Indigenous people and forest care

Threatened forests all over the world at 10 spots.

Indigenous communities use the forest with restraint because it provides for their basic needs -- food, shelter, water, medicine, fuel and clothing. The Bambuti people of the Congo refer to the forest as mother or father, and hold it sacred: a deity to ask for help and to thank. The Yanomami of Venezuela and Brazil believe that the natural and spiritual worlds are united: the fates of all people and the environment are inexorably linked. So when people destroy the environment, humanity slowly commits suicide.
In Borneo, the Penan harvests the sago palm, a fast-growing tree whose pithy trunk is loaded with starch used to make flour. Only the largest trunks are taken, the smaller shoots carefully preserved for future harvests. They call this molong, meaning never taking more than necessary. When the Haida people of Canada fell a red cedar, the bark is made into a textile for clothing, ropes and sails, and the wood is used to make dugout canoes, ceremonial masks and boxes, and to build communal longhouses. Smaller branches are used for smoking salmon. Passing on information is the key to a successful forest lifestyle.
Natural habitat
Individual trees are merely tree, obviously their presence is good for environment but forest is natural occurrence of plants; it can maintain ecological balance. In forest, plants are not separate entities rather they are interconnected with other forms of life. Forest is home to numerous species of birds, fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. All these along with various plants and microorganisms make up the biotic community. The biotic community with the physical environment forms the ecosystems. Missing some component an ecosystem cannot function well. Functioning of ecosystems on the earth surface can ensure the undisturbed global environment. Forests are full of environmental goodies. Even man made forest is not equivalent to natural forest.
But can we want forests and not forest people? It's a dilemma for us. In fact indigenous people living in forest are part and parcel of the forest system. Their activities even do not harm the forest environment. It is interesting that rest of the world has many things to learn from them. Most forest peoples are indigenous minorities living in small, tightly knit communities - and they have much to teach the rest of the world about the natural environment they are integrated with. So we need to protect both the forest and forest people.
Indicator of planet's health
Natural forest cover is the true indicator of the health of the planet. Destruction of forests is resulting in polluting, destroying and degrading the environment. Forests are stores of biodiversity. Deforestation is the major cause of bio-species extinction. Forest can absorb gaseous emission. Leaves of tree can even reduce sound pollution! We almost always condemn fossil fuel burning solely for global warming. But the fact is that deforestation is equally responsible for the process. Trees of the forest can absorb CO2 and maintain a balance between O2 and CO2 in air. As we cut down more trees without planting new ones and ensuring their growth we are just paving the way of green house effect. Planned afforestation can ensure meeting demand of materials for production of commercial goods without harming the environment. Thus we can curb the situation of dependency on deadly synthetic materials. Massive forestation can retard the global warming.
Most of the living organisms inhabit in the natural forests all over the world. Biodiversity, the measurement of richness of life on the earth surface is at stake due to shrinking natural forests all over the globe. The United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) identified ten spots around world where forests are in acute crisis.
Finally, what will you call a forest? Is it paradise on the earth or esteemed habitat of Homo sapiens, their relatives and ancestors? But the forests all over the globe are shrinking due to explosion of human population and people's bourgeois mentality to it make money and enjoy! Already at least half of the total forest cover of pre-industrialised earth is cleared. We should adore the forest more than the urban area because urban place is cemetery of forest and forest is our esteemed habitat. We must change our viewpoint to forest .They are the safeguard of mankind's existence and sustainability.
Md. Mahfujur Rahman studies environmental sciences at JU.