Nehemiah Rong
The nature free gift to mankind is land, air, water and trees. Humans are supposed to be the guardian over these. However the human role as a preserver or destroyer is often debatable. Forestland is one of the most valuable resources to judiciously exploit with sustenance. One the threat of global warming is deforestation. With a special focus on the use of forest produce in the hills of Senapati District here is a simple attempt to raise some issues that confront the people and environment. The varieties of flora and fauna are found in the forestland. They are medicinal plants, herbs and grass, wild leaves, wild mushrooms, vegetables, fruits, are gems and treasure leaving aside the trees, canes, bamboos and scores of wild animals.
With rapid expansion of population, trees are felt mercilessly for the habitation and housing purposes, consuming and commercial purpose, for jhuming et al. The biggest threat is the felling and cutting of trees for the timber business. Many virgins thick forestland were left barren and bald as to carry out timber business. In the timber business only few business wallahs benefited whereas the real stakeholders of the forest i.e. the villagers suffer the lost primarily and the humanity in secondary place. It is known fact that the deforestation somewhere is a threat everywhere when come to global environment.
While interacting with villagers in the Senapati district, most of the villagers have to say that they were helpless spectators when asked as why they allow the few business people to carry out such trade in their villages. Some commented that trees which were preserved and saved by the forefathers for centuries are just mercilessly felled and they go on to say that they feel like weeping when think of all these. Elders admitted that the level of temperature have risen recently year-by-year with the excessive felling of trees in the jungles. Even the ignorant innocent villagers could well tell the tale of untimely monsoon or rain, the rising of the temperature from their existential experience.
In pursuit of fast money making in the timber business by the few business people the other masses are on threat. When a huge tree is being felt it destroyed other flora and fauna more than just a cost of a tree sawed into plank and sell in market. When a single tree is been felled, other valuable smaller trees, plants, herbs and shrubs are being destroyed. When this are destroyed the home of many wild animals are destroyed. Thus create and ecological imbalance. If experts have to conduct a study the exact value may be found out. An adage of Plant ten tress when you cut one is the need of the hour where the trees are being felt mercilessly.
The experiences in the villages in Senapati District of Manipur say with the timber/fanta business comes a baggage of land disputes among the villages. The dispute of forestlands, boundaries disputes and many sorts of land disputes are created and cropped up mainly because of the timber/fanta business. In any dispute one party gain and the other loss. The land disputes settlement stories have many tales to tell but that is another different case. The point here is that such disputes not only cause the people unrest but also posit a threat to peaceful coexistence and harmonious living among the people.
From the moral point of view villages rich in forestland/trees have to pay a heavy price of alcoholism, gambling and so on and so forth. The poor villagers offer their cheap labour. They get the money in return of their labour, however many have said that such money is spent in imported liquor which destroy the lives of many and waste the hard earned money. Sources said efforts are being given by village women society, youth body but it is fruitless when come to stopping the liquor intake.
Going to the interior rural villages impressed one with lots of thoughts to ponder. What will be the fate of these people tomorrow as their forest are being exploited in such a rapid pace? How far do they being aware of what is happening around them? The villages, which have got the rich forestland it is not a surprised to see the shaktiman roads being bulldozed through the thickest part of jungle where sunray never penetrated centuries ago. However, the illusion created today is the barren and bald forest. One young man remarked that the existing thick forestland must be filmed so that atleast the next generation can see them in cinema, as they will not be able to see them in reality anymore. Also another person unwilling to be named said that after having established our wealth with riches we might go for buying rains and water but that will impossible. It is sarcastic though it bears some hard realities, which the people themselves need to realize, and response positively to safeguard their environment and forest wealth.
Apart from the timber business the threat to forestland are jhuming, burning down of forest and present trend is the farm like, potato, and cabbage plantation, which demand of cutting down the forest trees in large scale and burning them down. Thus create ecological imbalance. The felled trees, bamboos and canes in the jungle are not collected properly but just wasted. The reason is mode of transportation is not possible in many places and even there is means, the cost of transportation is so high. Precious treasure of those fuel woods rot in the jungle. The treasure becomes a waste.
Some opined that the forest trees without exploitation would only be like a monumental preservation. It is needless to argue how much flora and fauna are wasted when those trees are exploited for quick business purpose. The measureless value of fertility/manure that the forest give to the farmers in many ways, the temperature that the forest maintains, the varieties of flora and fauna that forest contain, the habitation for various wild animals etc. and much more all these put together will not be more worth than the trees felled for the business purpose now?
Also mentioned may be made here that the labourers in the jungle for timber/fanta business are non-local. Many of them having to live in the best part of the forestland where various types of canes and value added plants are found in their homeward journey carry away those materials/things when they finish their work period. Can it be termed as another treasure drain?
The excessive cutting of forest will further cause soil erosion, losing the fertility of soil, the rising of temperature and untimely rain. Scientists or environmentalists have never visited these villages and propagated the awareness. However, the villagers themselves felt and narrated so.
The point here is to rise people’s consciousness without any malign toward any person/group. Forestland and produce are the resources of the villagers. How to judiciously exploit them for the benefit of the people and not of the few fortunate ones is the issue that needs people’s immediate attention. For that matter how to build our present without destroying our past’s treasure and safeguarding our future. Having felt the unwanted changes in environment and losing community wealth as a whole, is it not imperative to bring a paradigm shift in exploiting forest produce with sustainability and ecology friendly? To that end the community initiatives can a vital role with the help of social institutions.
