Forest Resources

Forest Resources

E-governance for Conservation in India

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (ENVIS)

Dense forests once covered India. As of 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates India's forest cover to be about 68 million hectares, or about 20 percent of the country's area. In qualitative terms, however, the dense forest in almost all the major Indian states has been reduced. Forest degradation is a matter of serious concern. In 2002, forestry industry contributed 1.7 percent to India's GDP. In 2006, the contribution to GDP dropped to 0.9 percent, largely because of rapid growth of Indian economy in other sectors and Indian government's decision to reform and reduce import tariffs to let imports satisfy the growing Indian demand for wood products.

**India produces a range of processed forest (wood and non-wood) products ranging from sawn wood, panel products and wood pulp to bamboo, rattan ware and pine resin. ** India's paper industry produces over 3 million tonnes annually from more than 400 mills, which unlike their international counterparts, mostly uses the more sustainable non-wood fiber as the raw material. **Furniture and craft industry is another consumer of wood. In India only 76million hecatiers of land is under cover, which is about 23% of the total forest cover of the total geographical area.

India is the world's largest consumer of fuelwood. India's consumption of fuelwood is about five times higher than what can be sustainably removed from forests. However, a large percentage of this fuelwood is grown as biomass remaining from agriculture, and is managed outside forests. Fuelwood meets about 40 percent of the energy needs of the country. Around 80 percent of rural people and 48 percent of urban people use fuelwood. Unless India makes major, rapid and sustained effort to expand electricity generation and power plants, the rural and urban poor in India will continue to meet their energy needs through unsustainable destruction of forests and fuel wood consumption.

Forestry in India is more than just about wood and fuel. India has a thriving non-wood forest products industry, which produces latex, gums, resins, essential oils, flavours, fragrances and aroma chemicals, incense sticks, handicrafts, thatching materials and medicinal plants. About 60 percent of non-wood forest products production is consumed locally. About 50 percent of the total revenue from the forestry industry in India is in non-wood forest products category. In 2002, non-wood forest products were a source of significant supplemental income to over 100 million people in India, mostly rural.

Biodiversity in Indian forests Indian forests are more than trees and an economic resource. They are home to some of earth's unique flora and fauna. Indian forests represent one of the 12 mega biodiverse regions of the world. India's Western Ghats and Eastern Himalayas are amongst the 32 biodiversity hotspots on earth. India is home to 12 percent of world's recorded flora, some 47000 species of flowering and non-flowering plants.[10] Over 59000 species of insects, 2500 species of fishes, 17000 species of angiosperms live in Indian forests. About 90000 animal species, representing over 7 percent of earth's recorded faunal species have been found in Indian forests. Over 4000 mammal species are found here. India has one of the richest variety of bird species on earth, hosting about 12.5 percent of known species of birds. Many of these flora and fauna species are endemic to India. Indian forests and wetlands serve as temporary home to many migrant birds.

***India was, until 1991, one of the largest exporters of wild birds to international bird markets. Most of the birds traded were parakeets and munias. Most of these birds were exported to countries in Europe and the Middle East. ***In 1991, India passed a law that banned all trade and trapping of indigenous birds in the country. The passage of the law stopped the legal exports, but illegal trafficking has continued. In 2001, for example, an attempt to smuggle some 10,000 wild birds was discovered, and these birds were confiscated at the Mumbai international airport.

Spotted Owlet - one of over 1000 bird species in Indian forests

Conservation The role of forests in the national economy and in ecology was further emphasized in the 1988 National Forest Policy, which focused on ensuring environmental stability, restoring the ecological balance, and preserving the remaining forests. Other objectives of the policy were meeting the need for fuelwood, fodder, and small timber for rural and tribal people while recognizing the need to actively involve local people in the management of forest resources. Also in 1988, the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was amended to facilitate stricter conservation measures. A new target was to increase the forest cover to 33 percent of India's land area from the then-official estimate of 23 percent.

In June 1990, the central government adopted resolutions that combined forest science with social forestry, that is, taking the sociocultural traditions of the local people into. The cumulative area afforested during the 1951-91 period was nearly 179,000 square kilometres. However, despite large-scale tree planting programs, forestry is one arena in which India has actually regressed since independence. Annual fellings at about four times the growth rate are a major cause. Widespread pilfering by villagers for firewood and fodder also represents a major decrement. In addition, the 1988 National Forest Policy noted, the forested area has been shrinking as a result of land cleared for farming and development programs.

