Context

▪ Forest Resources
▪ Use Of Forest Resources
▪ Over Exploitation Of Forest Resources
▪ Deforestation
▪ Timber Extraction
▪ Mining effect on Forest and Tribal people
▪ Dams on Forest and Tribal people
Forests play a major role in our life. Early humans gathered food and were dependent
on forests for all their basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.We depend on
forests for several or various other things directly or indirectly.Even today people
depend on the forest for paper, timber, fuelwood, medicine, and fodder.

About 1/3rd of the world’s land area is forested which includes closed as well as open
forests.

This invaluable renewable natural resource is beneficial to man in many ways

 Uses of Forest Resources
Forest can provide prosperity of human being and to the nations. Important uses of
forest can be classified as under

❖ Commercial values

❖ Ecological significance

❖ Aesthetic values

❖ Life and economy of tribal

 Commercial uses

• Large number of commercial goods which include timber, firewood, pulpwood, food
items, gum, resins, non-edible oils, rubber, fibers, lac, bamboo canes, fodder,
medicine, drugs and many more items, the total worth of which is estimated to be
more than $ 300 billion per year.
• Half of the timber cut each year is used as fuel for heating and cooking.
• One third of the wood harvest is used for building materials as lumber, plywood
and hardwood, particle board and chipboard.
• One sixth of the wood harvest is converted into pulp and used for paper industry.
• Many forest lands are used for mining, agriculture, grazing, and recreation and for
development of dams
 Ecological Uses
• Production of oxygen: The trees produce oxygen by photosynthesis which is so vital
for life on this earth. They are rightly called as earth’s lungs.
▪ Reducing global warming: The main greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) is
absorbed by the forests as a raw material for photosynthesis. Thus forest canopy acts
as a sink for CO2 thereby reducing the problem of global warming caused by
greenhouse gas CO2.
▪ Wild life habitat: Forests are the homes of millions of wild animals and plants.
About 7 million species are found in the tropical forests alone.
▪ Soil Conservation: Forests bind the soil particles tightly in their roots and prevent
soil erosion. They also act as wind- breaks.
▪ Pollution moderators: Forests can absorb many toxic gases and can help in keeping
the air pure. They have also been reported to absorb noise and thus help in
preventing air and noise pollution
 Over Exploitation Of Forest
• Humans have depended heavily on forests for food, medicine, shelter, wood and
fuel.

• With growing civilization the demands for raw material like timber, pulp, minerals,
fuel wood etc. shouted up resulting in large scale logging, mining, road-building and
clearing of forests.

• Forests contribute substantially to the national economy.

• Excessive use of fuel wood and charcoal, expansion of urban, agricultural and
industrial areas and overgrazing have together led to over-exploitation of our forests
leading to their rapid degradation.
 Deforestation
• Deforestation refers to the decrease in forest areas across the world that are lost for
other uses such as agricultural croplands, urbanization, or mining activities.

• These economic gains are short term where as long term effects of deforestation are
irreversible
 Major Causes Of Deforestation
• Shifting cultivation: There are an estimated 300 million people living as shifting
cultivators who practice slash and burn agriculture and are supposed to clear more
than 5 lakh of forests for shifting cultivation annually.
• Fuel requirements: Increasing demands for fuel wood by the growing population in
India
• Raw materials for industrial use: Wood for making boxes, furniture, railway-
sleepers, plywood, match-boxes, pulp for paper industry etc. have exerted
tremendous pressure on forests.
• Overgrazing: The poor in the tropics mainly rely on wood as a source of fuel leading
to loss of tree cover and the cleared lands are turned into the grazing lands.
 Timber extraction
Extraction is the process of transporting cut timber from the place where it was
growing to a point where it can be removed from site. There are a wide range of
different methods of timber extraction and they vary in their strengths and
weaknesses, and in the sites where they are most appropriate.

There has been unlimited exploitation of timber for commercial use. Due to increased
industrial demand; timber extraction has significant effect on forest and tribal
people.
 Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the
Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit.
Due to increased industrial demand; mining has significant effect on forest and tribal
people.

Major effects of mining operations on forest and tribal people are:

• It leads to degradation of lands and loss of top soil.
• It is estimated that about eighty thousands hectare land is under stress of mining
activities in India
• Mining leads to drying up perennial sources of water sources like spring and
streams in mountainous area.
• Mining and other associated activities remove vegetation along with underlying
soil mantle, which results in destruction of topography and landscape in the area.
• Large scale deforestation has been reported in Mussorie and Dehradun valley due
to indiscriminating mining.
 Dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground
streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water
for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and
navigability.
Effect of Dam on forest and Tribal people are:
• Many hydropower projects grab sections of land that are used to grow rice, as forest
areas, and as residential areas. Local people to lose their livelihoods and forces them
to change their traditional practices and culture. In an economic respect, because of
losing traditional livelihoods, local people have to earn wages and follow market-
driver crops.

• In such areas, local people’s food, medicine, and water come from the forest. A loss of
forests means a loss of their livelihoods.

• Loss of Soil Fertility:It affects the land under cultivation , in the catchment area as
the crops get submerged under water. The soil becomes less fertile due to decrease in
decomposition of dead leaves in that particular area

• Loss of species:There are a number of different migratory patterns of riverdwelling

species. These include the well-known anadromous fishes .