Introduction

Forests are vital, providing resources like paper, timber, spices, and medicinal herbs. In the Amazon and Western Ghats, a single forest patch can host 500 plant species. However, between 1700 and 1995, 13.9 million sq km of forests (9.3% of the world’s total) were cleared for industrial use, cultivation, pastures, and fuelwood. This chapter explores how colonial policies transformed forest societies in India and Indonesia, impacting forest dwellers and their economies.

1. Why Deforestation?

Deforestation, the disappearance of forests, intensified under colonial rule due to systematic exploitation. From 1600 to now, India’s cultivated land increased from one-sixth to half its landmass, driven by population growth and colonial demands.

1.1 Land to be Improved

• The British promoted commercial crops (jute, sugar, wheat, cotton) to feed Europe’s urban population and industries, expanding cultivation by 6.7 million hectares between 1880 and 1920.
• Forests were seen as unproductive wilderness, cleared for revenue-generating agriculture, ignoring inhabited lands like those of Australia’s aboriginal communities.

1.2 Sleepers on the Tracks

• The Royal Navy needed timber for ships, leading to massive felling in India by the 1820s.
• Railways, vital for trade and troops, required 1,760–2,000 sleepers per mile. By 1890, India had 25,500 km of tracks, and by 1946, 765,000 km, felling thousands of trees annually (e.g., 35,000 in Madras Presidency in the 1850s).
• Contractors cut trees indiscriminately, causing rapid forest depletion.

1.3 Plantations

• Natural forests were cleared for tea, coffee, and rubber plantations to meet Europe’s demand, with vast areas given to European planters at low rates.

2. The Rise of Commercial Forestry

The British, alarmed by reckless felling, appointed Dietrich Brandis as the first Inspector General of Forests in India, introducing scientific forestry.

• Brandis established the Indian Forest Service (1864) and formulated the Indian Forest Act (1865, amended 1878, 1927).
• The Imperial Forest Research Institute was set up in Dehradun (1906).
• Scientific forestry replaced diverse forests with single-species plantations (e.g., teak, sal) in straight rows, cutting old trees and replanting systematically.
• Forests were categorized: reserved (no villager access), protected, and village forests (limited access).

2.1 How Were the Lives of People Affected?

• Villagers needed diverse forests for fuel, fodder, and fruits, but the forest department prioritized teak and sal for ships and railways.
• Forest products like mahua (for food, oil, alcohol), tendu leaves, and bamboo were vital for villagers’ survival.
• The Forest Act made everyday practices (wood-cutting, grazing, collecting produce) illegal, forcing villagers to steal or bribe forest guards.

2.2 How Did Forest Rules Affect Cultivation?

• Shifting cultivation (e.g., dhya, jhum, podu) was banned as it hindered timber production and tax collection.
• Communities were displaced, some forced to change occupations, others resisted through rebellions.

2.3 Who Could Hunt?

• Forest laws prohibited traditional hunting by villagers, punishing them for poaching.
• Colonial elites hunted big game (e.g., 80,000 tigers, 150,000 leopards killed from 1875–1925), viewing it as a civilizing act, until conservation efforts began later.

2.4 New Trades, New Employments, and New Services

• Some communities, like the Mundurucu in Brazil and Banjaras in India, shifted to trading forest products (e.g., rubber, ivory).
• British regulations restricted grazing and hunting, labeling groups like the Korava as “criminal tribes,” forcing them into low-wage plantation work.
• Plantation workers (e.g., Santhals, Oraons, Gonds) faced poor wages and harsh conditions.

3. Rebellion in the Forest

Forest communities rebelled against colonial restrictions, with notable uprisings led by figures like Siddhu and Kanu, Birsa Munda, and Alluri Sitarama Raju.

3.1 The People of Bastar

• Bastar (Chhattisgarh) hosts tribes like Maria, Muria Gonds, Dhurwas, and Halbas, who revere the Earth and protect village forests, paying fees like dessari for external resource use.
• Villages engaged watchmen and held annual hunts to discuss forest issues.

3.2 The Fears of the People

• In 1905, the British proposed reserving two-thirds of Bastar’s forests, banning shifting cultivation, hunting, and produce collection.
• Forest villages provided free labor to the forest department, while others were displaced without compensation.
• Famines (1899–1900, 1907–1908) and increased rents fueled discontent.
• The 1910 Bastar Rebellion, led by Gunda Dhur, involved looting bazaars and attacking colonial symbols. The British suppressed it after three months, but reservation was halved.

4. Forest Transformations in Java

Java, once forest-covered, became a rice-producing island under Dutch colonial rule, with forest management similar to India’s.

4.1 The Woodcutters of Java

• The Kalangs were skilled forest cutters and shifting cultivators, vital for teak harvesting. In 1770, they resisted Dutch control by attacking a fort.

4.2 Dutch Scientific Forestry

• Dutch laws restricted forest access, allowing wood-cutting only under supervision.
• The blandongdiensten system exempted villages from rent in exchange for free labor and timber transport.
• In 1882, Java exported 280,000 sleepers.

4.3 Samin’s Challenge

• Surontiko Samin (1890s) challenged state forest ownership, leading a movement of 3,000 families by 1907, who resisted surveys and taxes.

4.4 War and Deforestation

• During World Wars, forests were heavily exploited; the Dutch used a scorched earth policy, and the Japanese forced villagers to cut trees.
• Post-war, villagers expanded cultivation, clashing with forest departments.

4.5 New Developments in Forestry

• Since the 1980s, conservation has prioritized involving local communities.
• In India, sacred groves (sarnas, kan) and village patrols have preserved forests.

5. Activities and Questions

5.1 Activities

• Calculate trees needed for one mile of railway track (1,760–2,000 sleepers, 3–5 sleepers per tree).
• As the Government of India in 1862, propose steps to supply railway sleepers and fuel.
• Investigate changes in local forest areas and their causes.
• Write a dialogue between a colonial forester and an adivasi on hunting.

5.2 Questions

• Discuss how colonial forest management affected shifting cultivators, nomadic pastoralists, timber traders, plantation owners, and hunters.
• Compare colonial forest management in Bastar and Java.
• Explain the role of railways, shipbuilding, agricultural expansion, commercial farming, plantations, and adivasi users in the decline of forest cover (1880–1920).
• Why are forests affected by wars?