Effect of Timber Extraction on Forests and Tribal People

Effect of Timber Extraction on Forests and Tribal People

It is estimated that India is losing 15 million hectares of forests cover year. If this trend
continuous unchecked, it could take only a period 9 of 20 years hence to reach to zeroforest value in our country. During a period of 25 years (1951-1976) India has lost 4.1 million hectares of forests area. Trees have been felled in large number of fuel, fodder, valley projects, Industrial uses, road construction etc. India consumes nearly, 170 million tonnes of firewood annually, and 10-15 million hectares of forests cover is being stripped every year to meet fuel requirements. The rise in fuelwood consumption can be noticed from the comparative study of the fuel consumption in earlier years. It was 86.3 million ton in 1953. It reached about 135 million ton in 1980. During a period of 20 years (1951 to 1971) forests have been cut for various purposes as under:

(1) For Agriculture (24-32 lack hectares)
(2) River valley projects (4.01 lakh hectares)
(3) Industrial uses (1.24 lakh hectares)
(4) Road construction (0.55 lakh hectares)

(5) Miscellaneous uses (3.88 lakh hectares)
In this way, a total of 3.4 million hectares of forests were lost during this period. The
disastrous of the heavy deforestation are visible. Nearly 1 percent of the land surface of India is turning barren every year due to deforestation. In the Himalayan range, the rainfall has declined from 3 to 4 percent.