Flora and Fauna in India Narak! My Lord, you are the creator of music If you look around, you will be able to find in the world of Lepchas that there are some animals and plants which Oh Narak! My Lord, let me dedicate are unique in your area. In fact, India is one myself to you of the world’s richest countries in terms of Let me gather your music from the its vast array of biological diversity, and has springs, the rivers, the mountains, the forests, nearly 8 per cent of the total number of the insects and the animals species in the world (estimated to be 1.6 Let me gather your music from the sweet million). This is possibly twice or thrice the breeze and offer it to you number yet to be discovered. You have already studied in detail about the extent Source: Lepcha folk song from northern part of and variety of forest and wildlife resources West Bengal in India. You may have realised the importance of these resources in our daily life. These diverse flora and fauna are so We share this planet with millions of other well integrated in our daily life that we take living beings, starting from micro-organisms these for granted. But, lately, they are under and bacteria, lichens to banyan trees, great stress mainy due to insensitivity to elephants and blue whales. This entire our environment. habitat that we live in has immense biodiversity. We humans along with all living organisms form a complex web of ecological Over 81,000 species of fauna and 47,000 system in which we are only a part and very species of flora are found in this country much dependent on this system for our own so far? Of the estimated 47,000 plant existence. For example, the plants, animals species, about 15,000 flowering species and micro-organisms re-create the quality of are endemic (indigenous) to India. the air we breathe, the water we drink and the soil that produces our food without which we cannot survive. Forests play a key role in Find out stories prevalent in your region the ecological system as these are also the which are about the harmonious relationship primary producers on which all other living between human beings and nature. beings depend. Some estimates suggest that at least 10 per cent of India’s recorded wild flora and Biodiversity or Biological Diversity is 20 per cent of its mammals are on the immensely rich in wildlife and cultivated threatened list. Many of these would now be species, diverse in form and function but categorised as ‘critical’, that is on the verge closely integrated in a system through of extinction like the cheetah, pink-headed multiple network of interdependencies. duck, mountain quail, forest spotted owlet, and plants like madhuca insignis (a wild 2015-16 variety of mahua) and hubbardia Let us now understand the different heptaneuron,(a species of grass). In fact, no categories of existing plants and animal one can say how many species may have species. Based on the International Union already been lost. Today, we only talk of the for Conservation of Nature and Natural larger and more visible animals and plants Resources (IUCN), we can classify as that have become extinct but what about follows– smaller animals like insects and plants? Normal Species: Species whose population levels are considered to be normal for their survival, such as cattle, sal, pine, Do you know that among the larger rodents, etc. animals in India, 79 species of mammals, Endangered Species: These are species 44 of birds, 15 of reptiles, and 3 of which are in danger of extinction. The amphibians are threatened? Nearly 1,500 survival of such species is difficult if the plant species are considered endangered. negative factors that have led to a decline in Flowering plants and vertebrate animals their population continue to operate. The have recently become extinct at a rate examples of such species are black buck, estimated to be 50 to 100 times the crocodile, Indian wild ass, Indian rhino, lion average expected natural rate. tailed macaque, sangai (brow anter deer in Manipur), etc. Vulnerable Species: These are species Vanishing Forests whose population has declined to levels from The dimensions of deforestation in India are where it is likely to move into the endangered staggering. The forest and tree cover in the category in the near future if the negative country is estimated at 78.92 million hectare, factors continue to operate. The examples of which is 24.01 per cent of the total such species are blue sheep, Asiatic elephant, geographical area (dense forest 12.24 per Gangetic dolphin, etc. cent; open forest 8.99 per cent; and mangrove 0.14 per cent). According to the Rare Species: Species with small State of Forest Report (2013), the dense forest population may move into the endangered cover has increased by 10,098 sq km since or vulnerable category if the negative factors 1997. However, this