Environmental Ethics

Author(s): S M Jain
Publisher: Prakrit Bharti Academy

Page 47

requiring more and more land for growing edible seeds. Initially it was naturally available flat vacant or grasslands. Subsequently it was extended to forest areas. Trees were cut, burnt and land cleared for cultivation. The virgin lands of forest thus cleared gave bumper crops of edible seeds for 5-6 years and as the yields declined subsequently, people cleared new areas of forests more and more to meet growing needs of food of increasing population. There was a crusade against forest. There is mention of KHANDAV DAH i.e. clearance of vast stretch of forests by PANDAVAS in the famous epic MAHABHARAT in India. It continued till recently all over the world when people were given free licence and even rewards for clearing more and more natural forest and making the land cultivable even in America, Europe and elsewhere. In hilly areas the practice of shifting cultivation has denuded vast areas which are now stark barren, badly eroded, rocky and without even a blade of grass. Initially when population was small people went on practising shifting cultivation from one end to last end of forests of their village boundaries and returned back to the same point after 30-40 years as by then the land left fallow was again covered back by the same natural forest and became fertile. But as population increased the cycle of 3040 years gradually decreased to 10-20 years and eventually to 56 years which did not allow forest to grow and make lands fertile. This necessitated shifting of whole villages to remaining forests and eventually denuding the entire landscape.
Futile Laws :
It was only during last century that restrictions were put on destruction of forest by enacting laws. In areas classified as reserve forests no rights of cutting, grazing etc. were allowed unless perinitted. In protected forest areas rights were given according to agreements with people and recorded in settlement records. In remaining unclassified forest areas unrestricted rights were allowed. The unclassified forests vanished with in a few years and cultivation was extended to demarcation lines of protected
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