3 Review(s)

The book, ‘Changing Land Uses – Shrinking Streams and Carbon Sinks’, attempts at providing an overview of the calamitous consequences of deforestation on the world climate. Deforestation worldwide has been lowering the carbon sequestration potential of forests and increasing the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. The planet is already warmer by 1.10 C with reference to the preindustrial era and we are facing frequent and destructive climatic catastrophes, namely, storms, sea surges, floods, droughts, etc. Several perennial streams have become seasonal owing to deforestation in the catchments. With special reference to Karnataka’s Western Ghats forests, the book carries several investigative stories highlighting how notified and un-notified forests have been plundered for a variety of reasons. Diverse land tenures in the Kodagu district of Karnataka and the administration’s failure to regulate the rights and privileges have resulted in the loss of tree cover. Natural forests in different land tenures have been allowed to be degraded for quid pro quo. In addition, forests have been diverted for many developmental projects such as the widening of roads, construction of reservoirs for power and irrigation, the transmission of power, establishment of rail connectivity, etc. leading to changing land use, the disappearance of perennial streams, and loss of carbon sinks. It is high time that states acted in conserving natural forests irrespective of the ownership, and the country as a whole must grow trees over 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 as pledged in the Paris climate accord of 2015.