Crisis to the Forests –People Relationship

 

Saiki Talukdar

Assistant professor, Kamrup College, Chamata, Nalbari

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Nature has endowed the living community with a number of gifts that help them in fulfilling their needs. The primitive people were totally dependent on nature. But gradually, they have advanced from this primitive mode of living with the expansion of new techniques and skills. But the point which needs here mention is that this so called development has made use of nature in such a way that the same thing has appeared before the people in a different incarnation. Earlier the nature and its resources were used by the people in a judicious way to fulfill their needs. But now these are used as an important source of fulfillment of their greeds which has brought devastation to the nature and its resources. Most of the renewable resources have become non-renewable as a result of the overexploitation done to live a ‘better living’. Forests, i.e the greenery of the world represent one of the most important among the resources of the nature. It is the green gold of the nature that has helped in the growth and evolution of the living beings in the earth. FAO defines forests as “Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use.”¹ It is because of the role played by the forests there has developed a symbiotic relationship between them from the very beginning. The ecological services played by forests are enormous and known to all of us. It starts from absorption of carbon di oxide to reduction of soil erosion. Along with this forests play a very important role. It gives sustenance to a large number  of living beings. Human being constitute one of those groups whose sustenance depends on forests and its products. There exist a large number of people all over the world who live in and around forests and collect various items from the same. They are called forests dwellers or Forests communities. By doing this they in return help the forests in its regeneration with their traditional knowledge. Thus both help each other in their sustenance.

 

Their day to day needs which they meet from the forests are so minimal compared to ours is that it don’t leave any negative impact on the forests. They collect fuel wood that constitute their main source of energy, fodder for the livestock, various construction materials, medicinal plants, edible leaves, ants etc. from the forests. Indeed, For many forests represent a God, a way of Life, a culture, a home, an employer and a manufacturing industry². According to the World Bank about 240 million people live in predominantly forested ecosystem. It also estimate that 1 billion out of 1.2 billion extreme poor depend on forest resources for all or part of their livelihoods. Generally, the role of forest and natural resources towards the life and livelihood of the people are not taken into account while counting the GDP of a nation. But several estimates put the value of the world’s natural capital as US $13 trillion. This is being termed as the “economy of the poorest” or the “invisible economy”, because it sustains most of the world’s poor. Almost 80% of the ecosystem services go to the poor. The World Bank recently estimated that around one –third of the wealth of low-income countries came from their natural capital like forests, protected habitat, farmland, energy and minerals³. The conventional model of measuring economy in the form of GDP does not take into account the economic value of the services made by ecosystem to the life of the people. Hence, efforts at various international and regional level are going on to take into account this in the name of Natural Capital Accounting. This concept is based on the ground that ‘natural resources should, and must, be mainstreamed to make development sustainable.’ To put the importance of natural resources in GDP UNEP in its report The Economy of the Ecosystem an Biodiversity stated that at the present rate ,deforestation would cost the global economy US $24.5 trillion a year by the middle of this century⁴. Hence, some of the African countries have started the accounting of natural resources and its service to the mankind in GDP.

 

Since time immemorial, in India there are groups of people who have been depending on forest for food and such other related needs directly. Most of them live in and around forests and collect necessary items from it. It is true that many of them cultivate to meet their need of food but at various periods they largely depend on forests to meet their needs of nutrition and vitamins, for construction materials, for fuel wood, for fodder, for medicinal plants and so on. This automatically reduces their dependence on market. While using these they develop a way of life which with the passage of time transforms into their distinct culture.

 

 

Forestry is the second largest land use in India after agriculture, covering about 641,130 square kilometers or 22 percent of the total land base.⁵ 27 percent of the total population depend on forests for their sustenance.70 percent of the rural population of the country depend on fuel wood to meet their energy need⁶. The Forest Survey of India 2011 estimates that total annual consumption of fuel wood for the country is 216.42 million tones out of which 58.75 million tones comes from forests and 23% of the total population using fuel wood obtain it from the forests⁷. 38.49% livestock depend directly on forests in India⁸.Thus, a large section of rural population live in forests fringe areas and have a close economic, cultural link with the forest. In Assam, at present there exist 3000 fringe villages around the protected areas.⁹

 

The people living in these villages at present represent one of the most marginal groups of the society. On the one hand government in the name of protection of the forests and biodiversity has adopted western model of conservation that totally ignores the human factors and on the other hand severe trend of felling of trees for various purposes has left them in a wretched condition. Thus, TWO crises has been discussed in the paper i.e. Existing measures of forest administration and, the trend of felling trees for various purposes. Indeed, it can be commented that these crises has compelled the fringe dwellers to face severe security problems in aspects like food, health and economical and cultural etc.

 

METHODOLOGY:

The study is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data were collected through schedule interview conducted by the researcher. The sampled villages were selected purposively keeping in mind the proximity of the villages with the park. From the sampled villages respondents were selected by using the simple random method and from them information’s were gathered through schedule interview. To gather information semi-structured questionnaire was used that included both close ended and open ended question.

 

RESULTS:

Manas National Park, one of the most important world heritage sites of Assam is surrounded by 63 fringe villages. Now a day’s although they are primarily agriculturist in nature, but for various reasons depend partially on the forests area which has been declared as national park. But this system of conservation of nature and its resources which is mostly western in nature, does not recognize the human factors associated with it. As a result, these people are in severe problem.

