Forest Resources and Management
NCERT Class 10 • Science • Chapter "Management of Natural Resources" | NCERT Class 10 • Science • Chapter "Forest and Wildlife Resources"
Forest Resources and Management
Forests are called biodiversity hotspots because they hold most of the country's plant and animal species. They also supply timber, fuel, fodder and medicine, hold the soil, recharge groundwater and absorb carbon, which is why every argument about forests involves several different interests at once.
Benefits and Deforestation
- Direct benefits include timber, fuelwood, fodder, bamboo, gum, resin, lac, honey and medicinal plants.
- Indirect benefits include soil conservation, groundwater recharge, flood moderation, carbon absorption and habitat for wildlife.
- Deforestation is the clearing of forest for agriculture, mining, dams, roads, industry and settlement.
- It also results from shifting cultivation, overgrazing, fuelwood collection and forest fire.
- Its effects include soil erosion, floods, drought, loss of biodiversity and rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Loss of forest also removes the livelihood base of forest dwelling communities.
- Once soil is lost from a slope, regrowing the forest becomes far harder, so the damage compounds.
Stakeholders and Management
- The stakeholders in a forest are the people who live in and around it, the forest department, industry that uses forest produce, and wildlife and nature enthusiasts.
- Local communities have the longest relationship with the forest and the greatest interest in its survival.
- Joint forest management involves village committees in protection in return for a share in forest produce.
- The Chipko movement showed that community action could stop commercial felling and it began a wider tradition of forest protection.
- Sacred groves have preserved patches of undisturbed forest through religious protection.
- Afforestation and social forestry raise tree cover on village land, roadsides, canal banks and farm boundaries.
- Sustainable forest management balances use with regeneration, which is what separates it from either exploitation or total exclusion.
- Forest rights legislation recognises the claims of forest dwelling communities over land and produce.
| Stakeholder | Interest |
|---|---|
| Local community | Fuel, fodder, livelihood, long term survival of the forest |
| Forest department | Ownership, control and revenue |
| Industry | Raw material such as timber and bamboo |
| Nature enthusiasts | Conservation of wildlife and habitat |
Joint forest management — an arrangement in which village communities protect a forest in return for a share in its produce.
Exam me kaise aata hai
- Which movement resisted commercial felling of trees — the Chipko movement
- Forest patches protected on religious grounds are — sacred groves
- Community participation in forest protection is called — joint forest management
- Which is an indirect benefit of forests — groundwater recharge
UPSC/State PSC ke liye
- Joint forest management works because it makes the community's income depend on the forest standing rather than on it being cleared.
- Indirect benefits are far larger than direct ones in value, yet they are unpriced, which is exactly why forests are cleared for uses worth much less.
Yahan confuse hote hain
✗ Forests are valuable only for timber | Their indirect benefits are far larger in value | ✓
✗ Excluding all people is the best way to protect a forest | Community participation protects forests better | ✓
✗ Deforestation affects only the cleared area | It causes erosion, floods and drought far downstream | ✓
Ek nazar me
- Forests give direct produce and larger indirect ecological benefits.
- Deforestation causes erosion, floods, drought and loss of biodiversity.
- Stakeholders include local communities, the department, industry and conservationists.
- Joint forest management and community action protect forests most effectively.