Page 48 - Magazine Department of B.Ed. 2015

orestation : An Environmental Hazard
Deforestation is one of the major causes of
the environmental degradation which is
perpetrated by the agents like small farmers,
ranchers, loggers and plantation companies.
There is a broad consensus that expansion of
cropped areas and pastures are major source
of deforestation. One of the most serious
concerns regarding deforestation globally is the
continuous loss of tropical forests.
With increase in population the need to utilize
the forest resources also increases to meet the
demands of rapidly growing population. One of
the major causes of deforestation is agriculture.
Conversion of forests to agricultural land to
feed growing needs of people has become
a general practice now. Agricultural lands
and settlements are created permanently by
clearing forest. Major amount of forest land are
cut in order to promote industrialization and
urbanization. This creates harmful effect on
environment and forest ecological balance.
Commercial logging which supplies the world
market with woods such as teak, mahogany and
ebony etc. destroys trees as well as open a forest some 900 ha of dense forest area was lost in
for agriculture. Cutting of trees for firewood
and building material, the heavy cropping of
foliage for fodder and heavy grazing of saplings
by domestic animals like goats are some other
factors contributing to deforestation.
Another problem associated with developmental
processes is construction of dam and reservoirs
for which large scale destruction of forests takes of local population if not properly controlled.
place. This breaks the natural ecological balance
of the region. Floods, droughts and land- slides
become more prevalent in such areas. Forests are
the repositories of invaluable gifts of nature in
the form of biodiversity and by destroying these
we are going to lose these species even before
knowing them. These species could be having
marvelous economic or medicinal value. These
A dairy cow must drink 4 gallons of water to produce one gallon of milk
31
Zeba Akhter and Sana Shahab
store houses of species which have evolved over
millions of years get lost due to deforestation in
the single stroke.
Deforestation is also caused by mining especially
in Jharkhand. Jharkhand has the forest cover
about 29 percent of its total geographical area.
Feeding minerals to the need of nation has
turned large tracts of forest into wastelands.
Thousands of hectares of forests acquired by
some coal companies for mining operation in
Damodar Valley have been cleared. According
to the forest survey of India the forest cover in
the state is fast depleting. The forest cover in
Damodar Valley coalfield, once 65%, stands at
only 0.05% today. Saranda, once so dense that
even sunrays couldn’t penetrate it, has Asia’s
largest sal (Shorea robusta) forests and is an
important elephant habitat. The Chiria mines
in Saranda are believed to hold the largest
deposits of iron ore in Asia. Today, uncontrolled
mining for iron ore, is destroying the forest as
well as the wildlife. Between 2001 and 2003,
East and West Singhbum.
Other environmental impacts like erosion,
formation of sinkholes and loss of bio-diversity
and contamination of soil, ground water and
surface water by chemicals are also associated
with mining. Contamination resulting from
leakage of chemicals can also affect the health
Extreme examples of pollution from mining
activities include coal fires, which can last
for years or even decades producing massive
amounts of environmental damage. One can
witness this devastating effect in Jharia and its
adjoining places in Jharkhand.
The natural wealth of Jharkhand contrasts
vividly with the desperate poverty of the people
who inhabit it. This region has been homelands