Today,
with a renewed emphasis on environmental protection, forest development
has, like many other matters of ecological significance, become
a focal point of activity. Forests were greatly valued in ancient
India. Everyday life was closely connected with nature; kings protected
forests and ascetics retired to them for peaceful meditation in
their quest for salvation (moksha).
Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, as early
as the 3rd Century BC, had forests classified as those used for
religious purposes and others to be exploited commercially. He also
allotted some forest areas for hunting. Forest offenses and careless
deforestation were punishable by death. During Emperor Ashoka's
reign (3rd Century BC), several species of trees were identified
for protection. The abundant evidence of natural forms in the Indian
art of this period reflects a great affinity with nature. Alexander
is said to have used Indian timber for building ships in the 4th
Century BC
For many centuries Indian wood was
exported to Persia and Arabia, but this commercial activity was
on a very small scale compared to the immensity of India's then
forest resources and had no noticeable effect on the extent of forest
cover. Hundreds of years later, in Mughal times, there was a great
deal of hunting in the forests of North India. Nevertheless, although
the Mughals had no positive interest in conserving forests, they
did not harm or denude them.
At the turn of the 19th Century, however, the British developed
a keen interest in the valuable woods of the Indian jungle. Some
of the ships in Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar had been built by the
famous Bombay shipbuilders, the Wadias, teak replacing the English
oak. Trees yielding prized wood like sandalwood, rosewood, satinwood
and ebony were felled for commercial purposes, doing great damage
to India's forest wealth. Despite steps taken by the British in
the early 19th Century to regenerate forests, in the long run they
encouraged agriculture at the expense of forests rather than as
complementary to them. This shortsighted policy did immense damage.
Since independence, the Indian Government's
New Action Plan for Forestry has declared 33.33 percent of the whole
land area of the country (60 percent on the hills and 20 percent
in the plains) as reserved for forests. However, this has not prevented
further extensive encroachments on India's forest cover (now less
than 9 percent in India) and unless firm and effective action is
taken soon, the future does seem grim indeed.
The zoo park is situated in a reserved
forest area and many different kinds of trees and plants can be
found in and around the zoo. The zoo is doing its part in the conservation
and development of the forest area by protecting the existing flora
and by planting new saplings . The following is a list of some of
the important varieties of flora found in the zoo area . |
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