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Essay on the Forests of India
Essay # 1. Definition of Forest:
Forest includes natural forests and forest plantations. The FAO definition of a forest is considered as the basic one, but many other useful definitions of forest exist in published form. The fact that “forest” has been defined in many ways is a reflection of the diversity of forests and forest ecosystems in the world and of the diversity of human approaches to forests.
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Forests are generally conceived as areas having tree growth. The Forest Survey of India (FSI) has accordingly recognised dense, open and scrub forests based on the percentage of canopy cover. The Indian Forest Act, 1927 does not define the forests and the legal extent of forests depends upon the process of notifications.
Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has taken a view regarding extending purview of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 to all the areas falling in the “dictionary meaning” of forests irrespective of ownership and control. In addition to the protective and production functions of tree cover, there is a growing awareness of livelihood and life-sustaining values of non-wood forest products.
Legal Definition:
Some legal definitions of ‘forest’ are based on the actual vegetation on the ground, whereas other definitions are based on a defined land area which may have no vegetation on it at all but is legally under the jurisdiction of the national agency which manages forests and natural resources. Any land recorded as forest in any land record is legally forest land whether or not there is any vegetation on the land.
Government of India:
Forest- Forest is defined as a land having tree crown cover value of minimum 15 per cent, land area value of minimum 0.05 hectare and tree height value of minimum 2 meters.
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Food and Agricultural Organization:
i. Forest:
Forest includes natural forests and forest plantations. It is used to refer to land with a tree canopy cover of more than 10 per cent and area of more than 0.5 ha. Forests are determined both by the presence of trees and the absence of other predominant land uses. The trees should be able to reach a minimum height of 5 m. Young stands that have not yet but are expected to reach a crown density of 10 per cent and tree height of 5 m are included under forest, as are temporarily unstocked areas.
The term includes forests used for purposes of production, protection, multiple-use or conservation (i.e., forest in national parks, nature reserves and other protected areas), as well as forest stands on agricultural lands (e.g. windbreaks and shelterbelts of trees with a width of more than 20 m), and rubber wood plantations and cork oak stands. The term specifically excludes stands of trees established primarily for agricultural production, for example fruit tree plantations. It also excludes trees planted in agroforestry systems.
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ii. Primary Forest:
Forest of native species, in which there are no clearly visible indications of human activity and ecological processes are not significantly disturbed. A primary forest is a forest that has never been logged and has developed following natural disturbances and under natural processes, regardless of its age.
iii. Forest Plantations:
A forest established by planting or/and seeding in the process of afforestation or reforestation. It consists of introduced species or, in some cases, indigenous species.
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iv. Natural Forest:
A forest composed of indigenous trees and not classified as forest plantation
Global Forest Resource Assessment:
i. Forest:
Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 metres and a canopy cover of more than 10 per cent or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use.
ii. Other Wooded Land:
Land not classified as “Forest”, spanning more than 0.5 hectares; with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of 5-10 per cent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ; or with a combined cover of shrubs, bushes and trees above 10 per cent. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use.
iii. Other Land:
All land that is not classified as “Forest” or “Other wooded land”.
iv. Other Land with Tree Cover:
Land classified as “Other Land”, spanning more than 0.5 hectares with a canopy cover of more than 10 per cent of trees able to reach a height of 5 meters at maturity.
European Commission:
Forest- It has defined forestland as having at least 20 per cent canopy closure (10 per cent in Mediterranean forests) and a minimum area of 0.5 hectares.
Kyoto Protocol:
Forest- Forest is a minimum area of land of 0.05 – 1.0 hectares with tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10-30 per cent with trees with the potential to reach a minimum height of 2-5 meters at maturity in situ.
