How did colonial rule resulted in deforestation of India?
The causes for deforestation in India during British rule were: (i) Increase in population, leading to growth in demand for food, and extension of land under cultivation at the expense of forests. (iii) Increased demand for timber due to expansion of railways and for ship building purposes.
How does food affect deforestation?
Agriculture drives 80 percent of tropical deforestation and has serious implications for the health of forests worldwide. The demand for these four commodities drives the majority of deforestation. Secondary food related drivers of deforestation which still have notable impacts are coffee, rubber, cocoa, and sugar.
How is India’s agriculture affected by deforestation?
Food problems: Most of the area that has undergone deforestation is actually unsuitable for long-term agricultural use such as ranching and forming. Once deprived of their forest cover, the lands rapidly degrade in quality, losing their fertility and arability.
Why were forest cut during the colonial period?
Forests cleared off rapidly during the colonial period because they need timber for building the railway tracks.
What was the main feature of deforestation during the colonial period?
The causes of deforestation in India under colonial rule are as follows: →They cleared forest for making railway sleepers and for fuel to run locomotives. →They cleared forest for tea , coffee and rubber plantations.
What is deforestation write two causes of deforestation in India?
The basic reasons for deforestation are the followings: • Cultivations and livestock farming. Cultivations and livestock farms are in fact, substitute forest areas. The influence is much higher as after the extraction of the most precious trees. They are destined for timber commercialization.
What food causes the most deforestation?
Soy is the main culprit when it comes to deforestation in food. More than 80% of soy is fed to animals such as pigs – which is the pork sausages in your breakfast fry up. Unsustainable soy might also be fed to the chicken’s providing your eggs.
What are the causes of deforestation?
Direct causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, wood extraction (e.g., logging or wood harvest for domestic fuel or charcoal), and infrastructure expansion such as road building and urbanization.
Which part of India is most affected by deforestation?
Of the 15,000 sq km of forest lost to encroachment, the greatest loss was reported in Madhya Pradesh, followed by Assam and Karnataka. Some states, such as Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, have curtailed such encroachment.
What are the main cause of deforestation in India?
Direct causes of deforestation are agricultural expansion, wood extraction (e.g., logging or wood harvest for domestic fuel or charcoal), and infrastructure expansion such as road building and urbanization. But roads also provide entry to previously inaccessible—and often unclaimed—land.
What is deforestation how did cultivation expand rapidly during the colonial period?
Answer : The disappearance of forests is referred to as deforestation. Cultivation expanded rapidly during the colonial period in the following ways. Large tracts of natural forests were also cleared to make way for tea, coffee and rubber plantations to meet Europe’s growing need for these commodities.
Who were affected by the colonial Forest Act?
The Indian Forests Act of 1865 extended the British colonialism in India and claimed over forests in India. [1] The 1865 act was a precursor to the Forest Act of 1878, which truncated the centuries-old traditional use by communities of their forests and secured the colonial governments control over the forestry.
When did deforestation become a problem in India?
Forests form an important part of our ecosystem and are beneficial to us in various ways. Major deforestation in India occurred during the British rule, between the years 1880 and 1920. Deforestation is not something that has come up recently but the problem had begun centuries ago.
Why did deforestation occur during the colonial period?
However, it was under the colonial rule that the whole problem of deforestation became more systematic and extensive. With the increase in population during the course of time, there has been a high demand for food due to which the peasants had extended the boundaries of cultivation, clearing forests and breaking new land.
Why did the British clear forests in India?
The British considered forests as wildernesses which must be brought under cultivation to enhance the income of the state. Thus, large tracts of forest lands were cleared for cultivating land. b. Due to high demand, forests in Britain were dissapearing.
How did the demand for wood cause deforestation?
With the advent of railways from the 1850s, it has started to create a new demand to run locomotives for which the wood would be the need as fuel. With the expansion of railways, the demand also became very high and became one of the primary causes of deforestation