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Friday, November 03, 2006
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our forest
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Forests a Different Approach
It deserves to be considered as anecosystem and an insurance of agriculture.It is high time that we clear theambiguities existing in matters likedefinition, control, management,conservation and future.There is no simple agreed definition of"forest" due to varying climatic, social,economic and historic conditions. Thesituation is complicated by the fact that formany governments "forest" denotes a legalclassification of areas that may or may notactually have tree cover. I do not find adefinition of forest in The Kerala Forest Act,1961. The Supreme Court (1996) held thatthe word "forest" must be understoodaccording to the dictionary meaning .
However, the FAO definition is mainlyfollowed in global treatments of forest. Thisdefinition covers ecosystems that areapproachdominated by trees (defined as perennialwoody plants taller than 5 meters atmaturity), when the tree crown cover (orequivalent stocking level) exceeds 10% andthe area is larger than 0.5 hectares. The termincludes forest used for production,protection, multiple use, or conservation, aswell as forest stands on agricultural lands(such as windbreaks and shelterbelts of treeswith a width of more than 20 meters) andplantations of different types.
It also includesboth naturally regulating and plantedforests. The term excludes stands of treesestablished primarily for agriculturalproduction, such as fruit tree plantations,and trees planted in agroforestry systems(but rubber and cork oak stands areincluded). Billions of trees outside the forestin cities, along roads and rivers, on farms,and so on are not included in the twocategories just described. The threshold of10% is crucial in this definition.The total area of global forests isestimated at 4356 million hectares or aboutADifferent30% of the world's land area. India has arecorded forest area of 76.52 millionhectares or 23.28% of the country'sgeographical area.
The forests of Kerala stateForests13August 2006 KERALA CALLINGand used sustainably to fulfill social,economic, ecological, cultural and spiritualneeds of present and future generations".The services provided by forests includeprovisioning, regulating, cultural andsupporting services. The major classes offorest services are dealt with here.
BiodiversityForests are an important repository ofterrestrial biodiversity, across three importantdimensions: structural diversity (such asareas of forests, natural and protected forests,species mixtures and age structure),compositional diversity (numbers of totalfloral/faunal species, for example, andendangered species), and functional diversity( the impact of major processes and naturaland human induced disturbances).Tropical forests cover less than 10%of Earth's land area but harbor between 50%and 90% of Earth's terrestrial species. Othertypes of forests are not as species-rich astropical ones but are relatively species-richecosystems within their own contexts.
Considerable information on forest relatedbiodiversity has become available over thepast decade.Two-thirds of 136 ecologically distinctterrestrial regions identified as outstandingexamples of biodiversity are located in forestregions, according to WWF. SimilarlyBirdlife International identified 218 areascontaining 2 or more species of birds withrestricted ranges. 83% of these 281 areasoccur in forests. Of 234 centers of plantdiversity identified by IUCN and WWF,Over 45000 species ofplants are found inIndia. The vascularflora, which form theconspicuousvegetation coveritself comprise about15000 species. Aspecial feature ofIndia's forests is theoccurrence of bambooas under storey totrees. In total 133species of bamboooccur.
There are 350species of mammals,1200 species of birds,and more than 20000species of insects.with different natural vegetation types, coveran area of 769900 hecatres, in addition toabout 186200 hectares of forest plantations.Services provided by forests are many.The 1992 UN Forest Principles identifiedthe multifunctional and multiservicepurpose of the world's forests: " Forestresources and forest lands shall be managed14KERALA CALLING August 2006more than 70% are found in forests.India is rich in biodiversity at all levels –the gene, the species, and the ecosystem.India is one of the 12 mega biodiversitycountries in the world.
In India over 45000 species of plantsoccur. The vascular flora, which form theconspicuous vegetation cover itselfcomprises about 15000 species. A specialfeature of India's forests is the occurrence ofbamboo as under storey to trees. In total133 species of bamboo occur. There are 350species of mammals, 1200 species of birds,and more than 20000 species of insects.The major forest types represented inKerala include the dry deciduous, semievergreen,evergreen and shola forests.Within these four major forest types areseveral sub-types, forest plantation crops liketea, plantations of timber and pulp woodspecies like teak, eucalyptus, acacias, pinesetc. engaging an area of 186200 hectares.There are more than 4500 wild species offlowering plants of which above 1500 taxaare endemic. There is also equally rich faunalwealth.
