Forests have a tremendous importance to the humans. They constitute important components of our environment. Forests are important renewable natural resource. Forest ecosystem is dominated by trees, the species varying in different parts of the world. Forests are intimately linked with our culture and civilization. They contribute significantly to the economic development of our country.
The chief products which forests supply is wood which is used as fuel raw materials, new materials for various industries as pulp, paper, board, plywood, timber for furniture items. They also produce minor forest products like canes, gum, resins, dyes, tannins lac, fish etc.
Forests shape natural environment by influencing factors such as temperature, humidity and precipitation. In addition forests also shape the soil environment by affecting its composition, structure, chemical properties water contents and play an important role in geochemical cycles of water, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sculpture and a number of other elements.
Forests influence flood conditions by intercepting surface run-off infiltration, evaporation, and most importantly provide suitable habitats for a number of important plant and animal species and this help in maintaining a broad genetic base from which future strains of species could be developed. Forests also have aesthetic and tourist values.
Forest resources play an important role in the development of regions, states and nations. These resources are subject to changes because of variations in their growth, harvest and land use conversions. Changing of forest resources can significantly influence the environment on which future performance of these resources depends. Ultimately the economics or the states and positively or negatively affected. It is a established fact that forest resources are environment both are interrelated in such a way that they cannot be separated from each other.
Excessive harvesting of forest resources affects the environment of the forest, which leads to the changes in climate, or other elements of the environment. Rapid increase in the deforestation and fossil fuel combustion has been considered to affect largely the forest resources. The major issues of global warming, acid rains and other forms of atmospheric pollution have become the target problems of the global level for it mere survival of the living beings.