FOREST RESOURCES

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FOREST RESOURCES
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ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS a case study

• CONDITION THAT PREVAILED BEFORE
• One of the finest tropical evergreen forests
• Rich biodiversity
• Low population, tribals living in harmony with
  nature.

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CONDITION THAT EXISTS NOW

• Forest degradation due to legal and illegal
  logging.
• Degradation of soil, soil erosion.
• Heavy flow of sediments into coastal waters
  killing substantial amount of corals.
• Threat to the biodiversity (saltwater crocodile
  and Andaman wild pig have become endangered
  species).
• Threat to tribes.
• Population pressure is high.

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CAUSES

• Extraction of timber from 1883.
• Govt. supported migration of people from other
  parts of the country.
• The 340-km long Andanman trunk road.
• Increased interference of man.

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FOREST AREA COVER
Class Area in sq.km. Percentage of Geographic area
DENSE FOREST 377358 11.48
OPEN FOREST 255064 7.76 
MANGROVES 4,871 0.15
SCRUB 51,896 1.58
NON FOREST 2,598,074 79.03
TOTAL 3,287,263 100.00
SOURCE FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE, 1999
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www.mapsofindia.com
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www.mapsofindia.com
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Our focus will be on

• Present scenario
• Threats posed due to human activities
• The resources
• Forest conservation and sustainable resource use.
• Community participation

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STATE OF WORLDS FORESTS

• The total forest area of the world amounts to 3.6
  billion hectares in 1999 , down from 6 billion
  hectares 8000 years ago
• 56 countries have lost between 90 and 100 of
  their forests.
• 15 million hectares of forest were lost annually
  in the last two decades,largely in the tropics.
• 12.5 of plants and 75 of animal species are
  threatened by decline of forests
• In the developing countries alone, some US 45
  billion is lost through poor forest management.
• About 14 million hectares of forestland are lost
  annually, due to conversion of forests into
  cropland.

Source WCFSD report ,1999
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Plant species under threat

• Threat Category (IUCN ) Number
  of species
• Extinct
  19
• Extinct/Endangered
  43
• Endangered
  149
• Endangered/Vulnerable
  2
• Vulnerable
  108
• Rare
  256
• Indeterminate
  719
• Insufficiently Known
  9
• No information
  1441
• Not threatened
  374
• TOTAL
  3120

IUCN RED LIST OF ENDENGERED SPECIES 2000
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Animal species under threat
IUCN RED LIST OF ENDENGERED SPECIES 2000
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Medicinal plant(endangered)

• For the next 5 years following seven plants
  require concentrated attention
• Aloe vera (Ghrita Kumari)
• Bacopa monnieri (Brahmi)
• Centella asiatica (Mandookparni, Gotu Kola)
• Rauwolfia serpentina (Sarpagandha)
• Catharanthus roseus (Periwinkle)
• Taxus baccata / Taxus wallichiana (Himalayan Yew)
• Artemisia annua

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• INITIATIVES ON THE PART OF
  INDEPENDENT COMISSION
• To get a political as well as technical
  approach for the solutions in forest degradation
  a group of 30 former heads of government and
  state, was established by the name of world
  commision on forestes and sustainable development
  (WCFSD). The independent commisions objectives
  were to
• Increasing awareness about preserving the natural
  environment and contributing to economic
  development.
• Broadening the consensus on the data ,science
  and policy aspects of forest conservation and
  management.
• Building confidence between north and south on
  the forest matters, with emphasis on
  international cooperation.
• the commission held public hearings in
  Asia,Africa,Euriope,Latin America and the
  Caribbean and North America and dealt with forest
  dwellings, local communities, farmers, industry
  executives etc.

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CLASSIFICATION OF FORESTS AND ITS
EXPLOITATIONThree main categories of forests
i.e.old growth, secondary growth and plantations.

• Old growth or frontier forests are uncut forests
  that have not been seriously disturbed by human
  activities or natural disasters for several
  years.
• Secondary growth forests are formed due to result
  of secondary ecological succession that has taken
  place due to clearance by human activities or
  natural disasters and then left undisturbed.
• Plantations consists of commercially valuable
  trees which are managed forests created by
  clearing old-growth or second-growth forests.
  These are a source of industrial wood.

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PRODUCTS AND SERVICES PROVIDED BY FORESTS

• INDUSTRIAL WOOD AND FUELWOOD
• NON-WOOD PRODUCTS
• ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
• OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS

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Wood and non wood products

• Timber
• Tendu leaves
• Bamboo
• Sal seed
• Honey
• Medicinal plants
• Rubber
• Pickle
• Biodiesel
• Ply wood

www.orissafdc.com
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Ways of destruction of forests

• Natural
• Forest fire
• Climatic change

• Human made
• Commercial logging
• Commercial harvesting
• Construction
• Intentional fire
• Mining

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Impact of deforestation

• Erosion of topsoil
• Floods
• Extinction of plants and animals
• Local climatic change
• Global warming
• Loss of livelihood of local communities

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• SUSTAINABLE FO REST MANAGEMENT

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FOREST CONSERVATION

• Foresters and local people are working together
  to conserve forests.
• Extractive Reserves-Protected forest in
  whichlocal people are allowed to harvest products
  like fruits, fibre , medicine etc.
• Main objective is to improve the life of the
  people while conserving biodiversity.

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Communities involved in Forest Conservation

• Joint Forest Management
• Concept introduced in 1980s.
• In JFM local communities are involved in
  planinng the conservation programme.
  eg.-The Tamilnadu Afforestation
  Project(TAP)
• SOCIAL FORESTRY
• Used in India in 1976.
• Plantation of eucalyptus tree

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Efficient use of wood

• Paper made from natural fibres and agricultural
  residues.
• China plans to make 60 of its paper from tree
  free pulp.
• In India Navneet publications use eco friendly
  papers to make copybooks.

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Some notable examples in the field of forest
conservation

• CHIPKO MOVEMENT Gaura Devi
• The Green Belt Movement Wangari Maathai
• Struggle in AmazoniaChico Mendes
• Red wood trees CaliforniaJulia Butterfly
  
  

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VASUNDHARA

• Vasundhara is a non-governmental
  organisation,working primarily in Orissa with
  natural resources management focused on
  sustainable rural livelihoods.
• Trying to improve community-state collaboration.
• Facilitates policy changes in the direction of
  sustainable community
• based forest management systems.
• Main area of work deals with policy advocacy,
  research and documentation, capacity building and
  networking.
• Instrumental in initiating coordinated action and
  response from the civil society on forestry
  issues.
• SOURCEWWW.ENVINDIA.COM

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ACTIONS

• RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION-focused on supporting
  efforts to improve access and control of
  eco-system people,people who depend upon their
  immediate ecosystem for sustenance on their
  natural resources, forestry-agriculture etc.
• NETWORKING AND ALLIANCE BUILDING - especially
  for creating a pressure group for policy changes
  for devolution of power to local communities for
  resource management.
• CAPACITY BUILDING EFFORTS-for village
  institutions especially in two field locations
  which include information generation, networking,
  alliance building, training workshops and
  meetings etc.

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Recommendations for conservation of forests

• Stop destructions of forest
• Use of sustainaible forest management approach
• Research and training programme.
• Proper planning for the whole landscape and not
  the forest in isolation

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THANK YOU

• GROUP 9
• ANANDA SAHA ( 9)
• SUBHODIP GANGULI (53)
• VIJAYESH KR. PANDEY (57)
• VIKAS CHATURVEDI (59)