apparent increase in the affecting them continue to operate. The forest cover is due to plantation by different examples of such species are the Himalayan agencies. brown bear, wild Asiatic buffalo, desert fox and hornbill, etc. Endemic Species: These are species which are only found in some particular areas usually isolated by natural or geographical barriers. Examples of such species are the Andaman teal, Nicobar pigeon, Andaman wild pig, mithun in Arunchal Pradesh. Extinct Species: These are species which are not found after searches of known or likely areas where they may occur. A species may be extinct from a local area, region, country, continent or the entire earth. Examples of such species are the Asiatic Fig. 2.1 cheetah, pink head duck. FOREST AND WILDLIFE RESOURCES 15 2015-16 Fig. 2.2: A few extinct, rare and endangered species Asiatic Cheetah: where did they go? depleted our forests and wildlife. The greatest damage inflicted on Indian forests was during The world’s fastest land mammal, the the colonial period due to the expansion of the cheetah (Acinonyx jubantus), is a unique and railways, agriculture, commercial and scientific specialised member of the cat family and forestry and mining activities. Even after can move at the speed of 112 km./hr. The Independence, agricultural expansion cheetah is often mistaken for a leopard. Its continues to be one of the major causes of distinguishing marks are the long teardrop- depletion of forest resources. Between 1951 and shaped lines on each side of the nose from 1980, according to the Forest Survey of India, the corner of its eyes to its mouth. Prior to over 26,200 sq. km. of forest area was converted the 20th century, cheetahs were widely into agricultural land all over India. Substantial distributed throughout Africa and Asia. parts of the tribal belts, especially in the north- Today, the Asian cheetah is nearly extinct eastern and central India, have been deforested due to a decline of available habitat and or degraded by shifting cultivation (jhum), a type prey. The species was declared extinct in of ‘slash and burn’ agriculture. India long back in 1952. Are colonial forest policies What are the negative factors that cause such to be blamed? fearful depletion of the flora and fauna? Some of our environmental activists say that If you look around, you will be able to find the promotion of a few favoured species, in out how we have transformed nature into a many parts of India, has been carried resource obtaining directly and indirectly from through the ironically-termed “enrichment the forests and wildlife – wood, barks, leaves, plantation”, in which a single commercially rubber, medicines, dyes, food, fuel, fodder, valuable species was extensively planted manure, etc. So it is we ourselves who have and other species eliminated. For instance, 16 CONTEMPORARY INDIA – II 2015-16 teak monoculture has damaged the natural the fact remains that a substantial part of the forest in South India and Chir Pine (Pinus fuel-fodder demand is met by lopping rather roxburghii) plantations in the Himalayas than by felling entire trees. The forest have replaced the Himalayan oak (Quercius ecosystems are repositories of some of the spp.) and Rhododendron forests. country’s most valuable forest products, minerals and other resources that meet the demands of the rapidly expanding industrial- Large-scale development projects have also urban economy. These protected areas, thus contributed significantly to the loss of forests. mean different things to different people, and Since 1951, over 5,000 sq km of forest was therein lies the fertile ground for conflicts. cleared for river valley projects. Clearing of forests is still continuing with projects like the The Himalayan Yew in trouble Narmada Sagar Project in Madhya Pradesh, The Himalayan Yew (Taxus wallachiana) is a which would inundate 40,000 hectares of medicinal plant found in various parts of forest. Mining is another important factor Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. behind deforestation. The Buxa Tiger Reserve A chemical compound called ‘taxol’ is in West Bengal is seriously threatened by the extracted from the bark, needles, twigs and ongoing dolomite mining. It has disturbed the roots of this tree, and it has been successfully natural habitat of many species and blocked used to treat some cancers – the drug is now the migration route of several others, including the biggest selling anti-cancer drug in the the great Indian elephant. world. The species is under great threat due Many foresters and environmentalists hold to over-exploitation. In the last one decade, the view that the greatest degrading factors thousands of yew trees have dried up in behind the depletion of forest resources are various parts of Himachal Pradesh and grazing and fuel-wood collection.