Here nomadic environment includes nomads and tribal who practice shifting agriculture or move from one part of the forest to another to collect food and livelihood. Such tribes like Gujjars and Gaddis etc. practice transhumance moving with the flock of cattle from valleys to mountain slopes and vice- versa in search of grazing lands.
Their movement and grazing activity have considerable impact on the hilly environment. With growing population pressure, pasture lands are shrinking and possibility of environmental degradation is increasing. Many trial’s of the north-east and central India practice jhuming which leads to burning down of valuable forests/ trees to obtain farmlands. When productivity decreases Jhumias move to new site to clear the forests for cultivation.
Thus jhuming leads to loss of valuable forest resources and causes irreparable damage to the environment. A number of programmes have been launched to control the practice of jhuming.
Sedentary dwellers include permanent settlers who have also constructed their houses, and developed farmlands by clearing forests and transforming the natural landscape. Willis the development of culture and population pressure there is increase in the intensity of land use. Hence, same piece of land undergoes changes in its land-use pattern from agriculture to urban and from urban to industrial or commercial uses.
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Thus very little possibility is left to bring back the area to its natural status. In states like Punjab and Haryana, where agriculture is highly developed, hardly three percent of the total geographical area has been left under forests. The natural vegetation has almost disappeared from the Ganga Plain and whatever greenery is seen today is manmade mainly found in the form of orchards and groves etc.
In many parts of the country cropped land has already reached its optimum limit and in some areas u sizable portion of (his land is being transferred to non-agricultural uses like building houses, highways, railways, factories, airfields etc., This intensification of land use is bound to increase environmental problems, Another method of examining the state of India’s environment may be on the regional basis, Thus studies may be made pertaining to the Himalaya an region, arid lands, northern plains, southern plateau, coastal areas and islands.