History of Deforestation in India
Background: Throughout the world, there are numerous environmental problems resulting from human population pressure on local natural resources. A large proportion of ecological research is dedicated to finding solutions to these issues.
Objectives: Upon completing this assignment, you should be able to describe in-depth an ecological issue, including at least two different perspectives, and how this issue is representative of other similar issues.
Procedure: Pick an ecological crisis (History of Deforestation in India) anywhere in the world that has attracted significant attention. Explain the history of the event including how the situation reached a crisis point. Document as many sides of the situation as possible and include the resolution, if any was reached, of the crisis. If there was no resolution, speculate on how the crisis may be resolved in the future.
History of Deforestation in India
The escalating human population in the past century has impacted the environment significantly. Such is due to the increasing need to utilize natural resources to meet human needs, such as food and shelter. Among these human activities is deforestation, which defines the permanent removal of trees on a large scale for other activities. This paper discusses the history of deforestation in India as a global crisis and its implications. The possible resolutions to this crisis to avoid future impacts are also discussed.
The History of Deforestation in India and How It Reached a Crisis Point
India is historically known to have been rich in dense forest cover. However, the drastic change of this phenomenon is closely linked to the increase in population size, which prompts the need to clear out the trees and acquire land for other activities such as construction and agriculture. The importance of trees was highlighted around 300 BC by Chandra Gupta Maurya, who appointed a high officer to safeguard the forests (Ahmed, 2020). However, the Muslims invaded the land in large numbers, and the Indians sought refuge in the forests. This induced the dire need to clear the forests and establish their settlements. The Muslim invaders protected some forests for hunting purposes, which secured the forest ecology. Nonetheless, the need to develop more settlements ignited deforestation activity.
Further, during the British rule, the trees were fell recklessly for export purposes as they gained foreign exchange. Presumably, the colonizers did not care about the country’s future since it was not their motherland and hence assumed the authority to cut down the trees (Kumari et al., 2019). This reckless behaviour endangered some plant and animal species poised as the niche for India’s ecological system. The endangered plant species included rhynia, sigilaria, and cooksonia, while the animals included Asiatic cheetah, pink-headed duck, and Indian aurochs (Ghosh et al., 2017). However, the British began to conserve and regulate this activity in the 18th century. The rules to prohibit deforestation were enacted to reserve forests for imperial needs. Further, scientific forest management systems were employed to regenerate sustainable forests. Resultantly, afforestation was introduced on a large scale between 1926 and 1947 as the citizens developed an interest to conserve wildlife (Kumari et al., 2019). Nonetheless, this was negatively reciprocated during the First World War as the forest resources were depleted to build railway sleepers and ships.
While the emphasis to preserve forests was still increasing, the underlying objective was to gain revenues. A great upheaval in forestry management occurred in 1947 when India got independence providing more concessions to the local populations (Khan et al., 2018). This led to the development of protective functions of the forests in 1952 that focused on maintaining a third of the land under forest (Khan et al., 2018). As such, some human activities, including grazing, were restricted. The following years witnessed the development of forests as people’s perspectives regarding the forests changed.
Causes of Deforestation
Human activities are arguably the most prominent causes of deforestation. This is because human beings largely rely on natural resources for survival, and the increased activities induce the need to cut down the trees. Therefore, the causes of deforestation include:
Agriculture
The Indian population has escalated over the centuries and especially in the era of globalization. This attributes to the migration of people in the quest to carry out businesses. Resultantly, the country has had to convert the forests to agricultural land to feed the growing population. It is approximated that about 300 million people live as shifting cultivators who slash and burn the forests to clear them for their practices (Khan et al., 2018). Besides, in the early centuries, the colonizers invaded the land, which prompted an increase in land use. Resultantly, more trees had to be cut down to accommodate these activities.
Commercial logging
Wood is highly regarded for use in many ways, such as fuel and paper manufacturing. Regarding this realization, India prides itself in supplying the work market with woods such as teak, meranti, ebony, and mahogany in exchange for revenue (Rawat et al., 2018). Besides, the old trees arere-cut down to make a timber for furniture. However, this destroys trees as the number of those cut down outpaces those planted in a given period.
