“Trees are the best teachers that teach us selflessness and sacrifice”–Jandhyala Papayyasastry
India stands first in the traditional methodology of praying to any form of life and nature, through age-old rituals and sentiments. However, it is quite alarming to note that we are also standing atop on the list of the countries who have been facing the highest rate of tree-felling!! Further, we are listed at the lowest rate of per-capita plants in the country.If there can be a live example of service-oriented self-less help that anybody can ever view, it would be none other than a Tree. Every living thing on this planet is survived by the Oxygen that these trees provide us, along with various other by-products like fruits, leaves, medicines, wood and other livelihoods of us, humans. Hence, it is not exaggerating to say that the very existence of life is in jeopardy if only there is no tree on earth.
In such a phase, it is a blessing to have organizations like ‘Green-India Challenge’ which are trying to bring about the awareness on the need of the hour, while partnering with all the stakeholders of the society including the school children, politicians, bureaucrats, celebrities and common man alike.
Endangered Forests
The Indian sub-continent enjoys a diversified atmosphere, due to which the biodiversity across the length and breadth of the country, starting from Kashmir till Kanyakumari gifts us with varied flora and fauna. However, it is sad to see the declining figures when we compare the number of plants to the number of citizens in the country. While the world per-capita is around 422 plants per head on average, in India, it is just 28 per person. Most disheartening is the fact that in Mumbai, which is termed as the financial capital of the country, it is just 4 trees per person.
Canada is topping at the highest rank on the list of completely green and clean cities, with per-capita plantation of 8,953 plants per head. Next in line are Russia with 4,461, and Australia with 3,266. There might be varied reasons as to why the list differs in per-capita plantation, some of which might be the implications brought in by the government policies, greenery through ages, public awareness and active public participation. All these or most of these are not to be seen in India, which is a cause to worry, for the felling of plants and neglect to re-plant more is a daily concern. Thus, we are ending up with a high rate of forest degeneration in the country.
Deforestation and degeneration of forests is not just a major concern for our country but is happening across the world, at a high rate.
As per a survey conducted by an American Research Institute, Earth is supposed to be filled with greenery to the tune of around 1000 cr hectares of plantation. However, since the year 1990, around 12.9 crores of hectares have been alienated from the surface of the planet and are still receding at an alarming rate. Various reasons for this being, wood smuggling, forest poaching, wildfires, industrialization, clearing forest land for cultivation and agriculture and many other man-made mistakes. About 90 crores of people are dependent on forests for their livelihood.
In India, especially, we are losing forests at a high rate. According to the National Forest Policy of 1988, a third of India’s land should co-exist with forests. However, at present, the forest-occupied land of the country is only about 24.39 percent of the total occupation. In a survey report submitted by the Indian Forest Survey Organization in 2017, deforestation is rapidly increasing on a yearly basis. Forests are vanishing in front of our very own eyes at a fast speed. Both the Telugu States are no exception to this and in fact, are facing a higher decline of forestation than the rest of the country.
Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana, is known for its versatile ecosystem with green plantations, lakes and other water bodies. Unfortunately, even this city is today in the clutches of deforestation and has lost almost around 60% of its vegetation, thanks to the ever-expanding habitation of the city population. It is the same case even with the other Telugu state, which is in the decline mode of greenery in the state.
Deforestation is not only bringing about a lot of illnesses like asthma and other breathing problems but is becoming a major factor in changing the course of monsoons and other unfavorable climatic changes that affect cultivation and agriculture, apart from breeding seasons of the flora and fauna. The ecosystem is getting highly disturbed due to the negative effects of deforestation and lack of vegetation, pushing the wildlife out of their habitats, in search of food and water. The primary concern of such deforestation to mankind is majorly the availability of rain and rainwater for farming, end-result being a famine-ridden society, apart from the life savior Oxygen!!
It is said that per year, a fully-grown tree provides us with Oxygen worth about Rs.24 lakhs, with an intake of around 0.53 tonnes of Carbon-di-oxide and about 1.95 kgs of other pollutants. It also helps us in storing about 1,400 gallons of rainwater, deep in its earth cores. A healthy person’s intake of oxygen per day is about 3 cylinders. At this rate, if a person needs to inhale oxygen for a lifetime, he needs to plant and grow at least 3 trees during his life expectancy. Humans are known to be friendly and social beings, however, the big question now is how friendly and caring are we towards the trees which are the very source of our existence.
It’s a collective responsibility
Organizations like the ‘Green India Challenge’ have come forward with the sole aim of spreading awareness on the need for plantation and vegetation for human existence. The organization works with a goal of encouraging every person to plant and take care of at least 3 trees in their lifetime, thereby seeing to it that they have given back to nature, as to what has been received for their life, ie., Oxygen!! Thanks to the many initiatives of such organizations, environmental and plantation protection is now being recognized as a social responsibility.