Intact forest landscape

Why in news?

• A new study has found that Just 3% of Earth’s land ecosystems remain intact.

About Intact forest landscape:

• An intact forest landscape (IFL) is an unbroken natural landscape of a forest ecosystem and its habitat–plant community components, in an extant forest zone.
• An IFL is a natural environment with no signs of significant human activity or habitat fragmentation, and of sufficient size to contain, support, and maintain the complex of indigenous biodiversity of viable populations of a wide range of genera and species, and their ecological effects.
• IFLs are estimated to cover 23 percent of forest ecosystems (13.1 million km2). Two biomes hold almost all of these IFLs: dense tropical and subtropical forests (45 percent) and boreal forests (44 percent).
• The proportion of IFLs in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests is very small.
• IFLs remain in 66 of the 149 countries that could potentially have them.
• Three of these countries, Canada, Russia, and Brazil, contain 64 percent of the total IFL area in the world.

Prelims Question

Consider the following statements regarding the Intact forests:
1.The term refers to forests with no signs of significant human activity.
2.India accounts for nearly a quarter of global intact forest area.
Choose the correct statements from the codes given below:
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to Prelims question