DANGEROUS DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS

Part- V

Forests in Kerala

The dense rain forests of Kerala have contributed immensely to make the tiny stretch of land as God's Own Country. The most important forests in Kerala are, Gavi forest, Pathanamthitta, Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Munnar Deep Forests,  Agasthyakoodam Biological Park, Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary and Nature Camp, Nelliyampathy Hills, Silent Valley National Park, Kannavam Reserve Forest, Thekkady - Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary and Tholpetty Wildlife Sanctuary. Kerala accounts for 21,144 km² forest which makes out 54% of the geographical area. This can be classified into very dense forest - 1,935 km², moderately dense - 9,508 km² and open forest - 9,701 km².

The canopies of large tracts of virgin forests include the trees of Anjily, Cassia, Fig, Rosewood, Teakwood, Bamboo, Palm etc and also include the smaller bushes of spices and medicinal herbs like pepper, cardamom, vetiver etc. Kerala forests are home to more than 1,000 species of trees and plants. Kerala forests have a wide variety of fauna like Asian elephant, Bengal tiger, leopard, Nilgiri tahr,  Grizzled giant squirrel, lion tailed Macaque, Indian sloth bear, Indian bison, porcupine, chital, sambar, gray langur, flying squirrel, boar, gray wolf, common palm civet etc.

Between 1973 and 2016 Kerala lost 9,06,440 hectares (9064 km²) of forest land as per the study. This has reduced the forest cover from 66.2% to 42.15% . Use of forest land for other purposes, climatic changes etc also contribute for deforestation. Since long a proposal is kept alive for hydro electric power project in the Silent Valley National Park. Strong interference by environmentalists only making it postponed. We must realise the fact that a natural forest like the silent valley is a prehistoric possession of the state. Once it is destroyed it can never be reconstituted. Whereas we have umpteen sources for power generation. Western Ghats is considered to be one of the global biodiversity hotspots, with its lively climate and it's scenic geography, but studies by IISc, Bangalore have found through remote sensing data available that Kerala have lost 9,06,440 hectares of forest land. "Kerala use to have one of the highest rate of rain fall, but now large scale conversion of forests into plantation and other forms of encroachments has reduced the rain during the monsoon seasons," says Dr Ramachandran, Professor at IISc. "Kerala has the highest number of endangered species of plants and animals as well, if they carry on with development with no regards to the environment, there won't be any water left in this state for the survival of these species and our future generations," he added.

Concluded.

(Indebted to livemint.com, study report of IISc, Bangalore, article by Kerala.com, study report by Kerala Forests & Wildlife Department etc)

KV George

kvgeorgein@gmail.com