This document discusses natural resources like forests, wetlands, and sacred groves. It provides details on forests, describing how they have been globally deforested but remain an important natural resource. Forests provide wood and non-wood products, help control erosion, and maintain air and water quality. They are important ecosystems but have often been unsustainably harvested. The document outlines the ecological importance of forests in building soil, protecting watersheds, moderating climate, and supporting biodiversity.

1. ONLINE
ASSIGNMENT

2. TOPIC : NATURALRESOURCES-
FOREST,WETLAND,SACRED GROVES
SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

3. RESHMA THULASI T L CHANCHAL.M.PILLAI
ASST.PRO. IN NATURAL SCIENCE NATUTRAL SCIENCE
FMTC.MYLAPORE FMTC ,MYLAPORE
INDEX
SL.NO CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION

4. 2 FOREST
3 WET LANDS
4 SACRED GROVES
5 CONCLUSION
6 REFERENCES
Introduction
A natural resource is anything that people can use which comes from nature.
People do not makenatural resources, but gather them from the earth. Examples
of natural resources are air, water, wood, oil, wind energy, iron, and coal.
Refined oil and hydro-electric energy are not natural resources because people

5. make them. Natural Resources are all that exists without the actions of
humankind. This includes all natural characteristics such as magnetic,
gravitational,and electrical propertiesand forces. On earth weinclude sunlight,
atmosphere, water, land (includes all minerals) along with all vegetation and
animal life that naturally subsists upon or within the heretofore identified
characteristics and substances.[1][2][3][4]
Particularareas such as "The rainforest in Fatu-Hiva" are often characterized
by the biodiversity and geodiversity existent in their ecosystems. Natural
resources may be further classified in different ways. Natural resources are
materialsand components(something that can be used) that can be found within
the environment. Everyman-made product is composed of natural resources (at
its fundamentallevel). A natural resource may exist as a separate entity such as
fresh water, and air, as well asa living organism such as a fish, or it mayexist in
an alternate form which must be processed to obtain the resource such as metal
ores, mineral oil, and most forms of energy.
FOREST

6. The global area of forest of all kinds was about 8.4 billion acres (3.4 billion
hectares) in 1990, of which 4.3 billion acres (1.76 billion ha) was tropical forest
and the rest temperate and boreal forest. That global forest area is at least one-third
smaller than it was prior to extensive deforestation caused by human activities.
Most of the deforested land has been converted to permanent agricultural use, but
some has been ecologically degraded into semi-desert or desert. This global
deforestation, which is continuing apace, is one of the most serious aspects of the
environmental crisis.
Forests are an extremely important natural resourcethat can potentially be
sustainably harvested and managed to yield a diversity of commodities of
economic importance. Woodis by far the most important productharvested from
forests. The wood is commonly manufactured into paper, lumber, plywood, and
other products. In addition, in most of the forested regions of the less-developed
world firewood is the most important source of energyused for cooking and other
purposes. Potentially, all of these forest products canbe sustainably harvested.
Unfortunately, in most cases forests have been unsustainably overharvested,
resulting in the "mining" of the forest resource and widespread ecological
degradation. It is critical that in the future all forest harvesting is conducted in a
manner that is more responsible in terms of sustaining the resource.

