How colonialism affect the forest people? What type of forest laws and innovations they introduced?
Answers
Invasive plant species not only interfere with the wellbeing and diversity of native plant and animal life, but also end up branching into non-forest areas
About one-fifth of India is covered by forests. Large parts of this green cover are under threat from invasive species that not only interfere with the well-being and diversity of native plant and animal life, but also end up colonising non-forest areas. As far back as 2003, a Ministry of Environment and Forests report had noted that “close to 40 per cent of the species in the Indian flora are alien, of which 25 per cent are invasive”. Alongside invasive species, several native plants, too, have colonised new areas and altered the ecology.
Nearly three lakh hectares in Himachal Pradesh were found to contain lantana, ageratum, parthenium and other invasive species in areas where these were never seen before, according to a study by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE). “In ten years these could even be the dominant species in some areas,” warns ICFRE deputy director (research), GS Goraya.