Forest areas are affected by wars as they are valuable strategic resources. Battlefield assets like towers, guard posts, army camps are made of wood as they can be easily maintained and can be easily pulled down should the need to shift these assets arise. More so the scorched earth policy is enacted should it become apparent that forests will fall under enemy hands.
This is done with regard to area and resource denial. Such was the case with the Dutch when the Japanese invaded their colony in Indonesia during World War II. The Dutch burned huge acres of forests in order to prevent them from falling into Japanese hands.
When they did, however, the Japanese set about recklessly exploiting the timber forests to fulfill their own war demands. This practice would severely impact the local ecology in a negative way for decades to come.
Answered by Vishal kumar | 1 year agoBetween 1880 and 1920 forests cover in the Indian subcontinent declined by 9.7 million hectares, from 108.6 million hectares to 98.9 million hectares. Discuss the role of the following factors in this decline:
Railways
Shipbuilding
Agricultural expansion
Commercial farming
Tea/Coffee plantations
Adivasis and other peasants users
What are the similarities between colonial management of the forests in Bastar and in Java?
Discuss how the changes in forest management in the colonial period affected the following groups of people:
Shifting cultivators
Nomadic and pastoralist communities
Firms trading in timber/forest produce
Plantation owners
Kings/British officials engaged in Shikhar (hunting)