Forests keep the planet living and without them life on earth would not at all be a possibility. How many ever times this has been dinned into our heads, we are unable/ unwilling to see the truth of this statement and continue to live as before , making no efforts to follow an environment friendly way of life, even in situations where it is easy and definitely possible to do so. The city of Coimbatore is a gateway to the pristine Western Ghats and the city itself is surrounded on three sides by dense forests. However, rampant development around the suburbs of the city has led to elephant—man conflicts in many areas. Apart from this difficulty, the usual troubles of congestion, poor air quality, scarcity of water especially in the hot summer months and untreated industrial effluents finding its way into water bodies are the major troubles of Coimbatore, like in any other part of the nation.
How do forests provide us with water? Let us take the case of the Shoala grasslands in the Nilgiris district. The slopes of the lush grasslands in the upper Bhavani catchment areas act as sponges which absorb the copious rains that come in the monsoons. The water is held and released systematically downstream helping the river Bhavani get water all the days of the year. If these grasslands are tampered in any way, the soil will not be able to absorb and hold the water and it will result in flash floods downstream. Thus we can clearly see the intricate connection between the blue of the water and the green of the foliage. Blue and green go hand in hand and if the forests are destroyed or in way meddled with, then natural disasters will occur from time to time. The disaster in Uttarakhand is in a way manmade; the climatic changes caused the glacier to break in the state of Uttarakhand on February 7,2021, destroying a dam known as the Rishiganga Hydroelectric Project. The impact catapulted water along the Dhauliganga River, damaging another power project downstream in the Tapovan area. The torrents have caused loss of human life and led to unimaginable human misery.
Forests are the life support systems of every major metropolis around the world. They provide water from their reserves and dams all through the year. They maintain human life and it is the right time now to ensure that the world’s forests remain safe and untouched by humankind.
-Vanitha Mohan
