Forests are essential for life on Earth, producing oxygen and helping regulate balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere, forests are known as the “lungs of the Earth”, so why only desperate about man-eaters, liquor and self-lungs! For many local and indigenous people, forests are also homes, hunting grounds, and traditional cultural and ceremonial spaces. They have been caring for forests for countless generations because doing so ensured their survival and the preservation of their societies, with lower deforestation rates and wild fires, greater biodiversity, improved livelihoods, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Indigenous land rights is crucial to stopping deforestation, but governments and corporations deliberately fails.
SpaceX will offer satellite-based WiFi service on flights soon.. it will make sitting on a plane pretty much like being on the ground when it comes to browsing the internet, streaming entertainment and playing games or investments. It will let common GenXYZ passengers without access to pro-apps, drones or UAV to get internet even over oceans, forests and polar regions where traditional cell or Wi-Fi signals may be weak or missing. Ease of first hand Geo-mapping and remote chopping your favorite natural patches underneath to instantly shine that capital portfolio.
Spectacular state-led land grabs appear to have now been replaced by silent, often small and incremental forms of expropriation, where capital extends its frontier for either expanding agricultural estates, conservation areas, green mining, carbon investments and energy projects. Too often these amount to little more than greenwashing. From companies securing vast tracts of land through state-led deals to now new local elites in collaboration with diverse forms of capital often at the centre of grabs fuelled by financialisation and digital mapping. Land is so central to people’s lives, it cannot be reduced to a simple commodity, plans on food sovereignty and environmental care must emerge from below, from local communities.
Visit outskirts of any big city for raw analysis of its landscape for few years, the real secrets of expansion via land grabbing lies there, draw the local dots leading to all the messiahs: babu, goon, bhakt and neta cats! Not only Uttarakhand, every खण्ड is losing many hectares of forest every month (An Old Odia Saying fits here: ବସି ଖାଏଲେ ନଇ ବାଲି ସରେ)! Some reports estimate 2000+ hectares of forestland have been destroyed in recent years in this one khand only. Officers of survey only repeat the well-known facts / data like 65% (13,385 sq mi) of the hilly Devbhumi is covered by forest, but the speed at which we are losing forest cover will affect lives here and everywhere, drastically!
Between 2002-23, this state alone lost hundreds of hectares of humid primary forest and tree cover. Three districts in Uttarakhand – Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar – have experienced negative growth in forest cover. Many known and unknown reasons why forests and water bodies are dried, flooded, burnt and vanishing. Bottom-line: Apart from some technical and climatic reasons, it is deliberate chopping and raping nature to benefit land cronies and profiteers (लाभार्थी), brainwashed fools may climb hills to browse some smarties’ fancy bi-annual reports, विकसित development stories or committee findings…
Killing the Land Stewardship! Increasing forest fire risk has widespread implications for humans, ecosystems and the global carbon cycle. There may not be any officially recorded evidence, but sometimes wildfires can be intentionally set – as part of smart land grab missions. Constant threats from companies seeking to log and develop lands, they frequently suffer violence, intimidation, and criminalization when they defend their lands. In 2012-21, the total number of environmental defenders killed was 2000+ .. in 2021 alone, 200+ land defenders were murdered across the globe. Indigenous resistance has stopped many pipelines, mines, dams, roads, rails, and deforestation. They stands rock solid challenging and resisting corporate, political and capital power, since thousands of years and so supporting these front-line communities is essential. By gaining legal rights to their land, they can protect and manage it, preserving culture and safeguarding biodiversity.