Convention on Biological Diversity:
i. Forest:
A forest is a land area of more than 0.5 ha, with a tree canopy cover of more than 10 per cent, which is not primarily under agricultural or other specific non-forest land use. In the case of young forests or regions where tree growth is climatically suppressed, the trees should be capable of reaching a height of 5 m in situ, and of meeting the canopy cover requirement.
ii. Forest Biome:
This reflects the ecological and physiognomic characteristics of the vegetation and broadly corresponds to climatic regions of the Earth. In this document, it is used in reference to boreal, temperate and tropical forest biomes.
iii. Forest Type:
Within biomes, a forest type is a group of forest ecosystems of generally similar composition that can be readily differentiated from other such groups by their tree and under canopy species composition, productivity and/or crown closure.
Essay # 2. Global Scenario of Forest Resources:
The world’s forests including largest rainforests, tropical forests, temperate forests, savannas and semi-arid biomes are critical for biodiversity conservation. The ecologically rich set of forests has extraordinary potential to provide services of economic significance, including water, food, wood, fiber, carbon sequestration, non-timber forest products (NTFP) and tourism destinations, as well as erosion control, flood mitigation, water purification, pollination, waste assimilation and disease regulation.
Despite the many links between forests and human welfare, current patterns of forest use are largely unsustainable. Extraction rates exceed the capacity of these forests to regenerate. Conversion of forest lands to other uses frequently involves lands that cannot sustain those uses and are soon abandoned, reverting to degraded forest.
These approaches do not realize the long-term potential of forest-based ecosystem services to support income generation, development and social equity, through the potential of forests to sustain themselves. Forest types differ widely, determined by factors including latitude, temperature, rainfall patterns, soil composition and human activity.
Forest area provides the first indication of the relative importance of forests in a country or region. Estimates of the change in forest area over time provide an indication of the demand for land for forestry and other uses. Forest area is relatively easy to measure and has been selected as one of the 60 indicators for monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, the 2010 Biodiversity Target and Global Objectives on Forests contained in the Non-legally Binding Agreement on all types of forests.
Year 2010 was celebrated as the International year of Biodiversity to remind the people that forests represent some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. Year 2011 was declared as the International year of Forests to promote awareness and understanding of forests and forestry issues and to draw attention to four key areas viz. regional trends on forest resources, the development of sustainable forest industries, climate change adaptation and mitigation and the local value of forests.
Global Objectives on Forests (UNGA 2008):
In 2006, at its sixth session, the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) agreed on four shared Global Objectives on Forests, providing clear guidance on the future work of the international arrangement on forests.
(i) Reverse the loss of forest cover worldwide through sustainable forest management, including protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation, and increase efforts to prevent forest degradation.
(ii) Enhance forest-based economic, social and environmental benefits, including by improving the livelihoods of forest-dependent people.
(iii) Increase significantly the area of protected forests worldwide and other areas of sustainably managed forests, as well as the proportion of forest products from sustainably managed forests.
(iv) Reverse the decline in official development assistance for sustainable forest management and mobilize significantly increased, new and additional financial resources from all sources for the implementation of sustainable forest management.
World Forestry Day:
World forestry day has been celebrated around the world for 30 years to increase public awareness of the huge array of benefits wooded areas offer and commemorates the importance of forests and forestry to communities around the globe. The concept of having a World Forestry Day originated at the 23rd General Assembly of the European Confederation of Agriculture in 1971.
Later that year, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) gave support to the idea believing the event would contribute a great deal to public awareness of the importance of forests and agreed that it should be observed every year around the world. March 21, the autumnal equinox in the Southern Hemisphere and the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, was chosen as the day to be celebrated offering information about the three key facets of forestry: protection, production and recreation.
Global Forest Cover Assessment:
Growing awareness of forest’s role in the global carbon cycle has created interest in world’s forests to unprecedented heights. FAO, in cooperation with its member countries, has monitored the world’s forest at five to ten year intervals since 1945. These global assessments provide valuable information to policy-makers, international negotiations, arrangements and organizations related to forests and to the general public. The Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) is the most comprehensive assessment to date.
