11 Forest Resource

Dr. Mohammed Baber Ali

epgp books

   

 

 

 

 

Learning Outcomes:

 

The learning outcomes of the lesson will include the following major facets of forest resources.

  • Forest Resources in the UN 2030 Agenda
  • World Distribution Pattern Across the Continents &Countries
  • Resource Assessment of World forestry
  • Ecological Services of forest
  • Livelihood Services of forest
  • Indian Forest Characteristics
  • Size and Distribution of Indian Forests.
  • Resource, Industrial and Livelihood Services of Forests in India

    1: Introduction:

 

The 14th World Forestry Congress held in Durban in 2015, set out a vision on the contributions of forest in achieving the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” of UN. It emphasized that the “forests are more than trees and are fundamental for food security and improved livelihoods. The forests of the future will increase the resilience of communities by providing food, wood, energy, shelter, fodder and fibre; generating income and employment to allow communities and societies to prosper; and harbouring biodiversity. They will support sustainable agriculture and human well-being by stabilizing soils and climate, and regulating water.”(FAO, 2016 b)

 

2 World Distribution of Forest:

 

FAO defines forest as the 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 being able to reach these thresholds in situ. In 2015 the global forest area accounted 3,999 million ha which was about 30 per cent of the total world area.

 

The world natural forest accounted 93 per cent of the global forest area with little less than 3.7 billion ha. Natural forest is the expansion of forest through natural succession on land that, until then, was under another land use. Planted forest is predominantly composed of trees established through planting and/or deliberate seeding. It reported to be 291 million ha in 2015. During 2015, the average annual reforestation of 27 million ha took place by planting and/or deliberate seeding on land classified as forest. Area of other land with tree cover is the land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use and has patches of tree cover that span more than 0.5 hectares with a canopy cover of more than 10 per cent of trees able to reach a height of 5 metres at maturity. This category of land with tree cover reported (284 million ha) which is around the same as in the case of planted forest (Table4.4.1)

 

Table 1: World Forest Area and its Characteristics, 2015

 

In million hectares

 

Source: FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2016

Figure3: Agro Forestry

 

Source: FAO 2016

 

Table 2: Continent wise World Forest Resources, 2015

 

Source: FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2016

 

The continental distribution pattern of forest shows that the temperate climate having developed continental parts are having better forest spread as Europe dominates among the rest with 1015 million ha. The North-Central and South America reported nearly same extent having forest area in 2015 respectively with 842 and751 million ha. Across continents the forest area and the natural forest area reported in same hierarchy during the same year of

 

2015.However, in plantation drive Asia lead followed by North-Central America and Europe (Table4.4.2).

 

TABLE 3: Forest Area in Top Ten Countries, 2015

 

Source: FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2016

 

According to the FAO forest area is the area which is demarcated as area supposed to support forest. The table 4.4.3 depicts how the 67 per cent of the world forest area is distributed in just top ten countries. In 2015, the Russian Federation topped the list with 20 per cent of the global forest area well spread in 50 per cent of its geographical area. The vast Siberian territory has lesser inroad of human activities leaving vast territory under forest. In respect of geographical area under forest (59 per cent) and with the global forest area of 12 per cent Brazil ranked second. Another country of South America ,Peru has also larger portion of its territory dedicated to forest(58 per cent).Asia has very little share of its land area under forest ,though three countries find place in the league of top ten countries. The global share for the Asian countries China, Indonesia and India together amounted just 9 per cent of the world total. For housing the lion’s share of world population, she has been land hungry eating away the forests. The only country of Africa, finding place among the top ten countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo ranked first in respect of country’s largest land proportion (67 per cent) reported under forest.

 

3 Forest as a Resource: Although agriculture is the most significant driver of global deforestation, there is an urgent need to promote the symbiotic relationship between these two land uses. On the one hand, there is the challenge of feeding a global population of 9 billion by 2050, on the other the threats of climate change, the growing water and land scarcity, and soil and land degradation are looming large around the world making it a big challenge to increase the food production. The forest with more than 75 per cent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity can play increasingly important complementary role to the agriculture. This is by helping mitigate climate change and protect soils and water, provide many products and services that contribute to socioeconomic development. They are particularly important for hundreds of millions of people in rural areas, including many of the world’s poorest people and poor rural women are especially dependent on forest resources for their subsistence (FAO, 2016 b).

 

3.1 Ecological Services: Forest protects, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems by combating desertification, halting and or reversing land degradation and biodiversity loss. This helps mitigate climate change and provide increased resilience in the face of increased human pressure and mounting disasters. Forest produce benefits for all communities such as; clean air, water, food, raw materials and medicines, among others.

 

Forest plays the role of savior by storm protection, flood control, drought recovery. By regulation of hydrological flows it ensures provisioning of water for agriculture, industries and transportation. By formation, retention, enrichment of soil and by prevention of their loss it gives the vital support system without which agriculture can cripple down. Among innumerable benefits some others are waste treatment, pollution control, detoxification, pollination and above all the primary production extractable as food, feed and fodder. Forests also have aesthetic, artistic, educational, spiritual, scientific and recreational values to count among others.

 

3.2 Livelihood Services of Forests: Of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) declared by 2015 UN Summit, the two SDGs have close link with livelihood linked to forest .The 2nd goal is to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”; and the 15th is to “Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”. Given its multi functionality, forests have to play important roles for achieving several other SDGs outlined by UN.

