[sugarnspice]

Whether you are Indian or if you love India, If you love the planet! Then please sign the pledge to save our forests and our planet!

Subject: FW: A Dreaded Forest Act
> The Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, passed in Parliament in Dec 2006 is in the process of formally becoming a law. Upto 4 hectares of forest land is proposed to be given to all those who had occupied forest land before the 13th of December, 2005.
>
> This Act is applicable to forest across the country - including wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves. There are no provisions in the Act to ensure forest protection / conservation. The Act opens forests to dangerous privatization even though they are public property. A group of us, ordinary folk with no political leanings, have got together to create awareness of this issue. That's how Vanashakti was born. We want to protect Man & Nature from destruction by power hungry, vote seeking politicians.
>
> If you want to help, please sign the petition on Vanashakti and spread the word to all your friends. it will take only a minute but it will help protect our forests and our future.

Edited by priya, 30 October 2007 - 06:26 PM.
Corrected link to Vanashakti

[cyberhippie]

These people already farm the land no doubt and the smuggling of timber usually happens from outside sources, which is the biggest concern of the forestry department. The tribals I've seen mostly take good care of their enviroment as well. Though stripping the forests for firewood is a problem.

I do agree there should be some protection of forestry in India though at face value they seem to be doing OK compared to say Western Europe

[noflylist]

In early 80s, on my travels from Tatanagar plains to Hill Station Ranchi bus passes through jungles and you could see large scale timber activity in the adivasi belt (illegal activity by contractors), also my beloved river Subarnarekha was slowly changing color and that hurt!

The correct link is http://www.vanashakt...tion.htm#pledge

Edited by !Noflylist, 28 October 2007 - 11:24 PM.

[Somerset]

Would be a real shame if deforestation increases in India. Since 1990, India has actually gained forested land; between 1990 and 2000, India gained 361,500 hectares per year, yielding a reforestation rate of 0.57%. On a related note, I've recently become interested in the role of sacred groves in conservation. Interesting concept, sacred groves.

Edited by Somerset, 29 October 2007 - 09:06 PM.

[kullukid]

Somerset, on Oct 29 2007, 03:35 PM, said:

On a related note, I've recently become interested in the role of sacred groves in conservation. Interesting concept, sacred groves.

Here's some links;
http://www.sacredlan...red_Groves.html
http://isebindia.com...08/05-07-1.html

Good to see you back S'n S where ya bin? KK

[cyberhippie]

More on sacred groves, not only in India it seems.

Sacred groves

Back on topic I hope I didn't scare the OP off with my reply. I was simply wondering, as with many tribals of the world are the tribal and rural people of India perhaps the very best guardians of the forest.
The idea of sacred groves keep me wondering??

[Somerset]

cyberhippie, on Oct 29 2007, 04:31 PM, said:

I was simply wondering, as with many tribals of the world are the tribal and rural people of India perhaps the very best guardians of the forest.
The idea of sacred groves keep me wondering??

The purpose and origin of sacred groves in India seems to vary a bit between different regions, but in at least some places (Kerala, for example), the concept and the sanctity of these forests is dwindling as villagers become more 'modern.'  From what I understand, however, they have served as important sources of biodiversity for many years. I've seen photographs of sacred groves adjacent to virtual deserts, no longer to support trees due to a loss of soil nutrients resulting from deforestation.

Education of tribals on the tangible benefits of maintaining forests is important and apparently works. See the ATREE website (http://www.atree.org/) for examples of outreach. ATREE (Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment) is based in Bangalore and does some great work related to conservation and education of tribals.

[alexisisis]

thanks for this link, a very interesting topic