Between 1990 and 2010, as evidenced by satellite data, India has reversed the deforestation trend. FAO reports India's rate of forest addition has increased in recent years, and as of 2010, it is the third fastest in the world in increasing forest cover. The 2009 Indian national forest policy document emphasizes the need to combine India's effort at forest conservation with sustainable forest management. India defines forest management as one where the economic needs of local communities are not ignored, rather forests are sustained while meeting nation's economic needs and local issues through scientific forestry

Chipko Movement Chipko movement in India started in 1970s around a dispute on how and who should have a right to harvest forest resources. Although the Chipko movement is now practically non-existent in Uttarakhand, the Indian state of its origin, it remains one of the most frequently deployed examples of an environmental and a people's movement in developing countries such as India. What caused Chipko is now a subject of debate; some neopopulists theorize Chipko as an environmental movement and an attempt to save forests, while others suggest that Chipko movement had nothing to do with eco-conservation, but was driven primarily to demand equal rights to harvest forests by local communities.

According to one set of writers: Since the early 1970s, as they realized that deforestation threatened not only the ecology but their livelihood in a variety of ways, people have become more interested and involved in conservation. The best known popular activist movement is the Chipko Movement, in which local women under the leadership of Chandi Prasad Bhatt and SunderlalBahuguna, decided to fight the government and the vested interests to save trees. The women of Chamoli District, Uttar Pradesh, declared that they would embrace—literally "to stick to" (chipkna in Hindi)--trees if a sporting goods manufacturer attempted to cut down ash trees in their district. Since initial activism in 1973, the movement has spread and become an ecological movement leading to similar actions in other forest areas. The movement has slowed down the process of deforestation, exposed vested interests, increased ecological awareness, and demonstrated the viability of people power.[

According to those who critique the ecological awareness and similar theories, Chipko had nothing to do with protecting forests, rather it was an economicstruggle using the traditional Indian way of non-violence. These scientists point out that very little is left of the Chipko movements today in its region of origin save for its memory, even though the quality of forests and its use remains a critical issue for India. To explain the cause of Chipko movement, they find that government officials had ignored the subsistence issues of the local communities, who depended on forests for fuel, fodder, fertilizer and sustenance resources. These researchers claim that local interviews and fact finding confirms that local communities had filed complaints requesting the right to commercially exploit the forests around them.

Their requests were denied, while permits to fell trees and exploit those same forests were granted to government-favored non-resident contractors including a sporting company named Symonds. A protest that became Chipko movement followed. The movement grew and Indian government responded by imposing a 15 year ban on felling all trees above 1000 metres in the region directly as a result of the Chipko agitations. This legislation was deeply resented by many communities supporting Chipko because, the regulation further excluded the local people from the forest around them. Opposition to the legislation resulted in so-called 'PedKataoAndolan' in the same region, a movement to cut the trees down in order to defy the new legislation. The people behind Chipko movement felt that the government did not understand or care about their economic situation

Chipko movement, at the very least, suggests that forests in India are an important and integral resource for communities that live within these forests, or survive near the fringes of these forests. Timber mafia and forest cover Main article: Mafia raj A 1999 publication claimed that protected forest areas in several parts of India, such as Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Jharkhand, were vulnerable to illegal logging by timber mafias that have co-opted or intimidated forestry officials, local politicians, businesses and citizenry. Clear-cutting is sometimes covered-up by conniving officials who report fictitious forest fires. Despite these local criminal and corruption issues, satellite data analysis and a 2010 FAO report finds India has added over 4 million hectares of forest cover, a 7% increase, between 1990 and 2010.

India was once covered with dense forests home to wildlife. Now, because of over population & deforestation forests are less dense, wildlife less diverse. Shown are elephants near a forest.

Forests in the Kudremukh National Park, Karnataka

Forests in Himachal Pradesh

Forests in Arunachal Pradesh

A protected forest in Madhya Pradesh, Van Vihar National Park

Forest cover in Lakshadweep

Forest covered hills in Uttarakhand

ADVANTAGES OF FOREST CONSRVATION :The following are the advantages and necessities of forest conservation.1.Forest conservation support life on earth.2.It maintains quality of water and air, the basic essentials of existence of life.3.Stability in soil is possible by trees, enables the land based plants and animals to live.4.From their biodiversity grows wealth in the form of food, medicines, essential for human health.5.It acts as Carbon sinks absorbing Carbon dioxide and keeps global warning at body.6.Forests influence climate and educe extremes of temperature. They conserve soil and regulate moisture and stream flow. It prevents soil erosion and floods.

EFFECTS DUE TO DEPLETION OF FORESTS :Climate Change -Forest conservation can play a critical role in efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and alleviate poverty. I helps in protecting the disappearing rainforests. Soil Erosion -Three fourths of the state is farmed, mostly in row-crops. With so much of the land under cultivation, erosion is a significant ecological and economic factor. Erosion results in the loss of valuable topsoil, degradation of surface water quality and the siltation of waterways.

