What is the importance of natural vegetation in points?

Natural vegetation shelters and feeds wildlife, releases oxygen, stores carbon and protects soil from erosion. It also helps rainwater sink into the ground, reduces floods and landslides, and keeps soil fertile. People get timber, fuel, fodder, fruits, gum, medicines and paper from it, and many tribal families depend on forests for their whole living.

How are natural vegetation and wildlife related?

Wildlife depends on natural vegetation for food, shelter and breeding places. In return, animals pollinate flowers, spread seeds and recycle dead matter, which keeps the plants healthy. If the vegetation of an area is destroyed, most of its animals disappear too, so the two are always protected together.

How does natural vegetation prevent soil erosion?

Leaves and branches break the force of falling rain, so drops do not hit bare soil directly. Roots bind soil particles together, and fallen leaves form a protective layer on the ground. Plants also slow down wind and running water, which are the two main agents that carry topsoil away.

What percentage of India is under forest cover?

According to the India State of Forest Report 2023, forest cover is 21.76% of India's geographical area. When tree cover outside forests is added, the total rises to 25.17%. NCERT says the forest policy aimed at 33 per cent of the geographical area under forest cover, so a clear gap remains.

Importance of Natural Vegetation: 10 Reasons It Matters

Q: Why do we need to conserve our natural vegetation?

We must conserve natural vegetation because it is being cleared faster than it can recover. Losing it destroys wildlife habitats, washes away fertile soil, dries up groundwater and adds carbon to the air. NCERT also calls the conservation of plants and animals an ethical duty of every citizen.

The importance of natural vegetation lies in what it does for every living thing. Wild plants feed and shelter animals, make oxygen, store carbon, hold soil, refill groundwater and soften floods. They also give people timber, food, fodder and medicines. Without natural vegetation, most land ecosystems would collapse.

Natural vegetation is plant life that grows by itself, without being sown or tended by people. Forests, grasslands, scrub and tundra are its main kinds. For the meaning, types and climate of each, start with our main guide to natural vegetation: types, importance and conservation. This article focuses on one question: why it matters so much.

Why is natural vegetation important? 10 reasons

The ten reasons below run from life and climate to products and livelihoods. Each makes a good exam point.

1. It gives wildlife food and a home

Every food chain on land begins with green plants. Plants trap sunlight and make food, and plant-eating animals live on that food. Meat-eaters then live on the plant-eaters.

Plants also provide shelter. Birds nest in trees, insects live under bark and deer hide in tall grass. National Geographic notes that in very cold tundra, the ground is often too cold for plants to root, and without plants, few animal species can survive. The richest habitats are the wettest forests. Tropical rainforests contain more than half of the world’s biodiversity.

2. It makes oxygen and stores carbon

During photosynthesis, plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. NCERT’s earlier Class 8 book, Resources and Development, lists producing “oxygen we breathe” among the main gifts of plants.

Plants also lock carbon away in wood, roots, fallen leaves and soil. This slows the build-up of carbon dioxide, a gas that warms the planet. National Geographic explains that large rainforests help regulate the global climate by storing carbon in their trees and soil.

India’s forests are a large carbon store. According to ISFR 2023, they held an estimated 7,285.5 million tonnes of carbon, up 81.5 million tonnes since the previous assessment. The report adds that soil organic carbon is the largest pool, at 55.06% of forest carbon.

3. It protects soil from erosion

Soil erosion means wind or running water carrying away the fertile topsoil. Bare soil is easily washed or blown away. Plant cover stops this in three ways.

Leaves break the force of raindrops before they strike the ground.
Roots grip soil particles and bind them together.
Fallen leaves and grasses form a mat that slows running water.

NCERT’s Class 8 book notes that plants protect the soils that are essential for growing crops. Deforestation and overgrazing are among the main causes of soil degradation it lists. Our guide to preventing soil erosion explains the methods farmers use.

4. It refills groundwater and feeds rivers

When rain falls on a forest, much of it soaks slowly into the soil instead of rushing away. NCERT’s earlier Class 8 book says forest and other vegetation cover slow surface runoff and replenish underground water. This keeps wells and springs flowing in the dry season.

Plants also return water to the air through transpiration, the loss of water vapour from leaves. National Geographic notes that tropical rainforests produce as much as 75% of their own rain through evaporation and transpiration. Clearing such forests can make a whole region drier.

5. It reduces floods, droughts and landslides

Vegetation acts like a sponge and an anchor. It soaks up heavy rain, so less water reaches rivers at once. Roots also hold slopes together. NCERT’s Class 8 book lists increasing vegetation cover as one way to arrest landslides.

6. It keeps soil fertile

Leaves, twigs and dead plants fall to the forest floor. Decomposers, mainly bacteria and fungi, break them down. This releases nutrients back into the soil for new plants to use. National Geographic describes millions of mushrooms and other fungi doing this work in rainforests. The dark, crumbly layer they leave is humus, which makes soil rich and helps it hold water.

7. It acts as a shelter belt against wind

Rows of trees and shrubs slow down strong winds. NCERT’s Class 8 book notes that plants act as shelter belts. Shelter belts protect crops, homes and soil from drying winds. NCERT’s Class 11 book links forest conservation to checking the extension of desert lands.