7. Many other plant products can also be collected from forests, such as fruits, nuts,
mushrooms, and latex for manufacturing rubber. In addition, many species of
animals are hunted in forests, for recreation or for subsistence. Forests provide
additional goods and services that are important to both human welfare and to
ecologicalintegrity, including the control of erosion and water flows, and the
cleansing of air and water of pollutants. These are all important forest values,
although their importance is not necessarily assessed in terms of dollars. Moreover,
many of these values are provided especially well by old-growth forests, which in
general are not very compatible with industrial forestry practices. This is one of
the reasons why the conservationof old-growth forest is such a controversial topic
in many regions of North America and elsewhere. In any event, it is clear that
when forests are lost or degraded, so are these important goods and services that
they can provide.
FORESTS AND THEIR ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE
Wherever there is land and enough water, seeds will be transported and plants and
trees will start to grow. In time, if conditions are right, a forest will become
established. Almost all land in the tropics was originally covered by forest, as was
most land in the wetter parts of continents.
There are many different kinds of forest. The temperate and boreal forests of
colder lands may be quite simple in structure with a few common trees. They have
generally regenerated since the last ice ages. Warmer more tropical areas with
enough rainfall usually have rain forest with many kinds of trees, some very tall
and others shorter. Since these forests grow on the bestand most accessible land,
they are often cleared first for agriculture, villages or other uses. If there are
mountains, different kinds of forest with shorter trees and more undergrowth may
grow higher on the mountainside. Mountain tops and ridges that are kept wet by
the clouds may have a cloud forest with many mosses and other plants growing in
the trees. There can also be bamboo forest, swamp forests, and riverine forests
along river banks that are frequently flooded. In areas where the rainfall is
seasonal, there may be forests that lose their leaves in the dry season. A special
kind of atoll/beach forest occurs on atolls and on the coral rock and sand behind

8. beaches; it is made up largely of trees that have floating seeds or that are salt
resistant. Mangrove forests that grow in sea water are discussed in a separate unit.
Benefits of the forest
The forest brings many benefits to the land and its people. In many ways it is the
forest that made the land into a place where people can live.
The forest changes lifeless rock into a living ecosystem. Over thousands of years
the plants and animals of the forest establish themselves and build a living cover of
green. The forest grew slowly. A newly exposed area of land will first be colonized
by a few plants which were very strong and could live on bare rock. Slowly other
plants and animals followed. The forest which covers the land today may be
thousands of years old. You can cut down some trees and not hurt it at all. But if
you cut down too many trees all at once, you can destroy it.
The forest makes the soil. The soil on the land is the old broken-down rock mixed
with the dead plants of the forest and the many small animals and bacteria and
plants which live in the soil. Forests made most of the soil on the planet. When
garden soil becomes poorthe forest grows over the old garden and makes the soil
good again.
The forest protects the soil. It holds the soil with its roots. If the trees are cut down
and no gardens are planted the soil gets hard and dry and no good for gardens. If
heavy rains come and there are no trees, the soil gets muddy and washes away,
polluting streams, rivers and the sea. Then the soil is gone and gardens will not
grow on the hard rock.
The forest shelters the gardens. When strong winds and heavy rains come the trees
protect the gardens. Strong winds can hurt crops and dry out the soil. Near the
coast, salt spray can poisonthe soil or harm the crops without the shelter of trees.
The forest can also protect homes and villages from strong winds.
The forest holds water. The trees and the soil they make are full of water and they
store this water for times of no rain. The forest controls the flow of water over the
land. When heavy rains come the trees help trap the water in the soil. They hold
water in their branches, trunks, roots and leaves. When the land is dry the water
from the forest keeps the land green. Without the trees of the forest the land can
quickly becomedry and the crops may die.

9. The forest makes clouds and rain. When the wind blows over the land it moves
through the trees and the trees put water into the wind. When the wind goes
through the trees, the trees also put excess heat from the sun into the wind. The
heated, wet air then lifts up because hot air rises. When the hot, wet air hits the
cooler wind above the land, it becomes clouds. If you cut down the trees there may
be less rain and the land may dry up; people will then not have enough water to
drink or wash in and the crops will die.
The forest controls garden pests. Inside the forest many insects and birds and
animals live in a balanced system. When the balance is good, the life systems work
together and there are not too many of any kind of plant or animal or insect. Many
of these animals and insects eat garden pests and mosquitos. When the forest dies
the natural balance is lost and many of the good animals and insects disappear. In
this way mosquitos and diseases can increase and gardens can be attacked by pests
if the forest is cut.
The forest prevents fires. When the forest is dead the land becomes dry and can
quickly catch on fire and burn away all the life.
The forest provides wood for people to use in making homes, tools, boats, carvings
and fuel for cooking. If the forests are cut the people will have to import wood for
these needs at a costmany times the money they may now be paid for the same
wood.
The forest has many plants which may be of great economic value. Not just trees,
but foods, spices and medicines grow in the forest. Maybe some of the plants killed
during forest cutting are worth more than the trees. When they are killed and
thrown away or burned, the land may be losing plants with food or medicinal value
which can never be replaced. The medicinal plants and the plants used for many
generations by the local people for special purposes need the forest to survive.
The forest has some special trees of very great value, like ebony (black wood) and
sandal wood, nut trees and trees which are just right for making canoes or
foundations for houses or tools. While these trees are replaced naturally in the
forest, they are not replanted when the forest is cut because they grow too slowly.
Many trees and bushes valuable to the local people are considered rubbish by
commercial loggers and these are often killed when other trees are cut.
The forest is the heritage of the local people. Treated with love and respect it will
last forever and supply the people's needs. Many people have sacred ties to the

