Forest Conservation

Forests are not a collection of resources to be drawn upon; they are a living system bound up with human life and the environment. Because they give so much — directly and indirectly — to the economy and to society, their conservation is not optional but vital for human survival and prosperity. That is the premise on which India’s forest policy rests.

The Government of India adopted its first national forest policy in 1952, and revised it in 1988. The revised policy sets the tone for everything that follows: it calls for sustainable forest management — conserving and expanding forest reserves on one hand, while meeting the needs of local people on the other. The policy spells out seven clear aims:

• bring 33 per cent of the country’s geographical area under forest cover;
• maintain environmental stability and restore forests where the ecological balance has been disturbed;
• conserve the natural heritage of the country — its biological diversity and genetic pool;
• check soil erosion, stop the extension of desert lands, and reduce floods and droughts;
• increase forest cover through social forestry and afforestation on degraded land;
• raise the productivity of forests so that timber, fuel, fodder and food are available to the rural population dependent on forests, and encourage substitution of wood;
• create a massive people’s movement, involving women, to encourage planting of trees, stop felling, and thereby reduce pressure on existing forests.

Forests and Life

For a vast number of tribal people, the forest is not a resource — it is home, livelihood, and existence itself. It supplies them food, fruits of all kinds, edible leaves, honey, nourishing roots and wild game. It gives them material to build their houses and to practise their arts. The tribal economy is so closely tied to the forest that the forest is its very source of sustenance.

There is a common belief that tribal communities live in harmony with nature and protect the forests, and the relationship between forest and tribals is indeed very close. The policy takes this seriously: the age-old knowledge of tribals about forestry should be used in developing forests. Rather than treating tribals merely as collectors of minor forest produce, they should be made growers of minor forest produce and encouraged to participate actively in conservation.

Steps Initiated Under the Policy

Based on the forest conservation policy, concrete steps were initiated, the chief among them being social forestry.

Social Forestry

Social forestry means the management and protection of forests, and afforestation on barren lands, with the purpose of helping environmental, social and rural development. The National Commission on Agriculture (1976) classified it into three categories: urban forestry, rural forestry and farm forestry.

Urban forestry concerns the raising and management of trees on public and privately owned lands in and around urban centres — green belts, parks, roadside avenues, and industrial and commercial green belts.

Rural forestry emphasises two things: agro-forestry and community forestry.

• Agro-forestry is the raising of trees and agricultural crops on the same land, inclusive of waste patches. It combines forestry with agriculture, allowing the simultaneous production of food, fodder, fuel, timber and fruit. …