Landscape Fragmentation and Restoration Researches in India

Across the globe vast areas that in the past supported natural forests have either been deforested or have degraded. Data shows that nearly 30 percent of the world’s potential forest cover has been completely cleared and a further 20 percent has been degraded. But the silver lining is that still more than two billion hectares of deforested and degraded forest landscapes worldwide have the potential to be restored on sustainable basis. Land is one of the most precious natural resource on which all human activities are based. Changes in land use and land cover are therefore being increasingly recognized as critical factors influencing global change. While land cover and land use are often assumed to be identical they are rather quite different. Land cover may be defined as the biophysical earth surface while land use is often shaped by human socioeconomic and political influences on the land. Last few decades have witnessed enhanced pace of landscape alteration in India. Developmental activities as well as anthropogenic causes have fragmented natural landscapes leading to deteriorating bird and animal habitats and alterations of biodiversity.