Question

write a note on vanishing forests in India for project​

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

According to the Forest Survey of India (FSI), India’s forest cover stands at 20.6% of the total land area. And the good news is that we had only 0.11% reduction in forest cover since 2002 and the forest cover has remained more or less stable (in 2003 it was 20.64%).

And the main losses, according to FSI, were due to natural disasters and submergence of forests to dams. Though the amount of dense forests cover is a poor 1.66% of total land area, the moderately dense has 10.12% of total land area.

So the statistics surely shows a gradual decrease in forest cover though in the 1990s there was increased deforestation. The afforestation drive and social forestry initiative of the government has done little to improve the forest cover. There has been an addition of only an abysmally low area of 180,000 sq. km in the last 50 years to the forest cover.

In the revised National Forest Policy of 2002 the target to achieve 33% of land area under forest cover was set for the year 2012. So how are we going to have a nearly 60% increase in the forest cover? The forest cover in the hilly areas is a lowly 38.77% against the goal of 66%. What more can explain the increased landslide and soil erosion in the hill regions during rains? A little ray of hope can be found in the forest cover in the tribal areas where it is 60.04% of the total forest cover of the country when the tribal areas constitute only 33.6% of the total land of the country. The N-E states together constitute more than a quarter of the total forest cover(though it constitutes 7% of India’s land area) which is being lost year by year due to shifting cultivation and also wide felling of trees.

From the 1970s, the days of the Chipko Movement, people have become more interested and involved in conservation. Though it doesn’t constitute a good proportion of the vast population of our country, it may become instrumental in wakening others to the threat of going without forests and its rich natural beauty and resources and the flora and fauna it supports.