Rejimon Penakkattil Mathai

Deforestation in Kerala: Socio Economic Impact of Deforestation on the Tribal Population Rejimon Penakkattil Mathai

Human-environment relations are confronted with major problems due to degradation of forests. Local communities mainly the Tribals are usually the most immediate and the adversely affected by such degradation. Millions of people live inside or in the periphery of forestland depending on its resources for their subsistence. Of these, the tribals are the numerically dominant group. With the degradation of forests,life of these local communities has deteriorated as the socio-economicand cultural systems of these people are interlinked with the ecology of the forest.