FOREST RESOURECES

Topics :

Introduction
•Forest resources
•Functions of forests
•Importance of forests
•Ecological and Economical Importance
•Types of Forests
•Deforestation, Afforestation, Causes & Effects
•Forest Degradation in India
 INTRODUCTION :
A forest is usually an area filled with trees but
any tall densely packed area of vegetation
may be considered a forest, even underwater
vegetation such as kelp forests, or non-
vegetation such as fungi and bacteria.
It is highly complex, changing environment
made up of a living and non living things.
Living things include trees, shrubs, wildlife
etc. and non-living things include water,
nutrients, rocks, sunlight and air.
 Forest Resources:
Meaning: -
•The word forest is derived from a Latin word “Foris” means
Outside
•Forest are one of the most important natural resources of the
earth.
•Tree forests cover approximately 9.4 percent of the Earth's
surface (or 30 percent of total land area i.e., Approximately
1/3rdof the earth’s total land area ).
•Along with the Russian Federation, Brazil, Canada, United
States of America, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Australia, Indonesia and Sudan.
•Together, India and these countries account for 67 percent of
total forest area of the world
•International Day of Forests: 21st day of March
 Function of forests :
Protectivefunction
Productive function
Regulative function
Accessory function
Protective function:
 forests playa protective role, for instance
in ecosystem conservation, in maintaining
clean water, and in reducing the risks of
impacts of floods, erosion and drought.
 Productive function:
The productive function of forest resources
indicates the economic and social utility
of forest resources to national economies
and forest dependent local communities
 Regulative function:
They help to maintain the balance of
carbondioxide and oxygen between plants
and animals. →They increase the
humidity of air by transpiring large
amount of water vapour to the
atmosphere,
Accessory function:
 Forest provides aesthetics, habitat to
various flora and fauna besides that it also
has an recreational value. 
The importance of forests cannot
be underestimated.
We depend on forests for our survival,
from the air we breathe to the wood we
use. Besides providing habitats for
animals and livelihoods for humans,
forests also offer watershed protection,
prevent soil erosion and mitigate climate
change.
Uses of forests:
Fuelwood
FodderFencing
Soil erosion check
Wind breaks and shelter belts
Soil improvement
Conservation of soil:
Soil conservation is the prevention of
loss of the top most layer of the soil from
erosion or prevention of reduced fertility
caused by over usage, acidification,
salinization or other
chemical soil contamination.
 Economical importance of forest:
Water: Forests absorb rainwater and release it
gradually into streams. It prevents floods.
Watershed: Forests keep soil from eroding into
rivers.
 Climate: Forests stabilize our ecological stability.
 Recreation: Forests serve people directly for
recreation.
Timber:  It is a wide variety of uses in
construction and as an industrial raw material, but
the most important single use for timber is as
fuel. 
Types of forests in India:
Wet Evergreen forest.
Semi Evergreen forest.
Moist Deciduous forest.
Dry Deciduous forest.
Littoral and Swamp forest / Mangrove
forest.
Dry Evergreen forest.
Thorn forest.
Sub tropical broad leaved forest.
Deforestation :
Deforestation is the permanent removal of
trees to make room for something besides
forest. This can include clearing the land
for agriculture or grazing, or using the
timber for fuel, construction or
manufacturing. 
 Causes of deforestation:
Agricultural Activities: As earlier mentioned
in the overview, agricultural activities are one
of the major factors affecting deforestation.
Logging: Apart from this, wood based
industries like paper, match-sticks, furniture etc
also need a substantial amount of wood supply. 
Urbanization: Further on order to gain access
to these forests, the construction of roads are
undertaken; here again trees are chopped to
create roads. 
 Mining: Oil and coal mining require
considerable amount of forest land. Apart
from this, roads and highways have to be
built to make way for trucks and other
equipment.
 Forest Fires: Another example would be
forest blazes; Hundreds of trees are lost each
year due to forest fires in various portions of
the world.
 Effects of Defforestation
Climate Imbalance: Deforestation also 
affects the climate in more than one ways.
Trees release water vapor in the air, which
is compromised on with the lack of trees.
 Increase in Global Warming: Trees play
a major role in controlling global warming.
The trees utilize the green house gases,
restoring the balance in the atmosphere.
 Soil Erosion: Also due to the shade of
trees the soil remains moist. With the
clearance of tree cover,
 Afforestation
Afforestation is the process of planting trees,
or sowing seeds, in a barren land devoid of
any trees to create a forest. The term should
not be confused with reforestation, which is
the process of specifically planting native
trees into a forest that has decreasing
numbers of trees.
 Causes of Afforestation
 Afforestation can support wildlife
Protection of sensitive areas, biodiversity, and
natural cycles
Afforestation is highly fundamental in
creating an alternative source pool of natural
resource
Afforestation aids in tackling global warming
and stabilizing global temperatures
Afforestation creates employment and can
provide a source of livelihood
 Forest degeradation in India
Forest degradation is a process in which the
biological wealth of a forest area is
permanently diminished by some factor or by
a combination of factors. "This does not
involve a reduction of the forest area, but
rather a quality decrease in its condition."The
forest is still there, but with fewer trees, or
less species of trees, plants or animals, or
some of them affected by plagues. This
degradation makes the forest less valuable
and may lead to deforestation.
In India, degraded forests constitute 41% of
the total forest cover. Realizing the need for
conservation and regeneration, several
programmes have been implemented at the
government and non-government levels. 
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