Threats to India’s Forest Cover
India’s woods are under several dangers, both natural and man-made. A look at the main offenders is as follows:
- Deforestation is the permanent removal of trees to create room for mining, agriculture, and the construction of infrastructure (roads, dams). This may or may not be lawful.
- Land Degradation: Unsustainable activities that cause desertification include overgrazing by cattle and excessive fuelwood harvest. These actions can lower the quality of forests.
- Climate Change: The forests of India are suffering from rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall patterns, and a rise in the frequency of catastrophic weather events like wildfires.
- Illegal Activities: Poaching, industrial encroachment, and illegal logging by the “timber mafia” are a few examples of unlawful activities that lead to the loss and degradation of forests.
- Policy Issues: It may be challenging to conserve forests due to conflicting regulations and lax enforcement measures.
Each of these risks has a cascading impact. Deforestation and degradation lead to biodiversity loss, ecological imbalance disruption, and increased susceptibility to droughts and floods. This might start a vicious cycle and exacerbate the impacts of climate change.
Forest Cover of India
India is one of the rare countries that keeps track of its forests regularly using a scientific method. This helps a lot with making plans, policies, and evidence-based decisions. India’s forests are as diverse as its culture, from the tall evergreen trees in the Western Ghats to the thick jungles in the Northeast.
In this article, we’ll look into the forests of India, learning about why they’re important, what’s being done to protect them, and the problems they’re up against.
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