Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Apart from the suitability, productivity, and the ecological role of tree species,
there is also the issue of livelihood of the people being linked to the native forest
species. Lifestyles and socioeconomic contexts cannot be altered all of a sudden.
Many communities, especially tribal societies, are dependent upon the direct produce
from forests such as flowers, fruits, gum, bark, resins, and oils. These communities
have traditionally come to acquire generally accepted rights over such forest produce.
In case of the introduction of exotic fast growing tree species, the same customary
rights may not be recognised, or may not be meaningful because such products
may not be available. With new kind of produce from the exotics, new classes of
stakeholders emerge and the benefits shift from one interest group to another. This
can lead to conflicts and incur hostility of the local people, leading, in turn, to assured
failure of the afforestation programme. The case of introducing teak in place of the
less lucrative local species in the Indian state of Bihar is an example of such a case,
where the livelihood of the tribal communities was adversely affected and led to
resistance from the tribals, resulting in a consequent failure of the programme.
It must be understood that the role of natural forests cannot be replaced, in en-
tirety, by artificially raised tree plantations. Natural forests are complex ecosystems
that evolved over a long time. Often, they are a gene pool with undocumented and
uncatalogued species of plants and animals that may be of any potential use un-
til such use is discovered. An example is that of the tropical plant rosy periwinkle
( Rosa vinca ) from which two magic drugs were extracted that dramatically brought
down the mortality rate of leukaemia patients from three-fourths to one-fourth. Many
similar examples can be cited.
1.3
Afforestation and Reforestation for Subsistence
Economy and Livelihoods
There has been a shift in the forest policies of most developing countries from the
predominance of national and industrial interests to recognition of the needs of the
local people. To an extent, the market forces can automatically act to remedy scarcity
of timber and pulpwood, either by demand-side interventions (e.g. by finding a sub-
stitute product or an alternative resource) or by supply-side interventions (e.g. by
increased private investment). No sustainable solution to the problems of deforesta-
tion and destruction of habitats can, however, be found unless the local communities'
economic interests are taken into account. Fuelwood, for example, is one of the
biggest reasons for destruction of forests and trees in arid and semiarid tropical ar-
eas. More than 80 % of the wood harvested is used for burning, predominantly in
cooking, charcoal making and other household uses. Populations that migrate to
urban areas as a result of destruction of rural habitats—the ecological refugees—
continue to rely on wood as the main source of energy. Not only this, many of them
make a living by illicitly felling trees in the forests and wastelands and selling them
in the cities. It is estimated that, worldwide, out of the total 2.5 billion people who
depend upon fuelwood for their daily domestic needs, about 1.5 billion people suffer
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