IMPACTS OF POPULATION GROWTH ON FOREST RESOURCES OF ANUPPUR DISTRICT (MADHYA PRADESH, INDIA)
J.S. Dhurve, . Chandramauli
Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak,India
Keywords: environment, population, nature conservation, forest resource exploitation, forest area
Abstract
The problem of forest degradation caused by high growth rates of population is considered by using the Anuppur District (India) as an example. It is shown that the study area is faced with a significant reduction in the forest area due to a rapid population increase and an enhancement of economic activities. In 1981, the area occupied by forests in Anuppur was estimated at 129 885 ha (the area of the district totaling 374 671 ha), whereas it decreased to 76 448 ha in 2011. For the same period the population increased from 418 731 to 749 237. We identified a feedback between the population and the status of forests in the study area. Many kinds of economic activities (agriculture, construction of settlements, motor roads and railroads, engineering structures, development of mineral resources in the forest zone, etc.) are carried out in an unsupervised manner, which leads to a reduction of forest areas, loss of biodiversity of forest ecosystems, and to other ecological problems. Recommendations are made for improvement of forest management in order to increase sustainability of forest ecosystems as well as to meet the needs of the economy and population of the district for various forest resources.
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