Reforesting India

In the past six weeks I have had occasion to travel to the hills in the new state of Uttaranchal. The Kumaon and Garhwal hills have a unique personality, which is perhaps totally different from what is seen in other mountainous regions of the world and, in fact, even from the rest of the Himalayan range in this country. Earlier visits in thisregion generally led the visitor to believe that these hills were dying with green cover being depleted at a rapid rate and the resulting soil erosion creating dangers of landslides and ugly scars all around. This time, however,the four visits that I have made provided a different impression. Right from the plains that are part of the Terai belt, there appears to be evidence of successful forestry activity and as one enters the hilly terrain,again there is evidence of new growth of trees along the mountain sides, which was very reassuring and encouraging. It is sad that, however, during five decades of development as an independent nation, India has done grave damage to its forest wealth, which has not only led to loss of precious biodiversity but has resulted in the extinction of twenty three species and the threat of extinction of several dozen more. Four decades ago the forests in this mountainous terrain had an abundance of tigers, leopards, panthers, and a variety of other wildlife. Today the sighting of a tiger is almost impossible even in places like the Corbett National Park. Whether wildlife can be revived to a sustainable level is a moot question, because it is not merely the restoration of forest density and green cover that would now make a difference, but there would also have to be effective enforcement of protection by eliminating poaching and smuggling of tiger bones, for instance, out of this country for high monetary returns. Whether the powerful and rich elements involved in this illegal trade can be suppressed is a challenge to the effectiveness and strength of the state. This is something that has clearly been missing in recent years. The tradition in India's forestry sector has been praiseworthy and full of rich scientific and management capabilities. Unfortunately, in recent years, these have been partly dissipated and not utilized even where present. According to the National Forestry Action Programme - India published by the Ministry of Environment and forests, development activities put heavy pressure on the forest resources of the country, resulting from rapid industrialization, expansion of railways, highways, and construction activities, etc. All these led to a heavy and substantial demand for timber, fuelwood, etc. which grew to a level where sustainable supplies proved inadequate. Combined with a growth in human population from 361.1 million in 1951 to a billion plus now and an increase in the population of domestic animals from 284.4 million in 1951 to 445 million by the early 1990s, pressure on forests took a heavy toll of our green resources. Community participation While the heartening change that is in evidence along the hills of Uttaranchal gives us hope for the future, currently forests are unable to meet more than 40% of the total energy demand in the country, which is far below the demand in the rural areas, where in some cases acute fuelwood scarcity causes enormous difficulty to people. In the hills of Uttaranchal, however, where fuelwood demand was a serious source of pressure on the forest resources, government policy subsidizing LPG supplies on a large scale has started making a favourable impact. National forestry programmes and those that require participatory involvement of the community, have started showing favourable results. However, there is a long way to go before the damage of the past can be compensated for. For instance, the actual area under forest cover is substantially lower than the legally recorded area. The Forest Survey of India in 1997 assessed that the actual area under dense forests was only 36.73 million hectares, which equals 11.17% of the geographical area of the country. While the total area under forests is estimated at 63.34 million hectares, approximately 19.27% of the geographical area, it is really the lower figure of around 11% that should be seen as reasonably well-stocked forest cover. With the pressure of development, most of the forests occur not in contiguous blocks but in small patches with habitation and other human activities intervening. There is also considerable variation in the forest cover in different states. For instance, Arunachal Pradesh has 82% of its geographical area under forest cover whereas Haryana has only 1.4%. Overall, the entire North East region, which accounts for only 8% of India's total land area, contains 26% of the country's forests. Almost 50% of the forest land in the country is located only in five states namely Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and Maharashtra. The increase in forest cover and densification of existing forest area should be a prime objective of development activities. The economic benefits that can be derived from forests can hardly be overemphasized, and the very objectives of sustainable development which require meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising on the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs makes it imperative that we create forest resources at the same level as existed six decades ago. Multi-pronged initiatives Several initiatives need to be taken to meet such an objective. Firstly, the involvement of communities such as in the Joint Forest Management (JFM) Programme, which was spearheaded by TERI in the state of Haryana, needs to be expanded throughout the country. Secondly, the application of modern science and technology almost on par with what has been the experience with the Green Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s holds great potential for the forestry sector. Clonal propagation of superior planting material and its large-scale multiplication through tissue culture are now well established techniques, which can make planting material available on a large scale for the growth of superior trees without any genetic engineering and merely using planting stock that is naturally superior. Microbial inputs such as mycorrhiza, could also be used in the roots of trees making a much larger uptake of nutrients such as phosphorous possible for fast growth of trees. Forests are also susceptible to pests and insects, which can stunt their growth and cause large-scale damage. These can also be countered through the use of biopesticides. Despite the growing potential of some of these scientific innovations and techniques, the development of research capabilities in the forestry sector has not kept pace. Nor have the forest departments developed linkages with institutions outside the government system to derive the maximum benefit from their capabilities and capacity. The future of forest resources in India would be influenced greatly by the extent to which scientific innovation using modern techniques can be employed in this sector. There is also need to bring about a major institutional change in the management of forest resources. While the Government's role would clearly remain paramount, it is time that we started evaluating the benefits of involving the private sector on a significant scale in creating biomass on degraded areas, the spread of which throughout the country is vast and widespread. There is also need for promoting agro-forestry on a large-scale by involving farmers in this activity. It is heartening to see along the road from New Delhi to the foothills of Uttaranchal that farmers have obviously taken to planting trees on the perimeters of their farmlands on a substantial scale. Here again scientific innovation and the availability of superior planting material would make the returns from agro-forestry attractive enough for a countrywide response. The 'Greening of India' should literally start with expansion of forest wealth and this subject needs to be elevated to the highest level of political leadership in the country with perhaps the President and the Prime Minister treating it as a slogan on par with Lal Bahadur Shastri's 'Jai Jawan Jai Kisan'. The current signs are hopeful, but time is short and the afforestation of India cannot wait much longer.