METHODS OF CONSERVATION :1) Afforestation2) Conservation of resource forests3) Commercial forestry4) Social forestry and environmental forestry5) Captive plantation or agro forestry6) Plantation of trees of aesthetic/ornamental values

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR HUMANS TO CONSERVE FORESTS?For the survival of human beings, a holistic approach is required to be adopted as regards protection of the plant kingdom as well as the wildlife with regard to the peaceful and mutually beneficial co-existence of all. To prevent any kind of ecological imbalance a very pragmatic action plan has to be formulated.

Afforestation Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no forest.[1]Reforestation is the reestablishment of forest cover, either naturally (by natural seeding, coppice, or root suckers) or artificially (by direct seeding or planting).[2] Many governments and non-governmental organizations directly engage in programs of afforestation to create forests, increase carbon capture and sequestration, and help to anthropogenically improve biodiversity. (In the UK, afforestation may mean converting the legal status of some land to "royal forest".) Special tools, e.g. tree planting bar, are used to make planting of trees easier and faster.

Biological process: Gap dynamics refers to the pattern of plant growth that occurs following the creation of a forest gap, a local area of natural disturbance that results in an opening in the canopy of a forest. Gap dynamics are a typical characteristic of both temperate and tropical forests and have a wide variety of causes and effects on forest life.

In areas of degraded soil In some places, forests need help to reestablish themselves because of environmental factors. For example, in arid zones, once forest cover is destroyed, the land may dry and become inhospitable to new tree growth. Other factors include overgrazing by livestock, especially animals such as goats, cows, and over-harvesting of forest resources. Together these may lead to desertification and the loss of topsoil; without soil, forests cannot grow until the long process of soil creation has been completed - if erosion allows this. In some tropical areas, forest cover removal may result in a duricrustorduripan that effectively seal off the soil to water penetration and root growth. In many areas, reforestation is impossible because people are using the land. In other areas, mechanical breaking up of duripans or duricrusts is necessary, careful and continued watering may be essential, and special protection, such as fencing, may be needed.

India India, after 1950 till 2006 has witnessed a minor increase in the percentage of the land area under forest cover. In 1950 around 40.48 million hectare area was under forest cover. in 1980 it increased to 67.47 million hectare and in 2006 it was found to be 69 million hectare. Out of the total land available around 23% of land is under forest cover. The forests in India have been grouped into 5 major categories and 16 types according to biophysical criteria. The distribution of these groups indicates 38.20% subtropical dry deciduous, 30.30% tropical moist deciduous, 6.7% subtropical thorn and 5.8% tropical wet evergreen forests. Other categories include subtropical pine (5%), tropical semi-evergreen forests (2.5%) and other smaller categories. Temperate and alpine areas cover about 10% of the forest areas. It is taken care that only local species are planted in an area. Trees bearing fruits are of higher choice in any geography.

Afforested botanical garden in Hattori Ryokuchi Park, Japan.

An afforestation project in Rand Wood, Lincolnshire,England.

Definition of AFFORESTATION : the act or process of establishing a forest especially on land not previously forested

Rubber Trees Afforestation

Important facts on Forest Conservation through Law (India) ***National Forest Policy of 1952 enunciated that one third of the geographic area of the country should be under forests. ***However, there had been continuous deforestation in the country for various reasons. Forest Conservation Act 1980 was erected with a view to check indiscriminate dereservation and diversion of forest land to non-forest purpose. *** Under this Act prior approval of Central Government is required before any reserved forest is declared as dereserved or forest land is diverted to non- forest purposes.

National Forest Policy of 1952 enunciated that one third of the geographic area of the country should be under forests. However, there had been continuous deforestation in the country for various reasons. Forest Conservation Act 1980 was erected with a view to check indiscriminate dereservation and diversion of forest land to non-forest purpose. Under this Act prior approval of Central Government is required before any reserved forest is declared as dereserved or forest land is diverted to non- forest purposes.

1. No State Government or other authority may direct that any forest land may be assigned by way of lease or otherwise to any person corporation or agency/ organization without prior approval of the Central Government. 2. No forest land or any portion thereof may be cleared of trees which have grown naturally in the land or portion for the purposes of using it for reforestation without prior permission of Central Government. 3. Scope of existing non-forest purposes has been extended to other areas of cultivation of tea, coffee, spices, rubber, palms, medicinal plants etc.

Regional Office India The office also covers Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Forest Resources