Urbanization and industrialization
The increasing need to enhance the standards of living prompts urbanization and industrialization. These activities require land to establish buildings and infrastructure for easy developments. The construction of roads for transport prompts the cutting down of trees to acquire sufficient land for these activities (Rawat et al., 2018). Notably, the economically unattractive trees are prioritized for cutting down, which have valuable ecological and biological significance.
Firewood Collection
Traditionally, firewood was highly regarded as the common source of fuel and energy. In this case, cutting down trees started in the early centuries. However, as the Indian population escalated, it prompted an increased rate of deforestation to meet the need for energy sources (Kumari et al., 2019). Although modern equipment was introduced as the living standards advanced due to technology invention, firewood remains a valuable energy source, especially by the native populations.
Impacts on the Environment
Deforestation is associated with some benefits as well as setbacks. The benefits include abundant food production for the growing population, which eradicates the periods of lack. Unfortunately, the negative impacts of deforestation outweigh the positive impacts. Among the positive impacts include food scarcity. Deforestation presents an unsuitable environment for long term agricultural activities such as ranching. The activity induces degradation of the soil arability and fertility, making it poor for plant support.
Further, deforestation exposes the soil to heat and heavy rainfall that damage the topsoil. Such explains why there are rampant floods and soil erosion in deforested areas than in afforested areas. Notably, the watersheds lose the capability to hold and sustain water flowing from the streams and rivers (Rawat et al., 2018). Trees play the role of absorbing water quantities and keeping the watersheds to a manageable level. Deforestation, thus, exposes the land to soil erosion and a lot of water on the land leading to downstream flooding. Besides, as the fertile soil is eroded to the coral reefs, sedimentation occurs, which negatively impacts the fatalities in the wildlife population and the economic viability of businesses.
Additionally, the loss of biodiversity is a critical consequence of deforestation. This explains the current situation whereby most of the plant and animal species have become extinct. This is because the forests provide a home for these species, and deforestation destroys their habitat. Resultantly, the animal species lack the conducive environment to breed, leading to a decrease in their number, while the surviving ones die eventually. Additionally, some climbing plant species such as morning glory, kiwifruit, and wisteria depend on forest trees for survival (Rawat et al., 2018). As such, increased deforestation terminates their living.
Retrospectively, deforestation is a critical phenomenon whose consequential effects calls for a prompt response. The paper discussed deforestation in India and its various implications. Deforestation was identified as dangerous in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the country’s leadership implemented some measures to regulate the activity. The major causes included agriculture, industrialization, and commercial logging. The critical consequences highlighted is the loss of biodiversity and an increase in soil erosion. Generally, deforestation is a scary vice that should be regulated to ensure a balance of the ecosystem.
References
Ahmed, S. (2020). Unit-11 Deforestation. Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.
Ghosh, S., Ganga, M., Priyanka, R. R., & Manimaran, P. (2017). Endangered Ornamental Plant Species in India and Strategy for Their Conservation-A Review. Chem Sci Rev Lett, 6(23), 1457-1464.
Khan, F., Sohail, Z., Khan, T., Fatima, B., Malik, F., Bukhari, S. F. H., … & Gul, A. (2018). Deforestation: A Continuous Battle—A Case Study from Central Asia and Other Countries. In Vegetation of Central Asia and Environs (pp. 73-117). Springer, Cham.
Kumari, R., Banerjee, A., Kumar, R., Kumar, A., Saikia, P., & Khan, M. L. (2019). Deforestation in India: consequences and sustainable solutions. Forest degradation around the world, 1-18.
Rawat, M. S., Zhimo, V. V., & Imchen, N. (2018). Deforestation in Nagaland, North-East India: Causes, Effects and Subsequent Environmental Degradation-A Preliminary Review. Global Journal of Current Research Rawat et al., 6(3).
