1980s, the natural spread of pine forests is causing irreversible damage to local water resources and change in micro climate. The increase in temperatures in recent years has put additional pressure on the fragile Himalayan mountain range with receding glaciers.

However, in south India, the forests in Western Ghats are facing threat due to change in the forest types. As a result of climate change, the evergreen tropical forests are converted into dry deciduous or scrub forests. Shankar, a forestry scientist, says: ”The composition of the forest species is changing, some of the tree species found earlier has totally disappeared and the new ones have arrived”.

“Our amla trees in the forests have flowers but are not fruiting for past 8 years” says Shridhar Desai, a traditional medicine mn form Kali Valley in Western Ghats. Why is this change happening? Obviously, climate change has resulted in some trees having flowers but no fruits. If there are no fruits, then it has implications on natural regeneration and wild life that depend on this fruit for survival.

Similarly, the destruction of honey bees and felling of large trees that provide nesting site for the bee hives leads to loss of bee population. Without bees, the pollination of forest species are adversely affected. There is not a single scientific study of how climate change has impacted the bees and biodiversity of the forest eco system in India.

Overstressed ecosystems

Ravindranath and others form Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, conducted a study of climate change on forest eco systems. It says:”Change in forest types is likely to lead to large scale forest dieback and loss of biodiversity. Forest ecosystems in India are overstressed leading to degradation and loss with adverse impact on the livelihood of forest dependent communities. Climate change will be an additional pressure on forests.”
The Inter Governmental Panel on Climate Change stated “the climate change could cause irreversible damage to unique forest ecosystems and biodiversity rendering several species extinct. Forests require the long-est time to respond to climate change and adapt and re-grow”.

India’s forests are already facing the threat of extinction of plant species and irreversible damage. Despite these warning signals, the governments are not even willing to recognise the problem, leave alone addressing the threats.

The Climate Change Action Plan and the Green India mission attempts to address the issue by large scale tree planting. Nevertheless, there is basic difference between manmade forests and natural forests. Man can only establish plantations, mostly of single monoculture species, devoid of biodiversity.

The natural growth forest are a treasure-trove with high diversity and has the capacity to generate soil, air and clean air, acting as carbon sinks. Very little of these natural forests are left in India and we need to protect it at any cost.

Ironically, the Central and sta-te governments are implementing policies that destroy this fragile old growth forests. The changing nature of the forests should be the main concern of not only the government but the entire population of the country.

As the Chipko slogan says: “forest provide us water, air and soil, these are the basis for life”. Any amount of FDI will not be able to provide us these basic resources. Therefore, the need to conserve the reaming natural forests in the country.