10. trees and the forest that are part of their traditional cultures, and are still important
to them today.
The problem of non-sustainable use
Since a healthy forest is able to renew itself, it should be possible to harvest from a
forest indefinitely, in a way that can be sustained. Unfortunately today this is rarely
done. The forest is mined rather than harvested. People are cutting down the forest
so quickly that in a short time it will be gone from many areas. They cut down the
trees for many reasons. In the past, the trees were cut down to clear the land for
gardens. With modern large-scale agriculture, the forests are being cleared faster
than ever. Trees are also cut down to provide fire wood for village people. As the
number of people increases, the forests vanish faster and faster.
But perhaps the worst problem for many forests is the timber industry. Trees can
easily be sold for money to be exported to other countries. As long as the trees
were just being cut for local use, the demand for wood was limited to what the
local people needed and could use. Most forests grew fast enough to supply these
local needs, but the export market can never be satisfied. Timber companies can
easily and quickly strip the land of its forests and still supply only a small fraction
of the world's desire for wood.
Thus a forest resource which should be able to supply local people's needs forever
if carefully managed is rapidly being destroyed. The most immediate and
dangerous threat to forests is the open and limitless desire of the export market
which can never be filled. Modern forestry equipment is very rapid and efficient,
and many countries have already sold most of their forests to timber companies for
the export market. Clearing the forest for large scale agriculture or to make pasture
for livestock is the second most dangerous threat. Clearing the forest for gardens
and firewood is also a major danger where the local population is growing quickly.
The threats to the forest from agriculture and the growing numbers of people
require careful land management programmes, and this need is already recognized
by most governments.
Consequences of forest loss
It should be clear from the many benefits of the forest that its destruction can have
a serious effect on local resources. The quality of the soil, one of the most basic
resources, will tend to decline, and this loss of soil structure and plant foods will
mean that agriculture will produceless. There will tend to be floods after heavy

11. rains as the water runs of the land faster, and droughts will be more frequent as
rivers dry up and the water table drops during dry periods. Storm damage by wind
and waves will also increase. There are also the genetic resources of the unique
kinds and varieties of plants and animals which depend on the forest for their
survival. The loss of the forest means the loss of these resources which can never
be replaced.
The development of forest land often brings progress in the short term. It is only
after several years that the bad effects may becomeapparent. In areas where there
is a lot of forest, obviously some can be developed wisely without creating major
problems. As an increasing proportionof the forest is lost, the effects will become
more severe. Since the most vulnerable areas are often developed last, it is the loss
of these last forest remnants that may be the most catastrophic for a country.
Sustainable use of forests
In countries where all natural resources are limited, it is important to make full use
of those resources that are present, but in ways that do not damage their ability to
keep producing on into the future. Since forests are important in many different
ways, they can only be managed wisely if all the different factors are considered
together. In many places a forest is seen only as a source of wood;however its role
in soil protection and water supply regulation may be just as important. If several
basic principles are followed, it is usually possible to draw many kinds of benefits
from forest areas, but this requires a good knowledge of the forest and its limits,
and careful observation of the effects of any use or change on the way the forest
works. Since forest trees may live to be hundreds of years old, some effects, such
as on the kinds of trees that make up the forest, may only appear very slowly. It is
always wise to leave some areas undisturbed as a protection against the total loss
of some valuable forest resource.
The first principle for sustainable use is that any harvesting of forest resources
must remain within the limits of what the forest can replace. Some trees can be cut,
but enough should be left behind to re-establish the same species. If only one kind
of tree is being taken, it may be replaced in the forest by other less desirable
species unless special efforts are made to ensure that young trees of the same
species can grow back again. The same principle of moderation applies to the
percentage of forest area disturbed at any one time. Enough undisturbed forest
should always remain to shelter wildlife and wild plant species and to allow them
to repopulate forest that is growing back after being disturbed. Too often the

