FOREST

RESOURCE
CHARACTERISTICS AND CONSERVATION
BY SHIVANAND
JAISWAL
DEFINITION

 A Forest is a large area of land

covered with trees or other woody
vegetation.
 Forests are the dominant terrestrial
ecosystem on Earth, and are
distributed across the globe.
 Forests account for 75% of the Gross
Primary Productivity of the Earth's
biosphere, and contain 80% of the
Earth's plant biomass.
CLASSIFICATION OF FORESTS

 Boreal forests occupy the subarctic zone and are generally evergreen and
coniferous.
 Temperate zones support both broad-leaf deciduous forests
(e.g., temperate deciduous forest) and evergreen coniferous forests
(e.g.,temperate coniferous forests and temperate rainforests). Warm
temperate zones support broadleaf evergreen forests, including laurel
forests.
 Tropical and subtropical forests include tropical and subtropical moist
evergreen forests, tropical and subtropical dry deciduous forests,
and tropical and subtropical coniferous forests.
CURRENT STATUS OF FOREST WEALTH IN THE
WORLD Forested area % of land
Region
(km2) area
World 39,000,000 26.19%

Polar regions (Russia, Scandinavia and North America) 13,800,000

Latin America and the Caribbean 9,640,000 45.67%

East Asia and the Pacific 7,332,000 35.18%

Africa 6,500,000 21.80%

Canada and the United States 4,680,000 26.00%

European Union 1,600,000 35.00%

Australia 1,470,832 19.00%

West Asia (Middle East and Arabia) 36,600 01.00%

COUNTRIES WITH HIGHEST
FOREST COVER
Country (SQ MILES)
Russia 3,287,243
Brazil 2,100,359
Canada 944,294
USA 872,564
China 631,200
Australia 596,678
Dem. Rep. of Congo 522,037
Indonesia 405,353
Angola 405,353
Peru 251,796
INDIAN SCENARIO

 India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013 was released in New Delhi by
Prakash Javadekar, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for
Environment, Forests & Climate of 8 July 2014. The India State of Forest
Report 2013 is 13th report in the series.
 The report in its assessment has said that total forest and tree cover of the
country is 87.92 million hectare, which turns up to be 24.01 percent of the
geographical area of India. When compared to the 2011 assessment, the
forest cover of the country has increased by 5871 square kilometer.
States with highest forest cover

 Madhya Pradesh: 7.75 million hectares

 Arunachal Pradesh: 6.73 million hectares
 Chhattisgarh: 5.6 million hectares
 Maharashtra: 5.06 million hectares
 Odisha: 5.03 million hectares
Mizoram in terms of percentage of forest to Geographical area with respect to
total geographical area 90.38 percent had highest forest cover. In this aspect,
Mizoram was followed by Lakshadweep with 84.56 percent

Apart from this, the report says that 15 States or Union Territories have above
33 percent of the geographical area under forest cover.

Whereas the 8 states and UTs of Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Andaman &

Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and
Tripura have more than 75 percent forest cover.

7 States namely Goa, Sikkim, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Dadra & Nagar Haveli,
Chhattisgarh and Assam have forest cover between 33 percent and 75
percent.
FOREST COVER OF UP

Geographical area of UP 240928 km2

Recorded forest area 16986 km2
Forest cover (assessed through satellite imagery) 13746 km2
Tree cover in culturable non forest areas 7545 km2
Total forest and tree cover 21291 km2
Percent forest area to geographical area 7
Percent forest cover to geographical area 5.7
Percent forest and tree cover to geographical area 8.8
National Parks 1
Wildlife Sanctuaries 23
10 DISTRICTS WITH HIGHEST
FOREST COVER
District Geographical Dense Open Total (3+4) As % of 2 Scrub
Area forest Forest
1 2 3 5 6 7
4
Sonbhadra 6788 1221 1276 2497 36.79 51
Kheri 7680 1113 350 1463 19.05 1
Bahraich 6878 642 267 909 13.22 15
Philibhit 3499 488 196 684 19.55 0
Mirzapur 4521 198 433 631 13.96 33
Lalitpur 5039 231 327 558 11.07 55
Balrampur 3349 437 60 497 14.84 2
Gorakhpur 3321 385 97 482 14.51 0
Chitrkoot 3092 301 180 481 15.56 39
Chandauli 2549 186 289 475 18.63 7
ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC
SIGNIFICANCE
 BIODIVERSITY
 CATCHMENT OF SOIL AND WATER
 CONTROL OF NOISE AND AIR POLLUTION
 PREVENTION OF CALAMITIES
 SINK FOR CO2 AND WATER
 STOREHOUSE OF FOOD, FODDER, FUEL, FIBRE, TIMBER &
SHELTER
 PRODUCTION OF HERBAL MEDICINES, TANNINS, AMBER, DYES,
RESINS ETC
 RECREATION AND AESTHETICS
 JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANY PEOPLE
DEFORESTATION

 Destruction of Forest is known Deforestation.

