India, March 21 -- There are innumerable reasons to protect forests. Some of them are to do with the fact that local populations depend on forest produce for nutrition.

Communities living in the central part of the country, for instance, use flowers of the flame of the forest tree to prepare a cooling beverage that helps them during the summer months. In the hills of Uttarakhand, fronds of a fern are collected for preparing a stir fried sabji. In the arid regions of Rajasthan, beans of the khejadi trees provide the much needed proteins. In southern India, tamarind trees provide a tang to the food along with a shot of Vitamin C.

Forests can provide food, add diversity to our diets and keep us healthy. On this year's International Day of...