Conservation and Management of Forest Resources in India: Ancient and Current Perspectives

This paper brings out the issues related to natural resource exists, management and erosion right from the ancient to modern era. The natural resource such as forests and forest products were found as a basic source of survival for living organisms during the initial period. Later, the natural resources started degrading slowly and steadily due to increased human activities. In the beginning, natural resources were the primary assets for the growth of agriculture, industry, urbanization etc. Subsequently, increased anthropogenic activities started degrading the forest cover on a large scale through extending the agricultural land scape and other developmental activities in the country. The importance of traditional knowledge regarding resource conservation, protection of sacred grooves, endangered species etc. started declining in modern India. Innovativeness and policy framework for resource conservation and utilization became unfriendly in addition to gradual decline of community management. The key findings of the study point to major gaps existing such as between line departments and institutions in the promotion and management of forests, human welfare, agriculture, animal husbandry etc. Moreover, people tend to be more inclined towards the utilization of natural resources rather than conservation. From an observational and practical point of view, the natural resource has been declining rapidly in India. Therefore, this study strongly suggests that a due attention be directed towards developing people-friendly and environment friendly conservation strategies.