12. economic pressures for rapid development go against respect of this principle, and
the forest is destroyed or degraded.
The forest should always be left intact in vulnerable places such as on steep slopes,
along stream banks and on shorelines where its importance in protecting against
erosion outweighs any other value. Examples all through the world show that the
costof repairing the damage done far outweighs any benefit from developing these
forest areas.
Most forest areas can be developed for or serve several different uses at the same
time. A watershed essential for a village water supply can also protectwildlife and
be a place to collect fruits and medicinal plants. A forest that is carefully and
selectively logged while preserving the cover of trees may continue to build and
protect the soil. Sites for tourism or recreation can be developed in a coastal forest
while protecting its importance in sheltering the interior from storms. What is
important is to know the different values of the forest and to be certain that the
uses chosenare compatible and that no essential function in threatened.
Where uses are not compatible, they can be planned for in different parts of the
forest. A village may decide to leave a block of forest close to the village to supply
firewood and wood for construction. Another part of the forest might be set aside
for hunting, while still another might be protected from hunting to allow the birds
or animals a place to reproduce.
A forest can also be used for agriculture as shown by recent approaches to
agroforestry. Many crops can be grown among or between trees, so the same area
of land can producebothfoods and tree products. This can be especially good on
sloping land where fields cleared for agriculture would be subject to erosion.
It is also possible to plant a forest specifically to producewood or other products.
Many countries have tree planting or reforestation programmes. Sometimes an area
is replanted with trees after logging. Land may also be planted to create a forest
again where it was destroyed long before. The trees that are planted may be fast-
growing imported species like eucalyptus or Caribbean pine, or other important
timber species. Usually only one kind of tree will be planted in an area. They are
almost always planted with the idea that they will be cut as a tree crop to pay for
the investment in planting them. The native trees that originally grew in the forest
are seldom replanted because they grow too slowly to give an economic return.
Such forest plantations may be an appropriate use for some lands, and they may
help to protect the soil and hold water, but they rarely work as well as the original

13. forest did, and some damage is always donewhen the trees are cut. They also do
not shelter as much wildlife or medicinal plants, nor are they as valuable for
tourism, recreation or protection from storms. Where such plantations are used to
restore land that has been damaged or degraded, they can make a valuable
contribution to local resources.
Forests must have an important place in the balanced development of any country
for the many reasons given in this unit. Even at the local level, land owners would
be wise to maintain the forest on appropriate parts of their land, or even to replant
forest trees where they have all been destroyed. Making or protecting a forest is not
necessarily something that will give a quick return, but it may well ensure a better
future for your children and their children.

14. WETLANDS
Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the
surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including
during the growing season. Water saturation (hydrology) largely determines how
the soil develops and the types of plant and animal communities living in and on
the soil. Wetlands may support both aquatic and terrestrial species. The prolonged
presence of water creates conditions that favor the growth of specially adapted
plants (hydrophytes) and promote the development of characteristic wetland
(hydric) soils.
Wetlands vary widely because of regional and local differences in soils,
topography, climate, hydrology, water chemistry, vegetation and other factors,
including human disturbance. Indeed, wetlands are found from the tundra to the
tropics and on every continent except Antarctica. Two general categories of
wetlands are recognized: coastal or tidal wetlands and inland or non-tidal wetlands.
Tidal wetlands in the United States, as their name suggests, are found along the
Atlantic, Pacific, Alaskan and Gulf coasts. They are closely linked to our nation's
estuaries where sea water mixes with fresh water to form an environment of
varying salinities. The salt water and the fluctuating water levels (due to tidal