It examines the current status and recent trends for all types of forests in 233 countries. It covers the all seven thematic elements of sustainable forest management viz. extent of forest resources, forest biological diversity, forest health and vitality, productive functions of forest resources, protective functions of forest resources, socio-economic functions of forests and legal, policy and institutional framework.
World’s total forest area is 4.03 billion hectares, corresponding to 31 per cent of the total land area or an average of 0.6 ha of per capita. The ten most forest-rich countries are Russian Federation (809 million ha), Brazil (520 million ha), Canada (310 million ha), United States of America (304 million ha), China (207 million ha), Democratic Republic of Congo (154 million ha), Australia (149 million ha), Indonesia (94 million ha), Sudan (70 million ha) and India (68 million ha). The top five countries accounts for more than half of the total forest area.
The total area of other wooded land is estimated to be 1.1 billion hectares, equivalent to nine per cent of the total land area. The total area of other land with tree cover was reported to be 79 million hectares. High forest countries, in terms of percentage of forest cover with respect to total geographical area, are French Guiana (98%), Suriname (95%) and Federal States of Micronesia (92%).
Deforestation, mainly due to conversion of forests to agricultural land, shows signs of decreasing in several countries but continues at an alarmingly high rate in others. Globally around 13 million hectares of forest were converted to other uses or lost through natural causes each year from 2000-2010.
The total net change in forest area in the period 2000-2010 is estimated at -5.2 million hectares per year or equivalent to a loss of more than 140 km2 of forest per day (FRA 2010a). The five countries with largest annual net loss of forest area are Brazil (2.64 million ha), Australia (0.56 million ha), Indonesia (0.5 million ha), Nigeria (0.41 million ha) and Tanzania (0.4 million ha).
Essay # 3. Forest Profile of India
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Forest Assessment in India:
The term ‘Forest Area’ (or recorded forest area) refers to all the geographical areas recorded as ‘Forests’ in government records. Recorded forest areas largely consists of Reserved Forests (RF) and Protected Forests (PF) which have been constituted under the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Besides RF and PF, the recorded forest area may also include unclassed forests and all such areas which have been recorded as forests in the revenue records or have been constituted so under any State act or local law.
Forest cover refers to all lands, more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 per cent irrespective of ownership and legal status. Such lands may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm. Forest area denotes the legal status of the land, whereas forest cover indicates presence of trees on any land irrespective of their ownership.
Forest Area:
At the time of independence, the recorded forest area of the country was 39.94 million ha comprising the government owned forest (26.16 million ha) and community and privately owned forest (13.78 million ha). The area increased to 68.02 million ha in 1950-51 with the addition of ex-princely and ex-proprietary forests. Out of this, 53.82 million ha was government forests and 14.20 million ha with community and private forests.
The recorded forest area further increased to 75.18 million ha due to consolidation by the early eighties. FSI (2011) has reported 76.95 million ha of recorded forest area in the country at present comprising reserved forest (42.25 million ha), protected forest (21.40 million ha) and unclassed forest (13.30 million ha).
Forest Cover:
India is one of the few countries of the world to have a robust and scientific system of periodic forest cover assessment. Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, has been carrying out forest and tree cover mapping of the entire country. The forest cover mapping was started over two decades back in the year 1987 and so far, twelve cycles of forest cover mapping have been carried out on a biennial basis.
The forest and tree cover mapping is carried out using remote sensing technology which captures the unique spectral reflectance of the electro-magnetic radiation. This is then used for the characterization of vegetation and other land covers. The forest cover mapping has been carried out at a scale of 1:50,000.
The first ever forest cover mapping in India was carried out using Landsat imageries pertaining to period 1981-83 at 1:1 million scale. The first forest cover assessment and mapping reported about 64.2 million ha of forest cover in the country corresponding to 19.52 per cent in the year 1987.
Current Forest Cover Statistics:
India is the seventh largest country in the world having an area of 328.7 million hectares. Forest and tree cover of the country is 78.29 million hectares which is 23.81 per cent of the geographical area (FSI 2011). India has the total forest cover of 21.05 per cent (69.20 million ha) and tree cover of 2.76 per cent (9.08 million ha) respectively.
