Prof (Dr) R.D. Gupta
Deforestation, which means reckless and careless cutting or felling down of forest trees on a large scale, has now become one of the most serious environmental problem. It is responsible for degrading environment as forests play a vital role in the maintenance of the environment and a slight damage to the forest biomass may degrade an entire escosystem. Infact, plants are the basis of life on this planet Earth. All living organisms, including human beings cannot survive without them. Apart from this, it is an established fact that agriculture is subservient to the forest i.e; if there are massive or thick forest their use can have sustainable agriculture. It is because forests produce rains which prove boon to the agriculture, especially to the rainfed and dry-land agriculture, which is presently 70 or 72 per cent of the total farm land, measuring roughly 143 or 147 millions hectares. Forestry, infact is a permanent agriculture and we do not need to clear forests for expanding agriculture lands. Natural forests can be enriched with vegetables and natural food plants like tarar, gawalmanda, Jangli bitter gourd and forest fruits like mango, peach, apricot, walnut, peanut, pear, wild apple, jaman, ber, girna, karonda etc.
We can ensure environment services of trees and forests like protection of wildlife, agricultural lands and landscapes and the food for the future population. The forests besides serving as source of oxygen, supply of food, fuel wood and timber and other products also absorb pollutants including CO2. Forests thus, serve as natural biological filters. One ha of forest land usually absorbs about 65 tonnes of CO2 and release 4 to 5 tonnes of fresh oxygen annually. Same forest area can also settle about 30 tonnes of dust yearly. Oxygen released by forest trees is not only essential for human and animal life but is also necessary for respirations of agricultural plants vis-à-vis those belonging to horticulture/olericulture.
Forests are an abode of wildlife and deforestation all over the country including Jammu and Kashmir has affected wild animals. The list of threatened species of animals and birds is increasing day by day. Practically, all watersheds in J and K State are deforested heavily. The Siwaliks Kandi which was once full of forest trees, has now become a vast desert. This tract had also a lot of wild animals like tigers, wolves, wild cows, owls, peacocks, quails etc; which have now totally vanished. The Siwalik Kandi is also in the grip of water famine. There is acute shortage of fodder or fuel wood, milk and milk products, fruits and vegetables. The flash floods in the streams and dry khads are playing havoc. The villagers are in distress as a result of destruction of forests. Forest experts and officials are of the view that the heavy floods of 1978 which inundated about 65,000 villages in addition to drawing about 2000 people and 40,000 cattle (Sharma, 1980), was the result of increasing deforestation in the hills of north India. According to the Planning Commission, the annual average direct damages caused by floods amounted to Rs 768 crores with much greater natural losses (Gupta, 2005). A large number of people of Kashmir valley became homeless in the September 5, 2014 floods. Hundreds of houses have either collapsed or have developed crack that rendered them insafe for living (Irshad, 2014). The state suffered Rs 1 lakh crore losses due to floods (Bukhari, 2014).. According to the then chief Secretary, Iqbal Khandey, more than 3.5 lakh structures, mostly residential houses were damaged in the floods, 83,044 pucca houses were fully damaged, while 96,089 houses have suffered partial damage. Over 43,000 animals perished. Crop losses have been estimated to the tune of Rs 5,611 crores.
Over use, abuse and misuse of the forests particularly of alpine pastures which stand overgrazed by the livestock have become degraded badly. Similarly, the traditional important Dachigam’s pasture lands are under high grazing and consequently suffer from soil erosion. Furthermore, studies carried out by Fred Curt on Hangul for several years in the Dachigam also voiced the same concern that the presence of nomads with their herd of livestock has disastrous effect on this traditionally important grazing habitat of hangual.
The numbers of livestock that graze in these pastures are beyond their bearing capacity. Forests are not regenerating as a result of the overgrazing and it is a matter of great concern for the people and the government. It is remarkable to note that a forest without regeneration is like a nation without children. Deforestation is responsible for desertification and drought to only accelerate the pace. In the Himalayan region i.e; both in the north-west Himalayas and north east Hills, tourism is a forest based industry. Our health resorts in the mountains have degraded as the deforestation proceeds to finish the remnants of the forests.
The Chir pine ecosystem is dead. The Chir forests, infact, have lost their broad leaved under storey due to biotic pressure. Forest fires in the chir zone have played havoc. The chir pine forests have also been tapped heavily for resin and the trees are drying up. There is also an encroachment of Chir zone in Poonch, Rajouri, Ramban and Udhampur Districts of the State.
Deodars and blue pine forests of the state have also been very much degraded. It is because; they are not regenerating due to continuous grazing. Moreover, they have been over exploited for timber irrespective of selvicultural availability. Not only this, deodars and blue pine forests have been encroached upon heavily-both in Jammu region and Kashmir Valley.
The fir ecosystem is most severely damaged as a result of overgrazing and heavily exploitation and is eroding badly. It is the first zone that contributes over 90 per cent water in our streams. The hydrology of the state has been affected greatly for this reason. Springs and streams have been dried, and are drying rapidly. The Kashmir Valley, “the paradise on this earth”, is now afflicted with heavy floods, change of weather and climate. All forests are heavily encroached. Deforestation has degraded tourist resort. In J and K tourism is a forest based industry but it is badly affected with fast deteriorating natural environment. The Patni top-Sanasar hill features are becoming tree less and tourist traffic had declined.
(To be continued)