 

                                                  

 

Survey conducted in the fringe villages of Manas National Park helped in having a clear picture about the role of forests in the life of the human being. During the period of survey all the three Ranges (Kokilabari Range, Bansbari or central Range and Panbari Range) of Manas National Park were visited.

 

The villagers of the villages surveyed are to a great extent dependent on the nearby forests .They collect fuel wood, various edible leafs, shoot, plants having medicinal values, construction materials etc. from the nearby forests. Above 85% of the respondents reported that they are highly dependent on forest of the park for fuel wood and fodder. As livestock constitute one of the most important way of earning for them, fodder need of the people are also very high for which they are compelled to depend on the nearby forests .Again it was observed that there exist in a huge numbers SILK COTTON TREES that provide livelihood to a large section of people in Bansbari range. The people collect the seeds of these trees from which cotton is made and sold in the market. These seeds are of very high market value. Along with this there are a large number of grasses (Nal, Khagari, Kahi, Bata, Birina) that are used by the tribal people in construction of roof and wall of their houses. Thus the economic condition of the forests dependent people depends largely on forests. The following diagrammes reveal the role of Minor Forest Products in   the life of the Forest dependent people.

 

The Forest Range officer and NGO official also informed that the people do not have any other option except the forests as the crop which they earn through cultivation cannot fulfill their needs. Again crop raiding by the wild animal has emerged as the most frequent problem for them as a result of which they regularly loss their main source of food and energy. It is true that some of them cultivate some seasonal items but it also cannot fulfill their needs. The Forest Range officer of the Bansbari Range Office also informed that they allow the villagers to enter to the forests keeping in mind the fact that otherwise the villagers may become very hostile to them and may attack them. Again it is very difficult for them to protect the park and its elements without the help of the local people who are more knowledgeable compared to the forests officials. He also informed that they are running short of staff. Hence they need both technical and physical help of the local people. This reflects the loopholes both in the system of administration and policies of the Government. The local NGOs in the region has started to play a pivotal role both in protection of the forests and in providing alternative livelihood to the people of the fringe villages. They are helping the people not only financially but also giving some training for cultivation .They are giving emphasis on cultivation of ginger, pineapple etc. They were very happy to inform that few people were given training for cultivation of these type of items and the results were very much positive.

 

We have discussed both theoretically and empirically how deforestation in protected areas has created security problems for the people living in the fringe villages of the parks. It is clear from various facts that although the declaration of these areas as protected area has not been able to contribute towards the protection of the tree cover as expectation but one cannot rule out easily its usefulness. Judicious restriction instead of strict restriction on the entry and use of NTFPs from forests can help in sustainability of the valuable resource on the earth and thereby help in preserving these for the future generations. For this many communities in world have themselves put restrictions on the use of forest resources. Mexico which is an example of country that mostly recognize community ownership over the forests represent one of those countries where various communities has put some restrictions on the use of the forests products to have sustainability .But strict restriction on the entry of the local people and red carpet to contractors and smugglers as has been happening in the study site can lead towards more destruction of the forests in the protected areas. If the people who lives in the fringe villages who are the original user and protector of the forest turn themselves towards the enemy of the resources than no one will be able to protect these. And if the present trend continues these communities will emerge as the most important threat to both the forest and government. Personal experiences during the period of the study brings that already such actions has started. So, immediate implementation of programmes like JFM and other measures that recognize these some of the rights of these people will be of great use in protection of the tree cover of the parks. Nepal can be taken here as an ideal. The Act of 1993 of Nepal has made the provision of forming Forest User Group and has given the community the ultimate power to manage, use and protect a particular area of forest. This has proved successful to a great extent in the country.

 

There may emerge the question whether the forest dependent people should get priority over the forest conservation ? The answer can be given in a very simple way. In countries like India there is no evidence of destruction of forests by the poor people for fulfilling their basic requirements. They generally do not live a so called modern live and therefore their needs are very minimal. Indian history is full of evidences regarding the sacrifices of people in the name of forest protection. The famous Chipko movement is accorded a very high position in the history of Environmental movement of the world. Again the practice of Van Panchayats, Sacred Groves represent some social efforts that exists in society of rural India for conservation of forests. In Uttarakhand the women who are the worst sufferer of deforestation has constituted van panchayat to protect and nurture trees. They plants trees and police nearby forests to keep an eye on illegal felling of trees. Thus history reveals that the common people of India are the protector of forests not destructor.

 

REFERENCE:

1.       Fao,2010

2.       Kant, Shasi.(2000) Forest and Tribal Economy in Seeland, Klaus and Franz, Schmithusen (Ed) Man in the Forest, D.K. Print World(p)Ltd, New Delhi,pp.249-268

3.       Mahapatra, Richard. Green Rider for GDP, Down to Earth, vol.21, No.3, 2012.

4.       ibid

5.       India unlocking opportunities for the forest dependent people, world bank report,2006

6.       ibid

7.       FSI,2011.

8.       Ibid.

9.       Assam Forest at a Glance, published by forest Department of Assam, 2011-12.