- TODAY IS WORLD FOREST DAY, ALSO KNOWN AS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FORESTS.
- WHY WORLD FORESTRY DAY IS CELEBRATED ?
Nagpur: Forests are very essential part of the life on Earth. They always fulfill the demands of the human beings by providing shadow, shelter, refreshment including clean air and water. In the modern world of growing global population increases the demands of forest products so the forests are at big risks of deforestation and degradation.
Forests are the complex living community of the trees which provides home and shelter to a big range of animals. World forestry day celebration provides a big opportunity to all the people to learn more about their contributions in maintaining the well-being of people. During this event celebration people share their views and ideas by working together to incorporate the forests into future climate change strategies.
According to the resources it has been noted that there is an annual loss of around 13 million hectares or 32 million acres of the forests by the people.
Loss of the forests enhances the loss of inhabitant animal species to the forest. Deforestation imbalances the balance of natural climate which lead to the global warming by increasing the CO2 and decreasing the O2 percentage all across the world.
Almost 30% of the total land worldwide is occupied by the forests containing over 60,000 tree species which are ultimately the great resources of the food, fuel, fodder, essential oils, resins, latex, gums, medicines, fiber, water, woods for the population of around 1.6 billion poorest people of the world.
let us not forget that its the tree that makes a forest
There is a phrase in English that says ‘don’t overlook the forest for the trees’. But now time has come when we should tell ourselves – hope we are not missing the trees for the forest.
It is all very well to say that forests must be preserved in our country, because they shelter wild life like the Indian Tiger; but looking after forests also means saving that individual tree because every TREE is a microcosmic forest in itself.
While we can see and appreciate the subterranean structure of the tree – the branches, the foliage, the flowers and the trees, there is also a whole world of tree roots underground.
The roots are enmeshed in soil beneath the tree where a variety of invertebrates, fungi and bacteria thrive playing a significant role in balancing the nutrients cycle in the soil and forest.
We, in India are currently in a developmental stage where we are in a frenzy of constructing roads, highways, super highways, metros etc. which entail felling of a large number of trees. Believe it or not, our Government went to High Court for permission to fell 17,000 trees of forests near Nagpur against the decision of the Green Tribunal for construction of a national highway!
But we have not just a national, but an international duty to preserve trees and forests because we are one the few countries blessed with forest cover.
The countries which are the forest-rich (occupying almost 2/3 of total forested area) includes Canada, the Russian Federation, Brazil, the United States, Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia, Indonesia, China, Peru and India.
The theme of this year’s forest day is Forest and Energy.
—Sunita Mudaliar (Associate Editor)
