Forest and Wildlife Resources

India’s flora and fauna, why they are disappearing, Project Tiger and tiger reserves, the kinds of forest, and conservation by communities.

Key ideas

Biodiversity is the variety of plants and animals, linked to each other in ecosystems.
Forests are lost to the spread of farming, large development projects, mining, grazing and fuelwood; wildlife also suffers from poaching and pollution.
The Wildlife (Protection) Act listed protected species and banned hunting.
Tiger numbers fell to 1,827 by 1973 because of poaching and habitat loss, so Project Tiger began that year.
Forests are reserved (over half, the most valuable), protected (about a third) or unclassed.
Communities conserve too: the Chipko movement, the Bishnois protecting blackbuck and nilgai, Alwar’s Bhairodev Dakav Sonchuri, and Joint Forest Management.
The Beej Bachao Andolan and Navdanya show that farming with traditional seeds and no chemicals can pay.

Remember

Wildlife (Protection) Act	1972
Project Tiger	1973
Joint Forest Management	began in Odisha, 1988
Tiger reserves	Corbett: Uttarakhand; Sundarbans: West Bengal; Bandhavgarh: Madhya Pradesh; Periyar: Kerala
Tiger numbers	about 55,000 around 1900; 1,827 in 1973

Watch out

Swapping reserved forests (the most valuable) and protected forests.
Mixing up the year of the Act (1972) and of Project Tiger (1973).
Putting a tiger reserve in the wrong state: Periyar is in Kerala, Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh.

Worked example

Tigers in India fell from about 55,000 at the start of the 20th century to 1,827 in 1973. Suppose another species fell from 65,000 to 11,700. (a) By how many did it fall? (b) What percentage was left? (c) Give two reasons why tiger numbers fell.

Working: 65,000 − 11,700; 11,700 ÷ 65,000 × 100

Answer: (a) 53,300 (b) 18% (c) poaching and the trade in skins and bones, and loss of habitat.