Rameez Makhdoomi
Srinagar, (KMW News): It is a known fact that forests are very much needed for life to sustain on earth. They are not simply just the green cover we need to make the earth look dazzling; they have multiple functions that are integral for our survival and to grow further.
Unfortunately, here in the state of Jammu& Kashmir from several decades we have seen a dwindling forest cover which is major cause of concern.
Pertinently, the Jammu & Kashmir state which is known all over the world for its striking beauty but unfortunately it has already lost an significant forest cover in the past few decades (an estimated 15 percent of the forests since the partition of country in 1947).
As a matter of fact, during 2007-2008 the total forest land encroached was at about 16000 hectares which is quiet alarming and disturbing trend to note.
Experts state that after witnessing the growth of population, the encroachment is expected to escalate.
The last 2-3 decades have seen destruction of forests in almost every country, except for a few exceptions, mainly in the continent of Europe. Now, there are two kinds of countries: one, that have upturned the trend of deforestation, and, second, that live with the sorry reality of declining forest cover. Sadly, we belong to the second category. The impact of deforestation is visible in urban areas too. Besides the rapidly increasing number of hotels and residential places around some of the lakes, silt washed from the mountains during the rains is described as the main reason for shrinking of the lakes. An effective forest cover would have prevented this.
We had a forest cover of 21,000 sq. km. in 1930, which went down to 13,000 sq. km. in 1980. It is estimated that we lost another 15 to 20 per cent during the previous 20 years. The declining forest cover has also meant increase in man-animal conflict. Hearing news about man-wild animal conflict has become a normal affair in our part of the world.
Sane voices are pained over the abject condition of forests in the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Mohammad Ijaz, a commoner said, “The forests play a vital role in the development of mankind. But, we as a nation are fast losing the valuable forest cover on account of official apathy and human greed.â€
The need of the moment is that state government drafts an effective policy to arrest the tendency of dwindling forest cover in the state.
