Forest & Wildlife Resources

Flora - Plants of a particular region or period

Fauna - Species of animals
Bio Diversity – is all the different kinds of life we find in one area
Biodiversity comes from two words Bio meaning life and diversity
meaning variability.
Biodiversity is the variety of all living things; the different plants, animals
and micro organisms, the genetic information they contain and the
ecosystems they form.
Biodiversity or Biological Diversity is immensely rich in wildlife and
cultivated species, diverse in form and function but closely integrated in
a system through multiple network of interdependencies.
Ecosystem - An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants,
animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and
landscape, work together to form a bubble of life.
Humans along with all living organisms form a ecological
system in which we are only a part and very much dependent
on this system for our own existence.
For example,
•the plants, animals and micro-organisms re-create the
quality of the air we breathe
•the water we drink and the soil that produces our food
without which we cannot survive
•Forests play a key role in the ecological system as these are
also the primary producers on which all other living beings
depend.
 Conservation of Forest and Wildlife in India
• Conservation preserves the ecological diversity and our life
support systems – water, air and soil.
• It also preserves the genetic diversity of plants and animals
for better growth of species and breeding.
• Fisheries too are heavily dependent on the maintenance of
aquatic biodiversity.
• The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act – implemented in 1972
There were provisions for protecting habitats.
An all- India list of protected species was published.
The aim of the programme was towards protecting the
remaining population of certain endangered species by
banning hunting, giving legal protection to their habitats,
and restricting trade in wildlife.
Central and many state governments established
national parks and wildlife sanctuaries
The central government also announced several
projects for protecting specific animals, which were
gravely threatened, including the tiger, the one horned
rhinoceros, the Kashmir stag or hangul, three types of
crocodiles – fresh water crocodile, saltwater crocodile
and the Gharial, the Asiatic lion, and others.
Most recently, the Indian elephant, black buck
(chinkara), the great Indian bustard (godawan) and the
snow leopard, etc. have been given full or partial legal
protection against hunting and trade throughout India.
The conservation projects are now focusing on biodiversity
rather than on a few of its components..
Even insects are beginning to find a place in conservation
planning.
In the notification under Wildlife Act of 1980 and 1986,
several hundred butterflies, moths, beetles, and one
dragonfly have been added to the list of protected species.
In 1991, for the first time plants were also added to the list,
starting with six species.
 Types and Distribution of Forest and Wildlife Resources
In India much of its forest and wildlife resources are either owned or managed by
the government through the Forest Department or other government departments
• Reserved Forests: More than half of the total forest land has been declared
reserved forests. Reserved forests are regarded as the most valuable as far as the
conservation of forest and wildlife resources are concerned. Jammu and Kashmir,
Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Maharashtra
have large percentages of reserved forests of its total forest area
• Protected Forests: Almost 1/3rd of the total forest area is protected forest, as
declared by the Forest Department. This forest land are protected from any further
depletion. Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan have
a huge portion of total forest area under protected forests.
Reserved and protected forests are also referred to as permanent forest estates
maintained for the purpose of producing timber and other forest produce, and for
protective reasons. Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under permanent
forests, constituting 75 % of its total forest area.
• Unclassed Forests: These are other forests and wastelands belonging to both
government and private individuals and communities. All North-eastern states and
parts of Gujarat have a very high percentage of their forests as unclassed forests
managed by local communities.
 Community and Conservation
In India, forests are also home to some of the
traditional communities
• In Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, villagers have
fought against mining by citing the Wildlife Protection
Act. In many areas, villagers themselves are protecting
habitats and explicitly rejecting government
involvement.
• The inhabitants of five villages in the Alwar district of
Rajasthan have declared 1,200 hectares of forest as the
Bhairodev Dakav ‘Sonchuri’, declaring their own set of
rules and regulations which do not allow hunting, and
are protecting the wildlife against any outside
encroachments.
• Chipko movement in the Himalayas – successfully
resisted deforestation in several areas and has also
shown that community afforestation with
indigenous species can be enormously successful.
• Farmers and citizen’s groups like the Beej Bachao
Andolan in Tehri and Navdanya (Karnataka & Tehri)
have shown that adequate levels of diversified crop
production without the use of synthetic chemicals
are possible and economically feasible
• Bishnoi communities in Rajasthan protect herds of
blackbuck, (chinkara), nilgai and peacocks & these
animals can be seen as an integral part of the
community and nobody harms them.
• In India joint forest management (JFM) programme
is a good example for involving local communities in
the management and restoration of degraded
forests.
• The programme has been in formal existence since
1988 when the state of Odisha passed the first
resolution for joint forest management.
• JFM depends on the formation of local (village)
institutions that undertake protection activities
mostly on degraded forest land managed by the
forest department. In return, the members of these
communities are entitled to intermediary benefits
like non-timber forest produces and share in the
timber harvested by ‘successful protection’.
 Sacred Groves
• Nature worship is an age old tribal belief based on
the premise that all creations of nature have to be
protected. Such beliefs have preserved several
virgin forests in its original form called Sacred
Groves (the forests of God and Goddesses).
• Virgin forests - These patches of forest or parts of
large forests have been left untouched by the local
people and any interference with them is banned
• Peepal and banyan trees are considered sacred.
• The Mundas and the Santhal of Chota Nagpur
region worship mahua (Bassia latifolia) and
kadamba(Anthocaphalus cadamba) trees
• The tribals of Odisha and Bihar worship the
tamarind (Tamarindus indica) and mango
(Mangifera indica) trees during weddings
 Project Tiger
• Tiger is one of the key wildlife species
• “Project Tiger” was launched in 1973 only as an
effort to save an endangered species, but with
equal importance as a means of preserving
biotypes of similarly large magnitude
• In 1973, the authorities realised that the tiger
population had reduced to 1,827 from an
estimated 55,000 at the turn of the century.
• The major threats to tiger population are many,
such as poaching for trade, shrinking habitat,
depletion of prey base species, growing human
population, etc.
• The trade of tiger skins and the use of their bones in
traditional medicines, especially in the Asian countries left
the tiger population on the verge of extinction.
• Since India and Nepal provide habitat to about 2/3rd of the
surviving tiger population in the world, these two nations
became prime targets for poaching and illegal trading.

Some of the tiger reserves of India -

• Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand
• Sunderbans National Park in West Bengal,
• Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh,
• Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan,
• Manas Tiger Reserve in Assam
• Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala