Important of Forest Essay

Trees are mankind lifeline. If they are destroyed, there is no way that human beings can survive. From the oxygen that we breathe in, the food that we eat, to the clothes we wear, we owe it all to the trees. Not only this, trees act as purifiers of air and receptacles of our waste products. Trees have great economic value too. We get fuel, fodder, timber, medicines and numerous other valuable products from the trees. It is, therefore, not surprising that trees were given great importance in our culture, our tradition, our mythology and legends.

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The survival of entire wild life depends upon the health and wellbeing of our trees and specially our forests. Forests are precious national resource whim not only play significant role in national condor but help in pollution control and maintaining logical balance. These offer a number of direct indirect advantages. India is quite rich in forest wealth. About one-fifth of its land is under forests.

– Our forests are mostly in the hilly area or over the plateau. The plains and the large areas in valleys are under cultivation. The area under the forests in India is not sufficient.

About one-third area of the land surface should be under the forests to keep up the ecological balance. We should avoid deforestation and grow more trees to keep up the balance. Our forests can be divided into five types. Evergreen Tropical forests, Deciduous Forests, Thorny Forests or Desert Forests, Coniferous Forests and Mangrove Forests Importance of Forests Forests are very useful in the life of man. They help us in many ways. Forests are the moderators of climate. These have effective role in controlling humidity and temperature and precipitation They provide us shade and keep the place cool.

Without forests most of the areas would have been deserts. Forests purify the air. The trees break up carbon dioxide into carbon and oxygen in the presence of sun light. They consume carbon as their food and release oxygen in the atmosphere. Thus the trees are helpful in keeping the air clean. Forests help in controlling soil erosion, soil degradation and floods. That is why these are very helpful in land reclamation and flood control . Forests help in water percolation and thereby maintain underground water table And Decay of plant leaves provides humus to the soils and increases their fertility. Forests provide us fuel and timber.

In many parts of India wood is used as fuel for cooking food and for many other purposes. Timber is used for making houses, furniture and railway coaches. Hundreds of industries depend on forests, for example, paper industry, plywood industry, paint, varnish, rubber goods, match sticks and many other industries, Forests provide valuable timber for dome tic and commercial use. Industries like paper, matt making, plywood, sports goods, lakh and furniture at directly based on raw materials derived from forest and they cause rains. Trees cool down the winds which have water vapor. -Thus the forests help in causing rainfall.

Forest areas have more rainfall than the other areas. Forests prevent floods. The roots of the trees soak a lot of rain water. The rain water does not flow down quickly and cause floods. Forests prevent soil erosion. The roots of the trees in the forest areas hold the soil firmly. They do not allow the rain water to wash it away easily. Thus the trees help to prevent soil erosion, Forests keep up the natural balance. The trees keep up the balance between the plant and the animal life. The forests preserve wild animals like lions, tigers and panthers. These animals depend for their food on animals like deer, antilopes, stags and other animals.

In turn these animals live on plants. Similarly some birds feed on smaller birds who live on insects and plants. Thus the forests keep up a balance in nature. No plant or animal goes out of existence and no plant or animal overgrows in number than it is required by the nature. Herbs and some parts of certain trees are used for making medicines. Cincona and Neem are some of such trees. . Forests offer employment to about 4 million people to earn their livelihood in forest based occupations, i. e. , lumbering, sawing, furniture making, forest produce collecting, etc.

Export of forest products earns valuable foreign exchange to the country. Indian forests are rich in wild life housing about 500 species of animals. Grazing of cattle in the forests helps in dairy farming and cattle rising Forests are the natural habitat for wild life and birds which attract tourists, holiday makers and hunters. Forests help in maintaining natural scenic beauty which every year attract a number of tourists and nature lovers These may be developed as very good picnic or tourist centers in the form of wild life sanctuaries and national parks which have good employment and income generating potential.

Forests provide recluse to rashes, saints and hermits who have enriched our religious and cultural thoughts. Mere a visit of such quiet serene environment relieves physical and mental strains and refurbishes new vitality and vigor. Forests provide natural habitat to a number of primitive tribes which are part of our rich cultural heritage. Their mode of living, economy and cultural traits are based on forest environment.

Today, however, the forests are in danger. Their survival is at stake as man, in his blind pursuit of wealth and power, is bent upon destroying them. The urgent need today is to save our forests from extinction. For sustaining ecological balance, for environmental and other reasons, it is important that at least one third of our land is covered with forests. However, today we have less than 20% area under forests and much of it is degraded forest. Over felling of trees, hindering natural process of pollination and germination and diverting land for other purposes have all taken their toll on forests. So, the need of the hour is to work to save existing forests and help in bringing larger area under forest.