Chandra Prakash Kala

By Manoj Kumar Jhariya, Arnab Banerjee and Chandra Prakash Kala

Part of the book: Forest Science and Ecosystem Sustainability

By Shobhana Ramteke, Arnab Banerjee, Manoj Kumar Jhariya, Chandra Prakash Kala, Manas Kanti Deb, Nirmal Netam, Annpurna Devi and Manish Kumar Mankur

Sustainability of the forest implies conservation, adaptation, the development of resilience, and the promotion of social equity among rural stakeholders. As the social, economic, and ecological dimensions are the three major pillars of sustainable development, addressing these issues is a challenging task in fulfilling the SDGs. Now that we are actually moving through the Anthropocene era, forests are facing multifaceted challenges that need to be dealt with in a holistic and integrated manner. There should be a transformation in thinking in terms of going beyond the ecological and economical perspective and outlook of the forest. The present chapter aims to address issues that go beyond the ecological and economical paradigm and understand the transformation in forest conservation approaches, along with exploring the socio-cultural and religious values of the forest ecosystem. The major outcome of the present chapter includes the realization of ethical, spiritual, traditional knowledge, and ecological wisdom perspectives of the forest as an important part of forest ecosystem sustainability, apart from the consideration of the forest as a commodity to be overexploited. This, in turn, would develop the resilience of the forest ecosystem from all perspectives. Resilience may be against changing climate, biodiversity loss, alteration in ecosystem structure and function, land use and land cover changes, etc. Such ways of transformation of recognizing the non-asset values of the forest would aid in enhancing the effectiveness of forest conservation in the era of globalization and a changing climate.

Part of the book: Forest Science and Ecosystem Sustainability