Area-wise, Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover (77,700 km2) in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh (67,410 km2), Chhattisgarh (55,674 km2), Maharashtra (50,646 km2) and Orissa (48,903 km2). In terms of percentage of forest cover with respect to total geographical area, Mizoram with 90.68% has the highest, followed by Lakshadweep (84.56%), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (81.51%) and Arunachal Pradesh (80.50%).
The total growing stock of India’s forest and TOF is estimated as 6,047.15 million cubic meters which comprises 4,498.73 million cubic meters inside the forests and 1,548.42 million cubic meters outside the forests. Among the States/UTs, the maximum growing stock in forest is reported from Arunachal Pradesh (493 million cubic meters) followed by Uttarakhand (460 million cubic meters) and Chhattisgarh (334 million cubic meters).
Classification of Indian Forests:
Champion and Seth (1968) classified India’s forests into four major ecosystem groups viz., tropical, sub-tropical, temperate and alpine. These major groups are further divided into 16 type groups- Tropical (wet evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist deciduous, littoral and swamp, dry deciduous, thorn, dry evergreen), Sub-tropical (broadleaved hill forests, pine, dry evergreen), Temperate (montane wet temperate, Himalayan moist temperate, Himalayan dry temperate) and Alpine (sub-alpine, moist alpine, dry alpine scrub). Of the 16 forest types, tropical dry deciduous forests form the major percentage i.e., 41.87 per cent of the forest cover.
Over 45,000 species of plants exists in India and of this several thousands are endemic to the country. Bamboo in the country constitutes the largest bamboo resources of the world. The total bamboo bearing area in the country is estimated to be 13.96 million ha. The total carbon stock in the country’s forests is estimated to be 6,663 million metric tons. Mangroves in India account for about 3 per cent of the world’s mangrove vegetation and 0.14 per cent of the country’s total geographical area and are spread over an area of 4,662.56 km2 (FSI 2011).
Sunderbans in West Bengal accounts for almost half of the total area under mangroves in India. Of the total geographical area, 2.54 per cent are classified as “very dense” (tree canopy density greater than 70 per cent), 9.76 per cent are “moderately dense” (tree canopy density from 40 to 70 per cent) and 8.75 per cent are “open forest” (tree canopy density from 10 to 40 per cent).
The forest vegetation ranges from that of the arid, semi-desert tracts of North-west India and the alpine scrub on the higher slopes of the Himalayas to the luxuriant evergreen forests of parts of Assam, Burma and the west coast of India, while the total number of woody plants comprises approximately 5,000 distinct species. The number of valuable timbers and other commercial products available in the forests is very large and many of them are as yet imperfectly known.
Among the best known timber trees are teak (Tectona grandis), rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia), shisham (Dalbergia sissoo), sal (Shorea robusta), red cedar (Toona ciliata), deodar (Cedrus deodara), satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia), padauk (Pterocarpus dalbergioides), bijasal (Pterocarpus marsupium), sandal (Santalum album), mahogany (Swietenia spp.), pine (Pinus spp.), axlewood (Anogeissus latifolia), benteak (Lagerstoemia parviflora), ironwood (Mesua ferrea), siris (Albizia spp.), aijun (Terminalia arjuna), oak (Quercus spp.), kathal (Artocarpus heterophyllus), aini (Artocarpus hirsutus), mango (Mangifera indica), babul (Acacia nilotica) The principal NTFPs are classified under bamboos, grass, fibres, oil-seeds, tanning materials, essential oils, gums, resins, rubber, drugs, lac etc.
Essay # 4. Utilization of Forest Products:
The pattern of utilization of forest resources has been influenced by growing rural population, with limited income opportunities and the related widespread poverty and migration of landless people in the forest areas. This pattern has intensified agricultural cultivation and inappropriate exploitation of forest resources, resulting in depletion and degradation of natural asset.
