Question.
What steps have been taken up to conserve forests?
(Chapter 5 Natural Vegetation, Class 11 NCERT geography "India Physical Environment")
Answer.
Forest conservation is important for sustainable development because the development of the environment, society, and economy is possible through the conservation of forests. Forests provide many direct and indirect benefits to our economy and society. Therefore, forest conservation is important for the survival and prosperity of mankind.
The Government of India has adopted a nationwide forest protection policy, which came in 1952, 5 years after independence. The Forest Policy of 1952 was further amended in 1988.
According to the New Forest Policy of 1988, the government lays emphasis on sustainable forest management. On the one hand, the government will expand the forest reserve and on the other hand, it will meet the needs of the local people through the expansion of forests. The goal of this policy was to bring 33 percent of the geographical areas under forest cover.
The following steps were taken for the conservation of forests;
Forests are divided into three parts - Reserved Forest, Protected Forest, and Unclassified Forest.
Reserve forests are protected by forest departments under biosphere reserves, national parks, and wildlife sanctuaries.
Protected forests are those forests that have to be prevented from further degradation.
Unclassified forests are those forests that are neither reserved forests nor protected forests. These forests are open for management and protection by various communities.
Promotion of social forestry and agro-forestry for forest conservation.
Social forestry means afforestation on barren and vacant land with the aim of helping in sustainable development [development of society, environment, and economy]. Social forestry includes urban forestry [afforestation in unused urban land], rural forestry [afforestation in unused rural land], and agroforestry [planting trees with agricultural crops].
Farm forestry refers to the growing of trees by farmers for both commercial and non-commercial purposes.
The above steps have been taken for forest conservation.
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