8. It gives us timber, fuel, fodder and paper

Natural vegetation is a storehouse of raw materials. NCERT’s Class 8 book lists timber and the paper “so essential for your studies” among the uses of plants. Rural families collect fuelwood and fodder for their cattle from forests and grasslands. National Geographic adds that grasslands are important for milk and dairy production, because cattle graze on them.

Bamboo is a good Indian example. Its canes are used for baskets, furniture and building. According to ISFR 2023, India’s bamboo bearing area is about 1,54,670 km².

9. It gives food, medicines and other forest products

Wild plants give fruits, nuts, honey, latex, gum, resins and turpentine oil. Many traditional medicines come from herbs, roots and bark. NCERT pictures Brahma Kamal as an example of a medicinal herb. Insects that live among wild plants also help farmers. Bees make honey and pollinate the flowers of many crops.

10. It supports livelihoods and culture

For many people, natural vegetation is not just a resource. It is their home. NCERT’s Class 11 book, India: Physical Environment, says that for a vast number of tribal people, the forest is a home, a livelihood and their very existence. Forests give them food, edible leaves, roots, honey and material to build houses and practise their arts.

Natural landscapes also support tourism, nature camps and bird watching.

Importance of natural vegetation at a glance

Reason	How natural vegetation helps	Example
Wildlife habitat	Gives food, shelter and breeding sites	Tigers and deer in Indian forests
Oxygen and carbon	Releases oxygen; stores carbon in wood and soil	Rainforests storing carbon
Soil protection	Leaves, roots and litter stop erosion	Grass cover on slopes
Groundwater	Slows runoff so rain sinks into the ground	Springs fed by hill forests
Disaster control	Reduces floods, droughts and landslides	Vegetation on landslide-prone slopes
Soil fertility	Dead leaves become humus	Forest floor litter
Shelter belts	Breaks the force of wind	Tree rows around fields
Raw materials	Timber, fuelwood, fodder, paper	Bamboo, sal, teak
Food and medicine	Fruits, nuts, honey, gum, herbs	Brahma Kamal, honey
Livelihoods	Home and income for forest people	Tribal communities of central India

Why is natural vegetation important for wildlife?

The importance of natural vegetation and wildlife is best understood as a two-way link. NCERT’s Class 8 book explains that plants give shelter to animals and that together they maintain the ecosystem. An ecosystem is a community of living things interacting with each other and with their surroundings.

Plants help animals in many ways:

Food: Leaves, fruits, seeds, nectar and roots feed herbivores, which in turn feed carnivores.
Shelter: Trees, shrubs and grasses give nesting sites and hiding places.
Microclimate: A forest canopy keeps the ground shaded, cool and moist.

Animals help plants in return. Bees and birds pollinate flowers. Fruit-eating birds, bats and monkeys spread seeds. Vultures are scavengers that clean up dead animals, and NCERT calls them a vital cleanser of the environment.

Because of this link, losing vegetation means losing wildlife. NCERT’s Class 11 book lists the clearing of land for farms, settlements, roads, mining and reservoirs as major reasons for the decline of wildlife. Our natural vegetation and wildlife notes explain the animals of each vegetation type in detail.

Why do we need to conserve our natural vegetation?

Natural vegetation is a renewable resource, but only if it is given time to recover. Today it is being cut faster than it can grow back.

It is disappearing

Worldwide, forests are still being cleared every year. The global figures are covered in our pillar on why forests matter for biodiversity.

In India, forest cover was 21.76% of the geographical area as of ISFR 2023. Adding tree cover outside forests raises it to 25.17%. NCERT’s Class 11 book explains that India adopted a forest policy in 1952 and modified it in 1988. One of its aims was “bringing 33 per cent of the geographical areas under forest cover”. ISFR 2023 describes the National Forest Policy (1988) vision as at least one third of the land under forest or tree cover. That is why the report gives the two figures together. Measured that way, India’s 25.17% forest and tree cover is still nearly 8 percentage points short of the 33% goal.

Its loss harms everyone

NCERT’s earlier Class 8 book names deforestation, soil erosion, construction, forest fires, tsunamis and landslides as human and natural factors that speed up the loss of these resources. Poaching for skins, horns, teeth and feathers adds to the pressure on wildlife. When vegetation goes:

Animals lose their homes and many species become endangered.
Fertile topsoil washes away, and farm yields fall.
Springs and wells dry up, and floods become worse.
Stored carbon is released, adding to climate change.
Forest communities lose food, income and their way of life.

It is our shared duty

NCERT’s Class 8 book states that the conservation of plants and animals is an ethical duty of every citizen. Our guide to plant ecology shows how each plant community depends on balance. Once that balance is broken, it can take decades to restore.

How can we conserve natural vegetation?

Saving natural vegetation needs protected areas, good laws and the help of local people working together. Each of these methods is explained step by step in our article on forest conservation. The tundra vegetation guide shows how fragile plant cover is in the coldest regions, where recovery is slowest.