Almost every standard eight text-book talks about this ancient nation. It is at the heart of an enormous landmass, between two monumental water-bodies, which provides the base for one of the fastest-growing major economies of the world. It is home to more than 40,000 species of flora and about 500 species of fauna. It has a pluralistic coexistence of diverse cultures, projecting principles of cooperation and diversity. The name that probably comes to your mind is India. But, if one reveals that this nation was born about 380 million years ago, even before humans existed on the planet, it forces one to think deeper. The description illustrated above is that of the nation of the Amazon, the Lungs of the Planet.
The immediate question that comes to one’s mind is how it is to draw a comparison between a nation and a forest. And the subsequent question that unfolds is how forests can act as the ‘best’ case studies, not for economic growth, progress, or development, but for economic excellence. The answer to the first question is quite simple. Just as a nation-state has four components: population, territory, sovereignty, and government, similarly a forest consists of all. The flora and fauna is its population, its geographical extent is its territory, and its ability to self-sustain itself without any foreign amendments adds to its sovereignty and the homeostatic principle underneath it is its government. The answer to the second question though is not quite simple as the first one, it is rather multifaceted.
For any economy to sustain itself, the basic need, as Karl Marx claims, is its economic base which in turn supports the social superstructure. For forests, this economic base is its timber produce along with other collateral products such as honey, important herbs, and fruits among others. The economic base allows its labour force to reap the raw materials from such forests, which produce for the world markets, the best quality furniture, medicines, clothes, and for some even their home. But unlike factories which are greased with oil and loaded with machines, these ‘green factories’, the forests have an exponential growth curve. The forest economy unlike the man-made economy is boundary less. Thus, it is free from problems of inflation, recession, and phenomena like globalization and protectionism do not belong to its lexicon.
Forests teach us that in order to reach the echelon of economic excellence, cooperation rather than competition is the road to be chosen. For this, the aphorism is quite simple but needs to be performed quite adroitly. To realise such a dream, firstly an economy needs to come out of the parochial mindset of not sharing resources with its neighbours. This can only be done by filling the cultural gap between the two with mutual respect, only then can the two economies dovetail with each other.
Forests reap their full potential by advocating the principle of laissez-faire. This is done by challenging the biological dogmas. The shunted trees (smaller economies) cannot climb high enough to fetch one of the most basic raw materials for their own growth and development, sunlight. This serious challenge is overcome by a process of intense dialogue and diplomacy with the bigger trees (the bigger economies) which act like a canopy. The two finally come to an agreement where the chemical resources like the micronutrients from the soil are utilised by the shunted trees, while the taller ones protect them from intense rainfall. This is how the developed economies should help the developing ones.
Forests are an excellent alibi for solutions to the deplorable consequences realized due to economic sanctions and trade barriers. A simple totka (solution) to such problems, as forests advocate, is by minding one’s own business and by not being arrogant. A simple anecdote of such a green nation’s humility can be cited by the fact that forests were neither annoyed nor did its growth numbers dip when it came to know that their homosapien friend, Dr. Jagadish Chandra Bose discovered (that too after 200,000 years of human existence) that their green friends can breathe, smell and live a life just like humans. The only difference between the two is that no action performed by the forests gives humans a casus belli, which dampens their economy, the opposite of which does not hold true.
The scientific man’s tentacles slowly crept to the door of the tribes living in forests, thereafter which the tribes were tortured, and butchered leading to the destruction of their indigenous forest economy. Innovation was like a two-way sword. The advancement of technology coupled with rapid population expansion led to the carnage of the forest population. This led to an imbalance of the earth’s carbon dioxide and oxygen levels, shooting up the earth’s thermostat readings. It was too late when humans realised their mistakes and started mending the forest economy by signing subsequent agreements at Rio de Janeiro, Paris, and Glasgow. By then, Mother Nature had already shown her annoyance in the form of severe droughts in the Horn of Africa, Europe experiencing its hottest summer in 500 years, and one-third of our neighbour, Pakistan drowning in floods.
Just as the buttress roots of the equatorial forests utilise groundwater, but only at a pace till the next monsoon cycle replenishes it, humans realised that economies could only be sustained if sources of energy are diversified, only then can their economies sustain. Thanks to our honourable Prime Minister’s global movement, Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) which sensitises humans to have respect for the ecology and the environment.
Among all the other lessons learned from forests, the one which completely stands out is the philosophy of impartiality. A forest provides shelter to both the lion (men) and the lioness (women). In an era, where patriarchy is still the norm of society, forests teach us that in order to reap the full potential of an economy, it is important to have an equal male and female labour force participation rate. The Sisyphean torture of domestic work reduces women to merely a reserve army of labour. Elephants, one of the major animals of the forests advocate the same, as they are a matriarchal society. Thus, forests teach us that gender equality should be a precondition for economic excellence.
In forests, fungi and bacteria play a key role. They decompose the micronutrients, which are further used by the plants to prepare their own food, but their contributions often go unnoticed. Similarly, the potential possessed by persons with disabilities and LGBTQ+ often goes unnoticed. Economic excellence can only be achieved by harnessing the potential of such ignored sections of society.
A major problem with Indians is that in the name of inspiration and technology transfers, we have rung the bell of almost all major economies of the world, including England, Scotland, and Finland, but not our Motherland. Forests tell us that the path to economic excellence can be achieved through deeper introspection and recognising the potential of the domestic economy. This can be achieved by bridging the gap between markets and human capital hidden behind our Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and startups. Initiatives by the government of India, such as the One District One Product try to address such issues with great might.
In a world that is rapidly changing amidst black swan events, where every economy is trying to achieve economic excellence, one needs to realise that the future is not in exposed batholiths or in shale gas explorations. Renewable energy technologies like green hydrogen are the ‘new oil’ which will be driving the engines of economic growth and development. The important principle of the 4Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover is the password to economic excellence. Cooperation and not competition, diversity, and not homogeneity are the need of the hour. Otherwise, the clash of economies sooner or later would result in a situation similar to what happened to our ‘ancient nation’, Amazon a few years back, where the lungs of the planet were burning and humanity could barely do something about it. Time is of utmost importance, and must not be wasted in currency wars which only lead to the development of underdevelopment.
(The writer is currently working at the United Nations. She is a postgraduate student at the University of Delhi)
