Indian Forests: Green trails in India...

The history of exploitation and destruction of forests in India goes back to several decades, when the forests wealth were consumed for commercial gains. The trend continued even now and the forests were used not for imperative economic growth but for other various reasons. The denudation of forest land, however, had now slowed down in recent years despite human and commercial pressures due to efforts made by various agencies and conservation approaches. The Himalayan region is the most threatened area in India. The growing population, one of the main factor for deforestation, increases the need of land for more food production to feed the growing number of people causing environmental degradation.

Indian forests are the second largest land used in India after agriculture. These forests in India are blessed with the rich flora and fauna. To conserve this natural treasure of plants and animals several wildlife sanctuaries and national parks have been activate.

These evergreen and tropical green Indian forests are the paradise for nature and adventure lovers. In these Indian forest you may find total 45,000 species of flora and 81,000 of fauna species. Besides 95 national parks, 500 wildlife sanctuaries along with two conservation reserves offer the best opportunity for green forest trails in India.

Increase forest cover in the country. This is one of the eight missions under India's National Action Plan on Climate Change.The objective of this Mission is not only to increase the quantity but also the quality of over 10 million hectares of forest area. It aims to double the afforestation. The increased forest cover will act as a carbon sink to absorb an additional 43 million tonnes of green house gases every year. This will go a long way in addressing the impact of climate change. The Mission is not just limited to increasing plantations, but also focuses on restoring diverse ecosystems.

Deforestation for different purposes, poaching and illegal cutting of trees are the major cause of declining forest cover. Not only it is effecting the climate change, the deforestation has snatched the living of wildlife. Many cases of Panther and other wildlife wandering into human habitat have come to light during past years.

The ecosystem of the forests is depleting very fast. With food chain broken, the wildlife comes to Human Habitations in search of food. It has become a vicious circle. The climate change is causing depletion of forest resources and depletion of forest resources is causing climate change. With human habitation coming closer to the forests due to population pressure, they are becoming easy prey to wild animals.

Some tribes like "Van-Tangia" in eastern Uttar Pradesh live in the forest and earn their living from selling the by-products of forest like leaves, bark and dry grass. It is noteworthy that they never cut a tree for fuel wood or otherwise rather they strive for saving trees as they pray the trees like God. If promoted, they can become savior of forest and help in social forestry program. Vast range of natural forest occupies the Himalayan foothills of Uttar Pradesh. These need to be protected if one needs to slow down the effects of Climate change. Mass public awareness is needed to increase the forest cover and to save wildlife.

Indian forest provides a chance to explore the rich and rare varieties of several plants, and wildlife in India...
Therefore we say... Forests are the first temple of the Divinity...