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| Food will last till forests last | | |
Jammu and Kashmir for ages has been dependent on forests for timber and other services for construction and nourishing herbs besides other numerous benefits.
But during the past few years the effects of degradation of forests have been clearly visible due to accelerated soil erosion, flash floods, silting up of reservoirs, loss of biodiversity and reduced forest productivity.
There seems to be a lack of appreciation of the unseen benefits of forests but the already existing impact is for everyone to perceive.
According to officials, over 5,000 hectares of degraded forest area has been rehabilitated during the current financial year and still many thousand hectares have to be rehabilitated.
On paper the helmsmen have been claiming that massive efforts are being put to save and protect the forests but the results are not visible on the ground. Rehabilitation plans are fine but the authorities need to list the steps that have been taken to prevent loot of the green gold and the massive cutting of jungles by the smugglers.
The 6th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report has pointed out the need for paradigm shift and greater participation for meeting the global challenge to save the forest. It has warned that if concrete steps are not taken it can have far reaching consequences.
The Forest Department needs to promptly dispose of forest related cases and come up with a strategy and action plan for quick restoration of degraded forests of J&K.
The need of the hour is to “identify all degraded forest areas” in Jammu and Kashmir and formulate plans for their rehabilitation.
Bio-fencing of wetlands and constitution of eco-clubs needs to be done. These measures need to be taken with promptitude as forest degradation is a serious issue which as per experts occurs when forest ecosystems lose capacity to provide important goods and services to people and nature.
The degradation and loss of forests threatens the survival of many species, and reduces the ability of forests to provide essential services. Food is subservient to forests. The food will last as long as forests last.
People should realize that forests cannot be saved without their participation. They have to keep a vigil on forest smugglers and need to identify the black sheep within the Forest Department who are hand-in-glove with the unscrupulous elements. We need to save forests for our future generations. |
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