TOPIC : Timber extraction, mining, dams and their effects on forest and tribal people

Extraction of timber is a major intervention in forest stocks and inevitably causes disturbance to flora and fauna. Extraction often also involves the creation of forestry roads, which have a fragmenting effect.

 It is postulated that extraction of timber at any point of time depends on : A. B. C. D. the stock. the effort involved in extraction. the biodiversity index. the ecological characteristics of the forests.

EFFECTS OF TIMBER EXTRACTION ON FOREST AND TRIBAL PEOPLE

Poor logging results in a degraded forest. Floods may be intensified by cutting of trees or upstream watersheds. Loss of biodiversity.

 New logging roads permit shifting cultivators to gain access to logged areas and fell the remaining trees. It results in forest fragmentation which promotes loss of biodiversity because some species of plants and animals require large continuous areas of similar habitat to survive.
Climatic changes such as lower precipitation.

 Exploitation of tribal people by the contractors.

Soil erosion specially on slopes occurs extensively. Sedimentation of irrigation systems, floods may be intensified by cutting of trees on upstream.

 Scientific research documenting the impact of timber extraction indicate that it has resulted in fragmentation of the remaining forest, as well as decrease in biodiversity Loss of non-timber products and loss of long-term forest productivity on the site affect the subsistence economy of the forest dwellers.

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or (coal) seam. The term also includes the removal of soil.

 In terms of landscape permeability, alternative methods of extraction (e.g. cable logging, horse logging etc.) should be given preference. The use of horses, in particular, causes less damage to stands and regeneration areas, and protects the forest floor as it does not leave tracks or cause widespread compaction of soils or oil pollution etc.

 Large scale deforestation has been reported in Mussorie and Dehradun valley due to indiscriminating mining of various minerals over a length of about 40 Km. Mining of magnesite and soap stones have destroyed 14 ha of forest in hill slopes of Khirakot , Kosi valley , Almora. Mining of radioactive minerals in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are posing similar threats of deforestation.

 Mining and its associated activities require removal of vegetation along with underlying soil mantle and overlying rock masses , which results in Topography and destruction of landscape in the area.
Mining from shallow deposits is done by surface mining while that from deep deposits is done by sub-surface mining.

 Big dams have been in sharp focus of various environmental groups all over the world which is mainly because of several ecological problems including deforestation and socio-economic problems related to tribal or native people associated with them.

THE SILENT VALLEY HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT

The Silent valley hydroelectric project was one of the first such projects situated in the tropical rain forest area of Western Ghats which attracted much concern of the people.

 Big dams and rivers valley projects have multi-purpose uses and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru used to refer to these dams and valley projects as Temples of modern India.

 For building big dams, large scale devastation of forests takes place which breaks the natural ecological balance of the region. Floods, droughts and land slides become more prevalent in such areas. Forests are the repositories of invaluable gifts of nature in the form of biodiversity and by destroying them (particularly, the tropical rain forests) we are going to lose these species even before knowing them.

THANK YOU
Submitted By:
Adarsh P. S. Btech 4th Sem (VAST)

DEFINITIONS
Biodiversity- "Biodiversity describes the number and variety of all forms of life - living organisms, the genetic differences between them and the ecosystems in which they occur."

 Biodiversity index -A diversity index is a quantitative measure that reflects how many different types (such as species) there are in a dataset, and simultaneously takes into account how evenly the basic entities (such as individuals) are distributed among those types. The value of a diversity index increases both when the number of types increases and when evenness increases. For a given number of types, the value of a diversity index is maximized when all types are equally abundant.