Impact of Human activities on the forests of the world

What is the impact of human activities on the forests of the world?

· The clearing and burning of the forests for agriculture, cattle rearing, and timber extraction result in loss of biodiversity, extinction of species, and soil erosion, resulting in the loss of vital topsoil, and disturbance of the carbon cycle leading to global warming.
· The clear-cutting and conversion of forest land in hilly areas for agriculture, plantations, and housing lead to landslides and floods, which affect people in the forests and on the plains. It also increases the siltation of rivers.
· Many forests have been affected by acid deposition originating from industries.
· The harvesting of old growth forests destroys crucial habitat for endangered species.
· Dams built in forest areas for hydropower and water drowns huge areas, destroying species and depriving people of their lands; they could also induce earth tremors.


Here is a classical case of environmental degradation leading to poverty and deprivation.

It is Kalahandi, once a rich and prosperous district in Orissa(India). The monsoon has rarely failed this area. It gets an average annual rainfall of 1250mm, more than what Punjab receives. The water table in some places is very high. Yet Kalahandi in western orissa is frequently in the news for its extreme poverty and deprivation. Often it is under drought and sometimes it has floods. The people migrate to all parts of India looking for work and survival.

Kalahandi, however, was not always a place of hunger and deprivation. 19th century travelers have talked about a mass of jungles and hills in the region. Just a few decades ago, it was all green here./ the forests provided a livelihood for six months and agriculture for the next six months. With a large diversity of crops, it was one of the richest areas in eastern India. How did things change?


In the past, there was a network of about 30,000 traditional water-harvesting structures in the area. They included ponds, lakes, check-dams, and even tanks within paddy fields. The whole system was designed to suit the topography of the land so that no part of the rainwater went waste. What is more, the system was under the control of the community, which ensured proper maintenance and water sharing through Jal-sabhas (Water Councils).

Many tanks were built with the free labour given by the people. There was also a social system to protect the forests in the catchment areas. About 50% of the cultivated land was irrigated using the water bodies. Failure or rainfall did occur, but there was never any scarcity of water. Came independence and the troubles started. First, the government took over many of the structures, but did not maintain them properly. In other cases, fearing a takeover, the landowners converted the tanks into croplands. The focus shifted to large irrigation projects like the Hirakud Dam, though the canal system often did not suit the local topography.

Concurrently, the forests were being cut down for timber and the resulting erosion of the soil dumped a lot of silt on the catchment areas. River-beds also silted up, leading to floods downstream. A large amount of water was being lost as run-off. From then on, even a slight shortfall in rain brought water scarcity and a large-scale crop failure. Agriculture became a difficult proposition and people started migrating in large numbers, affecting community life and preventing any revival of the water-harvesting system.

Kalahandi thus slid into a vicious circle, from which it has never recovered