How India is Preserving Its Depleting Forest Cover Across The Entire Nation?

Forests are the backbone of our environment. But unfortunately, India has seen a lot of depletion in the forest cover post-independence. It has been deduced that almost 5000 million hectares of forest land got lost to non-forestry purpose, 0.07 million to illegal encroachment, 4.37 million to cultivation and for various other reasons. Adding more concern to the issue, India ranked 14^th among all countries in forest cover loss within a decade.

Though various NGO Foundations such as Wildlife Conservation Trust are fighting tooth and nail to curb the forest destruction, there are still many loopholes in this situation. 

There is a cluster of factors that has lead to deforestation. The biggest causes are:

•      Agricultural Expansion

The agricultural producers have cleared up forests and turned the lands into major plantations to suffice the global demands for commodities.

•      Human settlement/ Overpopulation

With increasing population, there is obviously some need for space which thus resulted in cutting down of forests.

•      Ranching

Livestock ranching is one of the main reasons that has resulted in clearing up of forests and expansion of the deforested area.

Though not intentionally done, India has lost a lot of forests which is not going to be replenished anytime soon. Here are some of the measures taken up by the Indian government as well as NGOs in Delhi and various other cities to reverse the situation at best.

1. The Implementation of Acts

•      The Indian government has time and again enforced various stringent measures and acts to protect and conserve vulnerable biodiversity.

•      There have been rules framed for the security of wetlands in various States. Recently, in an effort save the groundwater from complete depletion, UP has taken up measures to save 1.23 lakh wetlands.

•      The National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic Eco-System has taken up the charge to look after the entire marine system and the coastline.

2. Non-governmental initiatives

•      EduCARE India has taken up several projects to restore the forests in the country. Their initiatives are focussed on environment conservation, food security, fodder production, conservation of wildlife etc.

•      The Green gift project by EduCARE was started to teach children about the inherent value of trees in a community.

•      GreenPeace India involves volunteers from all over the country to paint signs and banners and and encourage people to an environmental activist.

3. Alliances & partnerships

•      The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) is an alliance of 400 companies such as retailers, manufacturers across 70 countries who pledged in 2012 to achieve ‘zero net deforestation’ by 2020.

•      The Tropical Forest Alliance – a global public-private partnership involving 8 governments, 33 civil society organizations and 27 private organizations to mend the problem of deforestation associated with palm oil, soy, paper & pulp.

4. Account of Restoration: Bonn Challenge and India

India has restored more than 10 million hectares of deteriorated land in a decade. Under this global effort of Bonn Challenge, India has also pledged to restore 13 million hectares of degraded land by 2020.