CAUSES OF DEFORESTATION

1. OVERGRAZING
2. SHIFTING CULTIVATION
3. FUEL WOOD & TIMBER
4. INDUSTRIALIZATION & UNRBANIZATION
FOREST FIRES
DISEASES AND EPIDEMICS
NATURAL CALAMITIES: FLOODS,
DROUGHT, LANDSLIDES
MANAGEMENT AND
CONSERVATION
 CONSERVATION / PROTECTION / RESERVE FORESTRY
COMMERCIAL FORESTRY
SOCIAL FORESTRY
AGROFORESTRY
CONSERVATION BY LAW
 Forest Charter of 1855: Precursor to the first forest management legislation
 During British rule, the needs and greed of the Empire dictated the management of forests. The Forest
Charter of 1855 was the first attempt by the British Indian government in the direction of forest governance.
It made teak timber state property, and its trade was strictly regulated. In 1856, Dietrich Brandis, a German
botanist, was appointed first inspector general of forests. The forest department was organised and the first
Forest Act was enacted under his guidance. Brandis also made an inventory of trees in India, and classified
them.
 The Charter of 1855 was followed by the Indian Forest Act, 1865, which was amended in 1878 and then
again in 1927.
 The 1865 Act empowered the government to appropriate any land covered with trees.
 The Indian Forest Act of 1878 radically changed the nature of common property and made it state property.
The rights of people over forest lands and produce were later regarded as concessions. According to the
1878 Forest Act, forests were categorised into three types: reserved, protected, and village forests.
 Reserved forests were deemed the most commercially valuable and amenable to sustained exploitation.
Overall state control of reserved forests was sought, involving either the relinquishing or transfer of other
claims and rights.
 Protected forests were similarly state-controlled, but some concessions were granted conditional to the
reservation of commercial tree species when they became valuable. Protected forests could also be closed
to fuelwood collection and grazing, whenever it was deemed necessary to do so.
 The Indian Forest Act of 1927 replaced the earlier 1878 Act. This Act embodied all the
major provisions of the earlier one, extending it to include those relating to the duty on
timber. The Act is still in force although there have been several amendments made by
state governments. The preamble of the Act states that it seeks to consolidate the law
relating to the transit of forest produce and the duty leviable on timber and other forest
produce. There is therefore a clear emphasis on the revenue-yielding aspect of forests.
 In 1947, after Independence, food security for the millions of starving and hungry
Indians, industrialisation and development activities such as irrigation projects and large
hydroelectric power projects were some of the important issues that needed immediate
attention. The main objective of forest management those days therefore was to serve
the purpose of industry and agriculture. Rural forest-dependent people and their
livelihood needs was the last thing on the minds of people involved in forest
management. This sentiment is very clearly echoed by the GOI’s National Forest Policy
Resolution of 1952.
 In 1972, at the request of the states, the federal government passed the Wildlife
Protection Act, 1972. Though not directly related to forests, the Act did have a
significant impact on their management and therefore also on people living in forests
and dependent on forests for their sustenance and livelihood. The focus of the Act, as
the name suggests, was protection and conservation of wildlife, protection of plant and
animal species, and ensuring ecological and environmental sustainability.
 The Government of India promulgated the Forest (Conservation) Ordinance on October 25, 1980,
prohibiting state governments from allowing the use of forest land for any other purpose without the
approval of the central government. The ordinance was later passed as an Act (No 69 of 1980).
 First paradigm shift towards recognition of rights of forest-dwelling and forest-dependent
communities on forests echoed by National Forest Policy of 1988.
 The National Forest Policy of 1988, for the first time in the history of forest management and governance,
changed its goals and priorities, admitted that local forest-dependent communities were legitimate
stakeholders, and recommended community participation in forest regeneration. The resolution stressed
the welfare of forest-dwelling communities as a major objective of the country’s forest policy, and
categorically stated that the life of tribals and other poor living within and near forests revolves around
forests and that the rights and concessions enjoyed by them should be fully protected.
 After the National Forest Policy of 1988, some progress was made in the direction of involving people living
in forests in their management and conservation. However, social forestry schemes like Joint Forest
Management are run only as programmes; there is no tenurial security for people associated with such
programmes. When forest land has to be converted for non-forest use, forest-dwellers and forest-
dependent people are left high and dry because their rights are treated as concessions accorded to them
by the forest department without them having any legal sanctity.
 The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 also acknowledged the importance of local people’s participation in any
attempt towards conservation of biodiversity, and envisages the constitution of a Biodiversity Conservation
Committee at the panchayat level. This Act therefore does not disenfranchise the local community from
participating and having a say in the management of their biodiversity.
WILDLIFE PROTECTION ACT 1972
 The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted
for protection of plants and animal species. Before 1972, India only had five
designated national parks. Among other reforms, the Act established
schedules of protected plant and animal species; hunting or harvesting these
species was largely outlawed.
 The Act provides for the protection of wild animals, birds and plants; and for
matters connected therewith or ancillary or incidental thereto. It extends to the
whole of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir which has its own
wildlife act.
 It has six schedules which give varying degrees of protection. Schedule I and
part II of Schedule II provide absolute protection - offences under these are
prescribed the highest penalties. Species listed in Schedule III and Schedule
IV are also protected, but the penalties are much lower. Schedule V includes
the animals which may be hunted. The plants in Schedule VI are prohibited
from cultivation and planting. The hunting to the Enforcement authorities have
the power to compound offences under this Schedule (i.e. they impose fines
on the offenders). Up to April 2010 there have been 16 convictions under this
act relating to the death of tigers.
FOREST MOVEMENTS IN INDIA

 CHIPKO MOVEMENT
THANK YOU.............
THE END.................