Why forests and wildlife matter
Forests give us clean air, rain, soil, wood, fruits, medicines and homes for animals. India is one of the world's richest countries in biodiversity: it has thousands of kinds of plants and animals. All of them are linked in a web. If one link breaks, others suffer.
Why forests are shrinking
- Farming spread: forests cleared for fields, especially in colonial times for railways and plantations.
- Shifting cultivation (slash and burn) in some areas.
- Big dams flood large forests.
- Mining: for example, dolomite mining threatened the Buxa Tiger Reserve.
- Hunting, poaching, pollution and forest fires.
Poor people who depend on forests for food, fuel and medicine suffer most when forests go.
Categories of species
- Normal: numbers are safe (cattle, sal, pine).
- Endangered: in danger of dying out (blackbuck, crocodile, Indian wild ass, lion-tailed macaque).
- Vulnerable: numbers falling; may become endangered (blue sheep, Gangetic dolphin).
- Rare: very small numbers (Himalayan brown bear, wild Asiatic buffalo).
- Endemic: found only in one area (Andaman teal, Nicobar pigeon, Mithun in Arunachal).
- Extinct: no longer found (Asiatic cheetah, pink-headed duck).
How the government protects forests and wildlife
The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 banned hunting of protected animals and created a list of protected species. National parks and wildlife sanctuaries were set up. Project Tiger began in 1973 to save tigers; reserves like Corbett, Sundarbans and Bandhavgarh followed.
Forests are grouped as:
- Reserved forests: more than half of all forest land; most protected.
- Protected forests: about one third; protected from further damage.
- Unclassed forests: the rest; owned by government, people or communities.
Community role in conservation
- Sariska (Rajasthan): villagers fought mining using the Wildlife Protection Act.
- Bhairodev Dakav Sonchuri (Alwar): five villages made their own rules for 1,200 hectares of forest, banning hunting.
- Chipko movement (Himalayas): people hugged trees to stop them being cut.
- Beej Bachao Andolan (Tehri) and Navdanya: farmers grow many crops without chemicals.
- Joint Forest Management (JFM): started in Odisha in 1988; villages protect damaged forests and share the benefits.
- Sacred groves: many tribal and village communities worship trees (mahua, kadamba, peepal) and never cut them.
Try it
In the 3D free-play step, set Cutting to 12 with no guards: all trees and animals vanish. Now add guards one by one. How many guards keep all trees safe? At home: list five things in your house that came from a forest.
Key formulas and definitions
- Biodiversity: variety of plants and animals in an area
- Endemic: found only in one area
- Reserved > Protected > Unclassed (safety)
- Wildlife Protection Act 1972; Project Tiger 1973; JFM 1988 (Odisha)
Worked examples
1. The Andaman teal lives only on the Andaman Islands. Which category is it?
Endemic, because it is found naturally only in one area.
2. A village guards a damaged forest and gets a share of its produce. What is this scheme?
Joint Forest Management (JFM), first started in Odisha in 1988.
3. Why is the Asiatic cheetah called extinct in India?
It is no longer found living in the wild in India; the last were seen around 1952.
Common mistakes
- Mixing rare and endangered. Rare: small numbers; endangered: close to dying out.
- Thinking unclassed forests are unprotected land with no owner. They are owned by government, people or communities.
- Writing Project Tiger year as 1972. The Act was 1972; Project Tiger was 1973.
- Thinking only the government saves forests. Communities (Chipko, sacred groves, JFM) play a big role.