An Analysis of Forest Diversion for Developmental Projects and Its Environmental Impact: A Case Study of Chandrapur Forest Circle in Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Forest diversion is process of land use change from area under forest to non forest purposes. Once much of the surface of earth was under forest land use, but today it is a trend in every nation to divert the forest land into agriculture, industry, housing, roads, railways and many other civil as well as developmental works, consequently area under forest is reducing rapidly and it is becoming impossible to maintain 33 percent forest area as stated in National Forest Policy, 1952. It is stated in this forest policy that, if India need the balance development; it should bring 1/3 of its total geographical area and 2/3 of hilly area under forest. But till today India has not achieved this target; contrary forestlands are reducing, degrading and diverting for other developmental projects. These diversions of forest is keeping its intensive negative impact on ecological aspects including local climate, agriculture, soil, temperature, forest based employment, fertility, wildlife corridor movement, food chain, soil erosion and man-animal conflict etc. Chandrapur forest circle is a unique area regarding man animal conflict in India; it is considered as an important source region of tigers, it is also biggest forest circle of tigers in the world having more than 150 tigers. So far, the forest diversion keeps negative impact on ecology and environment in the district which should be analyze; this is an effort to establish the ecological loss due to forest diversion in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra.