Once upon a forest

Sujata C

Forests are all things to all people. Deep, enchanted, and exotic, the very word gets the adrenalin pumping. But primarily, forests are the lungs of the planet and the Earth breathes through them, inhaling in winter and exhaling in summer. Forests are a nation’s wealth and a renewable natural resource that shelter and feed millions of living creatures. The forests of the world are rapidly receding due to severe socio-economic pressure and developmental process.

The alarming fact that worldwide one and a half acres of forest is lost every second makes a case for a project on forests for school children.

Help your students discover the many connections that lie between subjects on this project. Your subject map would look something like this.

The United Nations has acknowledged the importance of forests by designating March 21 as the International Day of Forests.

The study of composition, health, quality, and spread of forests is called Silviculture.

India’s forest cover accounts for 23.4 percent of its geographical area. The government has committed to increasing this to 33 percent. Urban forestry and agro forestry are used to integrate forests into human habitats.

India’s forests help sustain the livelihoods of over 200 million people and also serve as a major carbon sink.
Prepare pie charts to show the forest cover in the world.
Conduct a map quiz on the forests of the world.
How much CO₂ do the forests in the world absorb? Find out.
What is India’s carbon footprint? Older students can be familiarized with the concept of carbon handprint.
Find out names of organizations and institutes dedicated to forests and forest research nationally and internationally.

Van Aushadi – forest medicine – Forests serve as nature’s pharmacy and grow medicines for every human ailment. Kerala has been the hub of nature cure since centuries. Traditional healthcare systems are very popular in India and the Indian herbal industry is presently valued at Rs 4205 crores with the potential for doubling in size in the next decade.
Gather names of medicinal plants with places where they grow and locate these on a map. Explore you surrounding area to see how many medicinal plants grow there.

Secret life of forests: If the planet was a manufacturing company, forests would be its operations and maintenance department. There are several bio-geochemical cycles at work undertaking nature building activities that keep the planet ticking. The movement of elements like carbon, oxygen, phosphorous, nitrogen, and water through the Earth’s systems, demonstrates the cyclical nature of life.

The law of the jungle favours the survival of the fittest, but exciting research has thrown up proof that plants also help other plants survive in a jungle. In an ecosystem like a forest, plants of different types communicate with each other through a network of system quite like the Internet. They cooperate and collaborate in order to fight off pest attacks or help one another improve immunity.
Watch the movie Avataar.

Lessons in interdependence: Spending time in a forest teaches invaluable lessons in interdependence. The existence of bigger animals helps the survival of weaker, smaller creatures. To give an example, an elephant is a keystone species in the forest. It enables a mini ecosystem where frogs, turtles, crocodiles, rabbits, and deer can thrive. When an elephant moves it clears the path for the smaller animals. It uproots and breaks down branches of trees making way for sunlight to reach the forest floor. Smaller animals like deer and rabbit feed on the leaves of broken branches. Elephant dung disperses seeds. When an elephant walks, its weight digs up the earth and turns the soil over making valuable minerals in the soil available. In ponds, the elephant’s weight creates cavities in the ground through which water flows out and benefits other animals like crocodiles, turtles, frogs, etc.
Read up about other keystone species and their impact on the environment.

How Green is your religion: Pantheism is the concept that equates Nature with Divinity and is popular in different cultures of the world. Folk religions are based loosely on pantheism. Forest wealth takes on the form of a goddess in Hinduism – Vanalakshmi. One cultural practice is that of providing protection to a patch of forest by dedicating it to a deity. Such a forest area is called a Sacred Grove (Pavitra Vana) and has great ecological value as many rare plant species can be found in it. Sacred groves are found in almost every culture. Every ethnic group has its own way of engaging with the forest. Some of the ecological practices of the native folk have been adopted for in situ conservation by forest departments. Sacred groves also serve as cultural spaces for the community where many social gatherings and festivals are held.
Find out how forest festivals are celebrated in various cultures.

Find the geographical distribution of Scared Groves in the world.
Find out plants that are special and sacred in different religions.
Invite a grandparent to talk more about sacred groves and ancient forests.
Prepare a factsheet on sacred plants and trees of the Hindus.

Forest and astrology: Astrology is often shunned by the educated elite, but the belief of simple rural folk in it runs deep. There is a tree for every birth star and moon sign. There are many types of ancient Indian forests – Nakshtra vanam, raasi vanam, Saptarishi vanam, Nandana vanam – which are part of the Indian cultural heritage. Many state governments are reviving this age-old tradition of growing such niche forests in cities.
Locate and visit one such forest in your area.

Nature study in a forest will give students the opportunity to learn many things firsthand.
Conduct a session on forest survival skills before embarking on the trip.
Prepare a survival guide for a camp out in the forest.
List the items you would put together in a survival kit.
Bring a Swiss army knife to class, demonstrate its uses.
Learn to use a compass to navigate your way in a forest.
Identify the animal and bird sounds that you hear.
Make leaf prints, bark rubbing, leaf press
Get your class to pitch a tent.
Learn to tie some knots. Adventure enthusiasts say, there are at least 20 essential knots that every person must know to be able survive in the wild.

Tracking: The forest is a hidden world of wild animals. To track them down you need to be familiar with the footprints that animals leave behind.
Pugmarks indicate the presence of large and possibly dangerous animals in the region.

Introduce books that show a variety of feet of animals, birds, etc. Wet sand or clay can be used for children to make their own handprints, footprints, and those of pet animals and birds.
Have students collect seed pods, cones, leaves, twigs, etc., from the jungle outing.
Talking point: How would you dress for a jungle outing. Why?
Essay writing: Life on the forest floor.
What are the fruit trees that one would find in a forest?
Dress up as animals and act out animal stories.
Make a fairy home in the garden school or balcony.
In a small tray, create a miniature forest scene with toy animals, rocks, and plants.

Forest and communities: India has a mindboggling range of tribal communities. They are time-tested eco warriors, living in the lap of nature with a high Nature quotient compared to city dwellers. The food, the dress, and the shelter of tribals are determined by the ecosystem of their habitat. The relationship that exists between forest dwellers and plants has developed into a cross-disciplinary subject called ethno-botany.
Visit a tribal museum. Learn about the arts and crafts of different tribal communities.
Interact with tribal artists in your city or town.

Folk wisdom: Forest folks are banks of indigenous technical knowledge. They have built this knowledge base through observation and experience. For instance, they can tell the weather by interpreting animal and plant behaviour.

Explore tribal art.
Talking Point: Can tribal art give an opportunity for sustainable livelihoods?
Find out the names of well-known activists and NGOs that work for forest rights of indigenous communities.
Discuss: The coal block controversy, Chipko movement, Keonjhar forests takeover.

Deforestation: Sustainable forestry suggests that for every tree felled, four have to be planted. Many parts of the world suffer from smog due to illegal fires and excessive air pollution. The Asian Brown Cloud has been an annual feature over the Far East countries since the late 90s.

Deforestation is also giving rise to more incidents of man-animal conflicts. Prepare case studies of such episodes.
Read about the Forest Man from Assam – Jadav Peyang who replanted a forest that was washed away by floods.

Paper and cardboard industries usually face the heat from environmentalists and are under constant pressure to go green which means they have to maintain plantations to substitute the trees they fell.
Find out which company is making efforts at sustainable forestry. How much does the company Kleenex invest in social forestry?
Debate: Do we need virgin paper to make tissue or should we use recycled paper?
Document the recent forest fires in the world with reasons and extent of damage.

Forests and revolutions
Jharkhand is a forest land as its name suggests – Jhar means trees. Birsa Munda was born here nearly 150 years ago. His short life of 25 years still inspires many tribal forces.
Watch the film by Iqbal Durran: Gandhi se pehle Gandhi.

Komaram Bheem, a Gond tribal leader with a fighting spirit, lived in the times of the Nizam. Jal Jungle Jameen was the slogan given by him. He had no
formal education but defied the Nizam and fought for the rights of forest dwellers.
Read about his life.
Read: Mahasweta Devi’s historical fiction Aranyer Adhikar (The Right to Forest 1977).

Forest in literature: Forests are where stories happen. In literature a forest is often a place of enchantment and danger with talking trees and strange animals. But sometimes it also offers refuge. Magical forests are backdrops for tales told by C S Lewis and J K Rowling. Others like Norah Burke, Rudyard Kipling, Kenneth Anderson have told real world tales set in real world jungles. Read their books.

Forests in mythology: Whether it is Hindu, Norse, Roman, or Greek, forests are an integral part of every mythology.
Name the Nature deities of Greek mythology.
Name the forests mentioned in Ramayana.
Where did Pandavas spend the 12 years of their forest life?
Write a poem titled: Lost in the jungle
Storm in the forest – a short story

Forests and illegal activities
Forests in fairy tales were always depicted as places where violence lurks. Nothing different today – the hilly forests of Chattisgarh-Dantewada, Bastar are infested with Maoists and Naxalites. Find out why.

There are some 5700 kinds of endemic plants in India. This makes them attractive for smuggling. Red sandalwood grows naturally only in the Seshachalam Biosphere reserve in South India. A ton of red sanders costs Rs 20 lakhs in India but in the international market it will fetch Rs 50-80 lakhs. Similarly, rhino horn, elephant tusk, tiger claw, bear tooth, etc., also fetch handsome money in the black market, which leads to poaching these animals.
Gather names of some endemic plants in India.
Find out the uses of rhino horn, bear tooth, and tiger claws.
What measures are governments taking to curb poaching?

Forest and metaphysics
To wrap up your project throw light on the spiritual dimension of the forest. Forest sounds are very conducive to meditation. It is said that the clearest path to the divine goes through the wilderness of the forest. It is easy to draw parallels between today’s technology crazed world with an urban forest. But nothing new about that, sages from ancient days have compared the samsara with a magical forest where thorns often appear as flowers. Man of course, is the wildest animal that lives in this forest!

The author is a freelance writer based in Hyderabad. She can be reached at sujata117@gmail.com.