15. action) combine to create a rather difficult environment for most plants.
Consequently, many shallow coastal areas are unvegetated mud flats or sand flats.
Some plants, however, have successfully adapted to this environment. Certain
grasses and grasslike plants that adapt to the saline conditions form the tidal salt
marshes that are found along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts. Mangrove
swamps, with salt-loving shrubs or trees, are common in tropical climates, such as
in southern Florida and Puerto Rico. Some tidal freshwater wetlands form beyond
the upper edges of tidal salt marshes where the influence of salt water ends.
Non-Tidal wetlands are most common on floodplains along rivers and streams
(riparian wetlands), in isolated depressions surrounded by dry land (for example,
playas, basins and "potholes"), along the margins of lakes and ponds, and in other
low-lying areas where the groundwater intercepts the soil surface or where
precipitation sufficiently saturates the soil (vernal pools and bogs). Inland wetlands
include marshes and wet meadows dominated by herbaceous plants, swamps
dominated by shrubs, and wooded swamps dominated by trees.
Many of these wetlands are seasonal (they are dry one or more seasons every year),
and, particularly in the arid and semiarid West, may be wet only periodically. The
quantity of water present and the timing of its presence in part determine the
functions of a wetland and its role in the environment. Even wetlands that appear
dry at times for significant parts of the year -- such as vernal pools-- often provide
critical habitat for wildlife adapted to breeding exclusively in these areas.
ECOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE
Wetlands provide significant economic, social and cultural benefits. They are
important for primary products suchas pastures, timber and fish and support
recreational and tourist activities. Wetlands also help reduce the impacts from
storm damage and flooding, maintain good water quality in rivers, recharge

16. groundwater, store carbon, help stabilise climatic conditions and control pests.
They are also important sites for biodiversity.
Agriculture, forestry and tourism
Wetlands supportagricultural activities by providing a source of water for
irrigation and livestock and for domestic consumption. Pastures on inland
floodplain wetlands are more productive than those in adjacent areas.
Wetlands also supportsustainable forestry: for example, some river red gum
forests have been harvested for over 150 years. Wetlands supportnursery areas for
juveniles of commercially valuable fish species.
Many coastal and inland wetlands are popular locations for tourism and
recreational activities such as swimming, boating, fishing, camping and
birdwatching.
Wetland on private land, Macquarie Marshes. Photo: B Leahy, OEH
Water quality, flooding and pests
Wetlands improve water quality by trapping sediments, filtering out pollutants and
absorbing nutrients that would otherwise result in poorwater quality for
downstream users. They may also be linked to groundwater resources.
Wetlands reduce the risk of flooding by slowing down the movement of
floodwaters along rivers and releasing water over time. River systems with intact
wetlands in their headwaters have more consistent flows than rivers where the
catchment and its wetlands have been largely cleared. Wetlands, such as hanging
swamps in the Blue Mountains, are important for providing fresh water to large
urban areas such as Sydney, especially in times of low rainfall.

17. Wetlands provide habitat for birds, which can play an important role in helping to
control pests on nearby farms. Flocks of white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) and
straw-necked ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis) frequently forage for grasshoppers and
other leaf-eating insects in crops suchas lucerne. As each bird can consume up to
25% of its bodyweight in grasshoppers in one day, they are often called 'farmer's
friends'. This means that there is less need for costly and polluting chemical
spraying to control insect pests.
Carbon sequestration
Wetlands cover about 9% of the earth’s surface and are estimated to contain
around 35% of global terrestrial carbon. Wetlands act as sinks for carbondioxide
and other greenhouse gases, especially if their vegetation is protected and their
natural processesare maintained.
Coastal wetlands, such as saltmarsh and mangroves, are likely to have the highest
rates of greenhouse gas sequestration, and the drainage of melaleuca and mangrove
forest wetlands in Australia would turn them from carbonsinks into carbon
sources. Saltmarsh can bury an average 1.51 tonnes of organic carbonper hectare
per year and mangroves an average 1.39 tonnes . These rates are several times
higher than the rate of carbon burial calculated for the Amazonian forests, an
important global carbonsink. This highlights the importance of protecting intact
wetlands in helping to limit the impacts of climate change.