Governments of many countries have responded to these emerging conflicts through a series of initiatives that have addressed the need of the rural population without compromising environmental protection and conservation policy. Forest provides a range of wood and non-wood products as well as social and environmental services. Wood and wood products as the main commercial products of forests include fuel-wood and charcoal, industrial round wood, sawn wood, wood-based panels, wood pulp, paper and paperboard and wooden articles.
The abundance of raw material resources in certain regions of world makes the wood industry important to the region’s economic development. Besides providing employment in the sawmilling and furniture manufacturing industries, wood also provides building materials to the local construction industry and contributes to the growth of non-traditional exports through increased exports of wood products.
Non-wood Forest Products (NWFP) have an important role to play in the livelihoods of many rural communities, particularly in developing countries, where they provide a broad range of subsistence and commercial livelihood opportunities. While much of the trade is domestic, for some NWFP species and products, the international trade is significant and generates income for the resource harvesters and collectors as well as many other actors in the commodity chain.
The dearth of information on the trade of NWFP makes it difficult to estimate the total and relative levels of use for both domestic and commercial purposes, and this is complicated by the difficulty in distinguishing between subsistence use and trade for commercial purposes. The past thirty years have witnessed a significant growth in domestic and international trade in practically all products, including NWFP.
This growth has had accompanying implications, both positive and negative, for the species concerned as well as the numerous individuals operating within the commodity chains of the NWFP. Accordingly various instruments have been developed and implemented in attempts to regulate trade, normally with the intention of ensuring sustainable trade and equitable distribution of the benefits of such trade. These instruments range from multilateral environmental agreements such as CITES and CBD to regional trade and other agreements in national controls and voluntary instruments such as eco-labeling and certification schemes.
A forest product is any material derived from a forest for commercial use e.g., wood material such as timber, fuel-wood, paper and pulp logs, plywood logs or non-wood material such as fodder, gums, tannin, dyes, resins, fibre and flosses, fragrance and flavours, medicine, etc. Wood is the dominant commercial forest product but non-wood products derived from forest resources are also having more subsistence and commercial value being diversified in nature.
Wood has been an important construction material since humans began building shelters, houses and boats. Wood products are categorized in different types but major wood products include lumber or timber, plywood, laminated forest products, particle based products, fibre based products, fuel-wood, pulp and paper etc.
They all cater the need of constructional and structural timber, household items, furniture, cabinets as well as industrial need of paper & pulp, matchwood, pencil, sports goods and panel products industries. Wood is also commonly used as shuttering material, pit props in mining and poles for different purposes. The churches of Kizhi in Russia are among a handful of World Heritage Sites built entirely of wood, without metal joints.
Term Paper # 5. Valuation of Forest Cover:
While the value of any resource can be assessed by its demand behaviour, in case of forests, markets may not exist for all types of products while forest ‘services’ providing public goods have no market place at all. Moreover, they have the peculiarity of inter- generational use.
As a result of this, standard static economic analysis may not serve the purpose of decision making on issues regarding pricing and distribution of forest products. Also, such resources are subjected to a variety of property rights systems, different from individual or private property rights. In such a scenario alternative methods are required to value the forests.
There are externalities associated with forest resources and hence there is a gap between the value and notional price. The positive externalities are generally in terms of various ecological, biological and aesthetic benefits and very little price is paid. Most of the externalities are not accounted for and this results in gross under-estimation of environmental value of forests.
It is mostly the value of timber that gets reflected in the contribution of forests in state domestic product. Such an under-valuation often leads to inadequate allocation of funds for maintaining the forests. It is due to these reasons that there is need to take complete stock of forest resources and assign economic value to all intangibles including goods and services, soil erosion and agricultural productivity, health, etc.
