Forests of our life

There are only less than 5 per cent of forests that are marked as protected areas in India. This tiny section holds around 500 wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves

November 07, 2014 05:26 pm | Updated 05:26 pm IST

The near- threatened grizzled giant squirrel is found only in the a very few forests in the Western Ghats. Habitat loss has pushed the squirrel to live outside protected forests eventually coming in contact with people. Photo: K. Ramnath Chandrasekhar

The near- threatened grizzled giant squirrel is found only in the a very few forests in the Western Ghats. Habitat loss has pushed the squirrel to live outside protected forests eventually coming in contact with people. Photo: K. Ramnath Chandrasekhar

Everything we depend on for our living is from nature. The forests and wildlife that sustain us in multiple ways are made up of complex ecosystems and thousands of diverse species that thrive in it. Yet, they are diminishing at an alarming rate while the world’s population is increasing by many folds.

The Living Planet Report published by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) tells us that the populations of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians have declined by a whopping 50 per cent since the 1970s.

This equals to the loss of half of the world’s population of vertebrates (animals with backbone)!

Reports like these and the issue of rapid destruction of forests in India have to be taken seriously and conserving our country’s natural heritage should be on the top of our priority list.

Because, there are only less than 5 per cent of forests that are marked as protected areas in India. This tiny section holds around 500 wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves that are fragmented across our country.

Here are a few reasons why we should conserve the protected areas with great diligence.

The forests of the Western Ghats mountains are the source of the rivers that irrigate South India. The glaciers and the adjoining forests in the Himalayas are the source of mighty rivers that sustain north India. The wide range of ecosystems across India is home to an incredible biodiversity of around 5,000 species of vertebrates and 15,000 species of flowering plants. The roles that these species perform are generally invisible to us, but once we understand them, we realise the magic of nature.

For example, the animals that are at the top of the food chain in a forest with tigers are the tigers themselves. Without these apex predators, the population of deer will increase.

They will feed voraciously on the grass cover and small bushes. This will decrease the grasses and the bushes, which in turn affects the numerous animals that depend on it. Scavenging birds of prey like the vultures will disappear from the forest because there would be no carcasses.

Gradually most of the species in the forest will disappear due to ecological imbalance and the forests would be stripped bare. Protecting the tiger in a forest protects hundreds of species that live in it.

We now know that people share an intricate connection with nature for their own survival.

Extracting natural resources at an unsustainable rate by destroying the forests and wildlife puts every one of us at risk.

While we need development, we must ensure that at least the last remaining 5 per cent of protected areas in India must be left alone for our future generations. These are the ones that hold our sustenance on a longer run.

Every one of us must start to practice conservation from our homes and through our career backgrounds. Because, the collective will from all of us will create a positive difference in the protection of India’s priceless but fractured natural heritage.

(The author is an award-winning nature photographer and co-founder of the Youth for Conservation. In this monthly column he talks about his passion for nature, photography and conservation.)

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