18. Aboriginal cultural significance
Wetlands are of high cultural significance to Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people
in NSW recognise the cultural values of biodiversity and the environment, and
wetlands provide a connection to Country for Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal cultural values of wetlands are related to both the long history of
Aboriginal interaction with wetlands and the interests and aspirations of
contemporary Aboriginal communities that have a custodial relationship with those
areas. Aboriginal people are interested in identifying and protecting the cultural
values of wetlands by:
 protecting Country through cultural flows of environmental water and
managing Aboriginal cultural heritage sites
 gaining access to Country for cultural activities
 participating in managing wetlands.
The Werai Forests are an example of the contemporary significance of wetlands to
Aboriginal people. They are being managed by the Office of Environment and
Heritage (OEH) cooperatively with the Wemba Wemba and Barapa Barapa
Aboriginal Nations while negotiations are conducted for eventual transfer of the
land to the Aboriginal Nations. If the Aboriginal Nations agree, the lands are
intended to be managed as an Indigenous Protected Area under Aboriginal
ownership.
Historical significance
Wetlands have historical and social significance because of their contribution to
the development of inland regions. Before the construction of railways and roads,
wetlands along rivers such as the Murray, Murrumbidgee and Darling were used as
transport routes for delivering agricultural products suchas wool to markets. River
red gums in the Murray River’s Barmah and Millewa forests have been harvested
since the early 1800s, providing timber for buildings, bridges and railway sleepers,
and fuel for paddle steamers in earlier times. Many towns along the Murray now
celebrate their river and wetland heritage, and provide facilities for tourism and
recreation.

19. Science and education
Wetlands provide important locations for scientific research and play an important
role in educating people about biodiversity and natural processesin NSW. OEH
and educational institutions conductresearch into the ecological responseof river
flows, flooding and environmental watering of wetlands, and the responseof plants
and animals such as colonial nesting waterbirds, to environmental watering.
Wetlands are used by schools, universities and the public to learn about the
ecological importance of wetlands and the other benefits and services they provide
to the community. Wetland education centres are located in the lower Hunter near
Newcastle, Bicentennial Park in Sydney, the Wonga Wetlands on the Murray River
in Albury, and on Narrabeen Lakes in Sydney.
Plants and animals
NSW wetlands are home to many special plants, birds, fish and frogs. Wetlands
provide essential habitat for rare or important species such as the endangered
southern bell frog and freckled duck, and the Murray cod. They are an important
stopoverfor many migratory birds and feature one of Australia’s most iconic
trees, the river red gum (Eucalyptuscamaldulensis).
Many species rely on the regular flooding cycles of wetlands (such as those on
inland floodplains) to reproduce. Some plants and animals live only in particular
types of wetlands, for example, in mangroves, saltmarshes, hanging swamps or
sphagnum bogs.

20. Sacred groves
Sacred Grove – A fine example of community based nature conservation without
any external support. Sacred groves are age-old traditional nature conservation
practices adopted by the communities all over the world. The tradition of
protecting Peepal, Gular and Bargad trees is found in many states of India. People
do not harm sacred groves mainly because of socio-religious traditions and fear of
the deity, believing that who soever harms sacred grove may be harmed by the
presiding deity. Resources that are traditionally obtained from flora and fauna
located in sacred groves include fodder, fruits, dry fallen wood, seeds, soil
fertilizer and ayurvedic and general medicines.
The sacred groves have been preserved over generations in India. The concept of
sacred groves in India has its roots in antiquity, even before the Vedic age. Vedic
peoples of pre-historic times assimilated new environmental values incorporating
into their value system, the concept of the “sacred grove‟ from the original
inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent. Being part of the post-Vedic Hindu
ritualism, sacredness attached to species is perhaps more recent.

21. There is vast diversity among India’s sacred groves. Some contain only a few trees,
while others are hundreds of acres in size. Sometimes groves overlap with larger
forested areas, while others exist as islands in open plains or desert. Even their
names vary from region to region. Most sacred groves in India are associated with
the almost 39,000 endogenous groups within the Hindu caste system and other
major religions such as Buddhism and Islam, along with other religious
communities and traditional tribal groups. In many groves, villagers perform
annual rituals and ceremonies to appease the presiding deity and ensure the well-
being of the community. In some groves all forms of resource extraction are
strictly prohibited, while in others people may collect material such as fallen
branches and leaves from the forest floor or fruits from the trees. The Western
Ghats – a mountain range that runs along India’s west coast, through the states of
Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala – is one of the world’s
biodiversity “hotspots”. Its ecosystems include tropical wet forest, mountain
evergreens, moist deciduous forest and scrub grassland.

