Ch 2 - Forest and Wildlife Resources (Geography)

Q1. What do humans depend on for their existence?

Ans 1. We humans along with all living organisms form a complex web of ecological system in which
we are only a part and very much dependent on this system for our own existence. For example, the
plants, animals and micro-organisms re-create the quality of the air we breathe, the water we drink
and the soil that produces our food without which we cannot survive. Forests play a key role in the
ecological system as these are also the primary producers on which all other living beings depend.

Q2. Define biodiversity.

Ans 2. Biodiversity or Biological Diversity is immensely rich in wildlife and cultivated species, diverse
in form and function but closely integrated in a system through multiple network of
interdependencies.

Q3. What are the factors leading to great stress of diverse flora and fauna?
Ans 3. Lately, diverse flora and fauna are under great stress (their number is reducing) due to
insensitivity to our environment.

Q4. Why do we need to conserve our forests and wildlife?

Ans 4. Conservation preserves the ecological diversity and our life support systems – water, air and
soil. It also preserves the genetic diversity of plants and animals for better growth of species and
breeding. For example, in agriculture, we are still dependent on traditional crop varieties. Fisheries
too are heavily dependent on the maintenance of aquatic biodiversity.

Q5. Why are we still dependent on traditional crop varieties?

Ans 5. We are still dependent on traditional crop varieties because the High Yielding Variety (HYV)
seeds need more water and are harmful for the environment.

Q6. Explain the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act.

Ans 6.
In the 1960s and 1970s, conservationists demanded a national wildlife protection programme.
a) The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act was implemented in 1972, with various provisions for
protecting habitats. An all India list of protected species was also published.
b) The thrust of the programme was towards protecting the remaining population of certain
endangered species by banning hunting, giving legal protection to their habitats, and
restricting trade in wildlife.
c) Subsequently, central and many state governments established national parks and wildlife
sanctuaries about which you have already studied.
d) The central government also announced several projects for protecting specific animals, which
were gravely threatened, including the tiger, the one-horned rhinoceros, the Kashmir stag or
hangul, three types of crocodiles – freshwater crocodile, saltwater crocodile and the Gharial,
the Asiatic lion, and others. Most recently, the Indian elephant, black buck (chinkara), the great
Indian bustard (godawan) and the snow leopard, etc. have been given full or partial legal
protection against hunting and trade throughout India.

Q7. Write a short note on Project Tiger.

Ans 7.
a) In 1973, the authorities realised that the tiger population had dwindled to 1,827 from an
estimated 55,000 at the turn of the century.
b) The major threats to the tiger population are numerous, such as poaching for trade, shrinking
habitat, depletion of prey base species, growing human population, etc.
 c) The trade of tiger skins and the use of their bones in traditional medicines, especially in Asian
countries, left the tiger population on the verge of extinction.
d) Since India and Nepal provide habitat to about two-thirds of the surviving tiger population in
the world, these two nations became prime targets for poaching and illegal trading.
e) “Project Tiger”, one of the well publicised wildlife campaigns in the world, was launched in
1973. Tiger conservation has been viewed not only as an effort to save an endangered species,
but with equal importance as a means of preserving biotypes of sizeable magnitude.
f) Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, Sunderbans National Park in West Bengal, Bandhavgarh
National Park in Madhya Pradesh, Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary in Rajasthan, Manas Tiger
Reserve in Assam and Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala are some of the tiger reserves of India.

Q8. How are conservation projects focusing on biodiversity?

Ans 8. The conservation projects are now focusing on biodiversity rather than on a few of its
components. There is now a more intensive search for different conservation measures. Increasingly,
even insects are beginning to find a place in conservation planning. In the notification under Wildlife
Act of 1980 and 1986, several hundred butterflies, moths, beetles, and one dragonfly have been added
to the list of protected species. In 1991, for the first time plants were also added to the list, starting
with six species.

Q9. Classify Forest and Wildlife resources.

Ans 9.
a) Reserved Forests: More than half of the total forest land has been declared reserved forests.
Reserved forests are regarded as the most valuable as far as the conservation of forest and
wildlife resources are concerned.
b) Protected Forests: Almost one-third of the total forest area is protected forest, as declared by
the Forest Department. This forest land is protected from any further depletion.
c) Unclassed Forests: These are other forests and wastelands belonging to both government and
private individuals and communities.

Q10. Give the contrast between the percentage of different states in their reserved forest area.
Ans 10.
a) Reserved and protected forests are also referred to as permanent forest estates maintained for
the purpose of producing timber and other forest produce, and for protective reasons.
b) Madhya Pradesh has the largest area under permanent forests, constituting 75 per cent of its
total forest area.
c) Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and
Maharashtra have large percentages of reserved forests of its total forest area.
d) Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan have a bulk of forests under
protected forests.
e) All North eastern states and parts of Gujarat have a very high percentage of their forests as
unclassed forests managed by local communities.

Q11. What is the role of communities in forest conservation?

Ans 11.
a) In Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan, villagers have fought against mining by citing the Wildlife
Protection Act.
b) The inhabitants of five villages in the Alwar district of Rajasthan have declared 1,200 hectares
of forest as the Bhairodev Dakav ‘Sonchuri’, declaring their own set of rules and regulations
which do not allow hunting, and are protecting the wildlife against any outside
encroachments.
 c) The famous Chipko movement in the Himalayas has not only successfully resisted
deforestation in several areas but has also shown that community afforestation with
indigenous species can be enormously successful.
d) Farmers and citizen’s groups like the Beej Bachao Andolan in Tehri and Navdanya have shown
that adequate levels of diversified crop production without the use of synthetic chemicals are
possible and economically viable.
e) In India joint forest management (JFM) programme furnishes a good example for involving
local communities in the management and restoration of degraded forests.

Q12. Explain the Joint Forest Management (JFM).

Ans 12.
a) In India joint forest management (JFM) programme furnishes a good example for involving
local communities in the management and restoration of degraded forests.
b) The programme has been in formal existence since 1988 when the state of Odisha passed the
first resolution for joint forest management.
c) JFM depends on the formation of local (village) institutions that undertake protection
activities mostly on degraded forest land managed by the forest department.

Q13. What benefits do community members get?

Ans 13. In return, the members of these communities are entitled to intermediary benefits like non-
timber forest produce and share in the timber harvested by ‘successful protection’.

Q14. What are the different flora and fauna that different communities worship?
Ans 14.
a) Such beliefs have preserved several virgin forests in pristine form called Sacred Groves (the
forests of God and Goddesses). These patches of forest or parts of large forests have been left
untouched by the local people and any interference with them is banned.
b) The Mundas and the Santhal of Chota Nagpur region worship mahua and kadamba trees, and
the tribals of Odisha and Bihar worship the tamarind and mango trees during weddings. To
many of us, peepal and banyan trees are considered sacred.
c) Macaques and langurs around many temples are fed daily and treated as a part of temple
devotees. In and around Bishnoi villages in Rajasthan, herds of blackbuck, (chinkara), nilgai
and peacocks can be seen as an integral part of the community and nobody harms them.

Q15. What is the idea behind tribal beliefs?

Ans 15. Nature worship is an age-old tribal belief based on the premise that all creations of nature
have to be protected.

Q16. What is the lesson of the dynamics of both environmental destruction and reconstruction in
India?
Ans 16. The clear lesson from the dynamics of both environmental destruction and reconstruction in
India is that local communities everywhere have to be involved in some kind of natural resource
management. But there is still a long way to go before local communities are at the centre-stage in
decision-making. Accept only those economic or developmental activities that are people centric,
environment-friendly and economically rewarding.