In the case of natural and environmental resources a concept of Total Economic Value (TEV) is perhaps the most complete measure to express the full range of value of benefits – both tangible and intangible. Natural resources provide a variety of goods and services to the users for their current or future benefits or welfare and are said to have use values. Examples include timber from forests, water from rivers or underground, coal from fossilized earth, etc.
1. Use Values (UV):
Use Values (UV) can be further broadly classified into three groups; viz.:
i. Direct Use Value
ii. Indirect Use Value
iii. Option Value
The total economic value of the resource may be classified into use and non-use values. Use value may further be segregated into direct, indirect and option values. The Total Economic Value is the sum of use values and non-use values.
This can be expressed as:
TEV = UV + NUV = (DUV + IUV + OV) + (BV + EV)
i. Direct Use Value:
Direct Use Values (DUV) refer to the current use (consumption) of the resources and services provided, directly by natural and environmental resources. Direct use value includes uses that are possible with extraction activity or direct interaction with the forest resources and have commercial or subsistence values. Direct use value can be either consumptive or non-consumptive.
Forests provide timber, fuel-wood, fodder, medicinal plants, fruits, etc., to the people and thereby generate direct consumptive use values. Recreation, education, research etc., are examples of direct non-consumptive use values. These values include the use of the forest resources for timber, non-timber forest products, educational purposes, agricultural cultivation and recreation, and tourism.
The timber value of the forest has dominated extraction activities in the past but said use causes the drawdown or loss of other products and services as well. Further, there may be associated damages to society due to sedimentation of low-lying water bodies and farms. It is now recognized that the cost of consuming tree resources should also consider the value of the foregone products and resultant damages.
Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) include – fuel wood; extractives such as resins, latex, gums, bark and dyes; ornamental plants such as orchids; and food items such as seeds, spices, honey, fruits and bush meat. The local community consumes most of these products but certain commodities are used as raw materials by other sectors and hence are sold to local traders for further re-sale.
The recreational value of the resource is now increasingly recognized both for domestic and international tourism. The development of this enterprise can lead to the growth of other local industries to cater to the demands of the tourists (e.g., food industry, handicrafts and the service sector) and hence has considerable economic potential.
ii. Indirect Use Value:
Indirect Use Values (IUV) generally are referred to the ecological functions that the forests provide. These can be broadly classified into three groups – watershed values, ecosystem services and evolutionary processes. Watershed values include flood control, regulation of stream flows, recharging of ground water, effect of upstream or downstream; the ecosystem services include fixing of nitrogen, assimilation of waste, carbon sequestration, gene pool; and evolutionary processes include life support, biodiversity preservation, etc.,
iii. Option Value:
The option value pertains to one’s willingness to pay to keep the option open of being able to avail oneself of the direct and indirect uses of the forest at some future time Actual value may or may not be realized. Option Value (OV) is associated with the benefits received by retaining the option of using a resource in the future by protecting or preserving it today.
2. Non-Use Value:
The non-use value of the resource includes existence and bequest values. Existence value is the desire to have the resource intact or preserved in its own right. It also includes wanting to have the resource available to mankind for some altruistic or humanitarian reasons.
Non-use values (NUV) are generated without any direct link with the use of natural resource under question. These values are often revealed through peoples’ perceptions and concerns towards conservation, culture and aesthetics and so on.
i. Existence Value:
Existence Vale (EV) is a concept associated with people’s willingness to pay simply for the pleasure they derive from knowing that a natural area or particular species or characteristic exist, irrespective of any plans they may have to use these resources.
ii. Bequest Value:
Bequest value measures what one is willing to pay to protect a given area or resource for the benefits of his children and of the generations yet to come. The Bequest Value (BV) originates when people are willing to pay to conserve a resource for the use of future generations. People’s Willingness to Pay for the preservation of endangered species is an example of existence value.
Economic value measures provide a common metric of value for the different services provided by the forests viz., timber, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, watershed values, etc. in monetary units, say Rs/hectare. All types of values mentioned above are converted into monetary terms in order to help in decision making on alternative scenarios for the use of forests.