There are 102 species of mammals,476 species of birds, 169 species of reptiles,89 species of amphibians and 202 speciesof freshwater fishes.Forest decline threatens biodiversity atall levels. IUCN estimates that 12.5 % ofthe world's species of plants, 44% of birds,57% of amphibians, 87% of reptiles, and75% of mammals are threatened by declineof forests.The World List of Threatened Trees(Oldfield et al 1998) indicates that morethan 8000 tree species (9% of the total) arecurrently threatened with extinction.It is difficult to say with precision theextent to which forest habitat loss results inpopulation or species extinction, because ourknowledge of forest biodiversity is soincomplete. Nonethless, it is clear thatdeforestation, particularly in the tropics, ishaving extremely negative impacts onbiodiversity.
In the state of Kerala and elsewhere thedriving forces behind decline in biodiversityhave been identified to be conversion of forest areas for non-forestrypurposes, encroachments and other illegaloccupations, tourism and pilgrimage, invasion of exotic weeds, poor regeneration of indigenous species, pollution by pesticides/insecticides/fertilizers, natural calamities and over-exploitation.
Soil and Water ProtectionIn many regions, forest is a majorstabilizing component of natural landscapes,providing protection of soil and water,house-holds, and fields and reducing orpreventing floods and landslides. Levelsof soil erosion in the tropics may be 10 -20 times higher on areas cleared of forests,due to construction of roads, and loglandings during mechanical logging, thanin undisturbed natural forests, and this isparticularly the case in mountainous andother areas characterized by fragile soils.Regulation of hydrological cycles andprocesses is one of the important servicesprovided by forests at large scales. Globally,forests' hydrological functions have beenclaimed to include increasing precipitationand decreasing evaporation; regulating thetotal and redistribution of surface andbelowground runoff; smoothing out theseasonal course of river discharges; increasingtotal river runoff; protecting landscapesagainst soil erosion and landslides, inparticular in mountains; preventing andmitigating the consequences of floods;maintaining water quality; protecting riverbanks against destruction; and preventingsiltation of reservoirs.
It is unfortunate thatmany of our development agencies totallyignore this service by forest ecosystems.Fiber, Fuel, and NonwoodForest ProductsWood is currently the most economicallyimportant forest product. During 1996-2000, about 3.3 billion cubic meters ofwood were harvested annually from theworld's forests, and round-woodproduction has steadily increased byapproximately 0.8% per year.Fuel wood meets about 7% of energydemand worldwide, including about 15%in developing countries and 2% in industrialcountries. Globally, about 1.8 billion cubicmeters of wood is used annually for fuel.Wood fuel constitutes about 80% of thetotal in developing countries , where aboutone third of the total forest plantations wereestablished primarily for that purpose. Morethan 60% of these plantations are in Asiaand 25% in Latin America.Non-wood forest products (NWFP)include a tremendous diversity of items -some of which enter formal markets, butmany that do not.
They can be classified ina number of broad number of categoriesaccording to their end use; edible products,fodder for domestic animals, medicines,perfumes and cosmetics, colorants,ornamentals, utensils, handicrafts, andconstruction materials, and exudates likegums, resins, and latex. Overall, they playan important role in the daily life and wellbeingof hundreds of millions of peopleworld wide as well as in the nationaleconomies of many countries.NWFP are extensively extracted fromIndian forests and their role in rural andforest economies is immense. However, thelong term ecological sustainability of NWEPextraction with respect to resource15August 2006 KERALA CALLINGpopulations, dependent animal species andecosystem functioning has remained largelyunexamined. There is a glaring scarcity ofsystematic research on ecological aspects ofNWFP extraction in India. From a fewavailable studies, it appears that speciesdiffer in their responses to harvestdepending on the plant part extracted,natural history attributes and harvestingtechniques.
However, regeneration andpopulation densities of some NWFP speciesare reported to be adversely affected byextraction. Such adverse effects are due to acombination of harvests, damagingharvesting practices and accompanyinganthropogenic disturbances. The availableliterature also indicates a disturbing trendof ecosystem simplification due to intensiveforest use, including extraction of NWFP,which may gradually lead to the weedingout of valuable plant species from Indianforests.
Carbon SequestrationForests play an important role in theglobal carbon cycle and consequently inregulating the global climate system. Twomain features of forests define this role. First,the world's forests accumulate a major partof the planet's terrestrial ecosystem carbon.Second, forests and wetlands are the twomajor land cover classes that are able toprovide long-term sequestration of carbon.Accumulation of carbon in wood and soilsresults in a more significant share of totalnet primary productivity being stored inthe long term than in other land cover classesand can represent as much as 10 – 15% ofnet primary productivity.Deforestation in the tropics has thegreatest impact on the carbon cycle of anyland use and land cover change. It is reportedthat land use change (mostly deforestation)is the source of 1.6 +/ - 0.8 billion tons ofcarbon per year.Recently disturbed and regeneratedforests usually lose carbon from both soiland remnant vegetation, whereas matureundisturbed forests maintain an overallneutral carbon balance. 
