nature

The biotic component of our environment on land, i.e. plants and animals (leaving aside the oceans and other water bodies) are overwhelmingly found in forests. Forests form a buffer for the earth to protect life forms; in fact that's where all our biodiversity and including cultivated crops and horticulture plants and trees originated from. Forests comprise an area of diverse and complex ecosystems consisting mainly of trees, shrubs and wild plants which house an extraordinary variety of communities of living organisms. The Indian forests for example include variety of plant and animal life. India has over 45,000 plant species and its forests have about 800 species of mammals, 2000 species of birds, 420 species of reptiles, 2000 species of fish, 50,000 species of insects, 4000 species of molluscs. Good forest areas therefore are called the 'biodiversity hot spots' due to the wide range of life forms and genetic diversity of life forms.

One may recall through earlier studies on the ecological web of life on how all life forms are interconnected and how the well being of one organism is dependant on the other. Even the bacteria which cause deadly diseases and food poisoning on one hand help in aiding digestion produce dairy products like milk and yogurt (curds) and help in decomposing huge amounts of waste and dead matter, fertilizing the soil with nitrogen. One of the main aims of conservation is to try and preserve the inherited biodiversity. A loss of diversity will lead to an ecological imbalance. There is a clear and mutual relation between the health of forests (trees), rainfall concentration, the amount of water in rivers and conservation of wild animals.

Humans depend on the forests largely to meet rapidly growing demands for timber, fibre, fuel, fresh water and food. All use forest produce in one form or other, e.g., when used as timber, paper, herbs and spices. Modern approaches in forest conservation have found that enforcement of forest laws or policies that do not recognize the legitimate needs of different groups that depend on the forest, often fail in their objectives. When we consider the conservation of forests, we need to look at different stakeholders whose dependency on forest resources varies.

People who live in or around forests are dependent on forest produce for various aspects of their life
The Forest Department of the Government which owns the land undertakes protection and controls the resources from forests
The industries that use various forests produce, but are not dependent on the forests in any one area
Environment Conservationists, nature enthusiasts and NGOs who want to conserve nature in its immaculate form
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The practice of clearing huge areas to plant pine, teak or eucalyptus, results in destroying a large amount of biodiversity. It also adversely affects the stakes and needs of local people living in and around such forest plantations by loss of habitat and inaccessibility to these areas. They experience a scarcity of supplies of wood and fodder, herbs, fruit and nuts etc. The loss of valuable habitat and ecosystems is probably largest for flora and fauna living in the area.
What do these various groups depend on the forests for? Let us list few things that each group requires.
Meaning of Natural Vegetation
Natural vegetation and wildlife exist only in the narrow zone of contact betweenthe lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere that we call
biosphere
. In thebiosphere living beings are inter-related and interdependent on each other forsurvival. This life supporting system is known as the
ecosystem
. Vegetation and wildlife are valuable resources. Plants provide us with timber, give shelterto animals, produce oxygen we breathe, protects soils so essential for growingcrops, act as shelter belts, help instorage of underground water, give us fruits, nuts, latex, turpentine oil, gum,medicinalplants and also the paper that is so essential for your studies. There areinnumerable uses of plants and you can add some more.Wildlife includes animals, birds, insects as well as the aquatic life forms. They provide us milk, meat, hides and wool. Insects like bees provide us honey, helpin pollination of flowers and have an important role to play as decomposers inthe ecosystem. The birds feed on insects and act as decomposers as well.Vulture due to its ability to feed on dead livestock is a scavenger andconsidered a vital cleanser of the environment. So animals big or small, all areintegral to maintaining balance in the ecosystem.