22. Significance of Sacred Groves in Conservation of
Biodiversity
Patches of vegetation protected on the basis of religious faith are called sacred
groves. Apart from India, they occur in other parts of Asia, Africa, Europe,
America and Australia. In India, sacred groves are mainly distributed in the states
of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala,
Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand,
West Bengal and the Union Territory of Puducherry. Their ecological, biological,
cultural and historical values are invaluable. According to the National
Environment Policy of India, ancient sacred groves should be treated as possessing
“Incomparable Values”. Many valuable medicinal plants and wild relatives of
cultivated species are present in the groves which may have definite role to play in
the future species improvement programmes.

23. It is estimated that the total number of sacred groves in India is likely to be
between 100,000 and 150,000. However, very less number of them are
enumerated, documented and studied. Sacred groves are known by different names
in different regions as Than or Madaico in Assam, Matagudi, Devgudi or Sarana
in Chattisgarah, Dev Van in Himachal Pradesh, Jaherthan or Sarana in Jharkhand,
Devarakaadu or Kans in Karnataka, Kaavu in Kerala, Devrai or Devgudi in
Maharashtra, Umang Lai in Manipur, Law Kyntang or Law Niam in Meghalaya,
Jahera or Thakuramma in Orissa, Orans in Rajasthan, Kovilkaadu in Tamil Nadu,
Bugyal or Dev Van in Uttarakhand and Garamthan or Jahiristhan in West Bengal.
They may vary in size from a few trees to dense forests covering extensive tracts of
land. Though there are many references to the sacred groves and sacred trees of
India in early literature, the scientific study of them was initiated by Gadgil and
Vartak.
Presence of wild cultivars of crop plants like turmeric, ginger, rice, pepper, nutmeg
etc. which have better pest resistance and productivity has been documented from
the sacred groves. A new genus and species of climbing legume, Kunstleria
keralensis was identified from a sacred grove in Kerala. Many tree species of
importance have been rediscovered from sacred groves. The role of sacred groves
which function as resource forests, offering both livelihood sustenance and
ecological security is also of considerable importance. Such larger groves are
present in many states in India.
Changes in religious beliefs, socio-economic scenario, increasing human
population uncontrolled inflow of visitors, soil excavation works and other
developmental pressures have resulted in deterioration of many sacred groves in
the recent past. Invasion of exotic weeds is also a major threat. We all should
understand the importance of the sacred groves and join hands to avoid further
deterioration to these invaluable resource pockets of biodiversity.

24. CONCLUSION
Natural resources are those things that exist naturally within the environment and
subsist relatively undisturbed in a normal and natural form. The world is blessed
with diverse natural resources wealth that has helped mankind meet their daily
needs for food, shelter, clothing, medicine and other important chemical elements
that are vital for making useful products. Uplifting the life standards of human
beings depend wholly on the wise use of the available natural resources .The
primary natural resources include air, sun, forests, wetland, water, minerals,
wildlife, and sacredgroves. Natural resources protection or conservation involves
employing and adopting environmental protection techniques that will prohibit
further destruction or unwise use of our natural resources. n conclusion,
conservation of natural resources is something that should be undertaken with
serious consideration. In order to create a favorable environment for future
economic growth in the world, we should develop strategies that promote more
conservation than exploitation. On a wider view of this matter, there should be in
place programs that regulate human population growth to ease pressure on the few
remaining natural resources. Sustainable proper use of the existing natural resource
should be encouraged by all governments to give room for both economical growth
and environmental conservation
REFERENCES
 conservation of natural resources including forestry wetland sacred groves - Google
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checked and corrected by
RESHMA THULASI T L
Asst.professor in Natural Science

25. F M T C Mylapore