The rate of carbonsequestration depends upon age, site quality,species composition, and the style of forestmanagement.Sociocultural Values andServicesForests are highly valued for a host ofsocial, cultural, and spiritual reasons. Forestsand people have co-developed, with peopleshaping the physical nature of most forests(including those we today consider"natural") and the forest, in turn, exerting apowerfull influence over human culturesand spiritual beliefs. For many indigenousand traditional societies, forests are sacredand sometimes supernatural places, linkedto both religious beliefs and the very identityof some communities and peoples. Thewidespread existence of "sacred groves" inmany societies is a physical manifestationof this spiritual role and has contributed toforest conservation.
Forests provide spiritual and recreationalservices to millions of people through forestrelatedtourism. Nature-based tourism hasincreased more rapidly than the generaltourism market, evolving from a nichemarket to a mainstream element of globaltourism.Drivers of Change in ForestEcosystemsChanges in forest conditions are theresult of interactions among many factors –social, ecological, economic, climatic, andbiophysical. Rapid population growth,political instability, market forces,institutional strengths and weakness, naturaland human induced disturbances, andmany other factors, may be important.16KERALA CALLING August 2006K.P. Ouseph, IFSThe biggest challenge NatureConservation has been confronting isthe disparity between environmentalconservation & economic development and theremedy lies more in policy matters thantechnical.
Forest Conservation problems of thestate are also not different. On how thisproblem is handled by the policy makers, willdepend the conservation of what is left of theforests in the state.For ensuring actual conservation of forests,the shortsighted concept of `forests' as reflectedin the records, has to spread outwards to thelands bordering the forests.The desire to protect at least the existingmeager forests on one side and the humanconsideration of how to expel the encroachersand where to provide for them who had builthutments and dwellings years ago, on the otherhand. The assumption that illegal forestencroachers are criminals on one hand andregularising the act of encroaching intogovernment property when thousands arelandless among us. This is unjust and will onlyencourage new encroachments. Delay in theCover StoryBiophysical factors, such as a region's history of landscapetransformation, the highsensitivity of forest soils to machinery used for logging, or forestfires can also playa significant role.
Direct drivers of deforestation are human activities or immediateaction at thelocal level, such as agricultural expansion, that originate fromintended land useand directly affect forest cover. These direct drivers can bebroadly categorized intothose related to agricultural expansion, wood extraction, andinfrastructureextension.Indirect drivers of deforestation are fundamental social processes,such as humanpopulation dynamics or agricultural policies,that underpin thedirect drivers andeither operate at the local level or have an indirect impact fromthe national orglobal level. These indirect drivers fall into five broadcategories: economic, policyand institutional, technological, cultural/sociopolitical, anddemographic.
In summary, while it is possible to identify with some certainitythe factorsunderlying deforestation in a general sense, it is very difficult topinpoint a uniformset of drivers and their relative contributions that can be said toapply generally ata global or even regional level.Human Well-being and ForestsForests supply essential services to human well-being across theworld. Humanforestinteractions manifest themselves in many direct and indirect ways,eachdepending variously on the amount of forest, its condition, and itsdistributionover the landscape.More than 1.7 billion people live in the 40 nations with criticallylow levels offorest cover, (India has 100 million forest dwellers) in many caseshinderingprospects for sustainable development. This will triple by 2025 and13 additionalcountries will experience forest resources scarcity. That is theprediction.
Populationgrowth has drastically shrunkthe forest-to-people ratio from1.2 hectares per capita in1960 to 0.6 hectares atpresent. This is also predictedto decline.The expected decline inper capita availability of forestsin developing countriesgenerates additional problemsfor sustainable development.In many parts of the developing world, direct harvesting of forestproducts byrural families contributes to more than 50% of total consumption andother household needs. This large group of people is particularlyvulnerableto the negative impacts of declining forest cover.Many forest settlements now suffer from unemployment and a lackof basic living conditions; subsistence farming , gathering mushroomsand wild berries and fruits, fishing, and poaching have become majorsources for subsistence in many forest regions.Improving the condition of forests and their contribution to humanwell- being is an important and urgent task, both nationally andinternationally.
Recent history, such as international effortsworking withthe Tropical Forestry Action Plan clearly shows both how difficultit is toachieve sustainable forest management in the contemporary world andthat many problems remain to be solved in order to realize thepotentialbenefits that forests have to offer.The author is former Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of CalicutReference:Agenda 21 An Assessment: 2002: Govt.of India, MoEF.State of Environment Report Kerala 2005: KSCSTE.Ecosystems And Human Well-being, Vol.1 : 2005: Mellennium EcosystemAssessment:Island Press, Washington.
by prof. m.k. prasad
curtasy kerala caling
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posted by santhosheditor
1:27 PM
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nice story