 

     Although agriculture and forestry are sometimes perceived as conflicting land uses, well-managed forests have tremendous potential to promote food security. Forests cover one-third of the earth’s land surface, and forest environmental services are crucial for agricultural production because of the key roles they play in water cycles, pollination, natural pest control, soil fertility, local climate regulation and resilience to changing environmental conditions. Forests contribute to rural livelihoods and poverty alleviation through income generated by employment in the production of forest goods and environmental services. Millions of people depend on food from diverse plants and animals found in forests and from trees located outside forests, increasing the nutritional quality and diversity of their diets; forest foods can also serve as safety nets in periods of food scarcity. Another major contribution of forests to food security is the provision of wood fuel for cooking .It is estimated that 2.4 billion people which is 40 per cent of the population of less-developed countries, cook with wood fuel (FAO, 2014a).

 

The rural development and the eco development can go hand in hand and simultaneously functioning as a logical environmental solution to poverty in developing countries from Southeast Asia and Africa such as Bhutan, Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Viet Nam, etc. Forests and trees often serve as major sources of livelihood to the poor and women, meeting their subsistence needs, generating income in cash often to women and serving as economic “safety nets” in critical periods for the household.

 

Gender equity issues are closely associated with the livelihood dependence on forest especially of poor women in many rural developing countries. Women often engage themselves productively (mostly unnoticed) in gathering edible wild plants (fruits, leaves and roots as supplement to feed the family), firewood and several non-wood products for medicine, house-building, paint, manure and pesticide. Forests in poor societies provide succor to all with gender parity.

 

Among the better off farmers agroforestry is now a quite lucrative modern practice. Agro forestry in its many forms is crucial for food security and poverty alleviation which can help support on- farm production activity. It can double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers.

 

3.3: Resource Assessment of World Forest: In 2015 about 31 per cent of the world’s forests were primarily designated as production forest with 1187 million hectares. Around the same proportion with 28 per cent of the reported forest area was designated for multiple uses. They provide a wide range of products and services. With an area of 524 million hectares the conservation of biodiversity represents the primary management objective for 13 per cent of the world’s forests. The area of forests designated for protection of soil and water represents 31 per cent of the forest area with the reported area of 1015 million ha in 2015. It is difficult to quantify the economic gain and moreover data generation is missed mostly where they are more meaningful support that is in developing countries. The economic gains are accounted in two waysi.e.in-forest employment and activities. In 2010 world over 12.7million persons employed in forest and in 2016 the in forest activities generated 116 billion USD (Table 4.4.4).

 

Figure.5: Resource Utilisation of Forest

 

Source: FAO 2016

Table 4: World Forest Resources Assessment

 

Source: FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2016

Table 5: Continent-wise Forest Resource Assessment

 

 

Source: FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2016

     The forest resource assessment in respect of employment in forestry for the year 2010 show great leverage towards Asia. In Asia around 10 billion persons reported employment in forestry which is much ahead of trailing Africa reporting just 1 billion persons engaged in forestry.

 

 

North& Central America lead in respect of protection of soil and water; ecosystem services, cultural or spiritual values and forest area under a management plan (Table 4.4.5).

 

Table 6: World Forest Productions

 

 

Source: FAOSTAT-Forestry Database

 

   The world forest production is measured in the form of products as different type of woods like round wood, fuel wood , industrial round wood, wood pellets, sawn wood; wood-based panels like veneer, plywood, particleboard & fibreboard; and wood pulp, fibre pulp, paper and paperboard. The wood-based panels include veneer sheets, plywood, particle board, and fibreboard. They are thin sheets of wood of uniform thickness. Wood Pulp is the fibrous material prepared from wood chips, particles, residues or recovered paper by mechanical and/or chemical process for further manufacture into paper, paperboard, fibreboard or other cellulose products. Recovered Paper is the waste and scraps of paper or paperboard that have been collected for re-use or trade. Wood fuel is the living or dead volume of wood including bark and other non-woody biomass and any wood that is removed, e.g. stumps, branches and tree tops and the felling residues used as fuel. In million cubic metres the largest production was in the form of round wood (3714 million cubic metres) and the reported least item in the form of veneer and plywood(171 million cubic metres)(Table4.4.6).

 

  In respect of these forest products the top three producer and consumer countries have been identified. Except in wood fuel production India do not figure in the list. USA, China, Canada, Russian Federation and Japan shared the ranks mostly among the major producer and consumer countries of forest products in 2015(Tables4.4.7&4.4.8)

 

 

Table7: Major Producers of Forest Products, 2015

 

Source: FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2016

 

 

Table 8: Major Consumers of Forest Products, 2015

 

 

Source: FAO, Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2016

 

4:   Forests in India: In India forestry is the second largest land use category after agriculture. Besides the government notified reserves and protected forests and the unclassified forest falling under the government domain, there can be forest land under private and community ownership also recognized under law. The social forestry generated forest resource fall under this category which is devolved to the local government to be managed as a common property resources. They provide all the goods and services as in the case of any other forests.

 

Another identifiable forest resource is the agro forestry included in the agriculture sector provides the large quantum of raw material to forest based industries. Only a part of the growing demand for wood and wood products is met by agro forestry and mostly we depend on import. Therefore there is great scope to expand this agriculture based forestry. The participatory or joint forest management (JFM) have also evolved in India side by side of agro forestry since the 1980s.It is an expression of acceptance of government for involving the locals in the management for the rehabilitation of degraded forests. This is a model blending economics with ecology.

 

Besides some successful JFM models operational across the country, there are other government sponsored initiative for the conservation of forest ecology and sustainable livelihood of the local people. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change sponsored Biodiversity Conservation and Rural Livelihood Improvement Project (BCRLIP) provides opportunity to the communities in Periyar and Satpura landscape sites. Under the project about 40 thousand households of forest dependent communities such as salt-pan farmers, livestock keepers, farmers, fisherman, and other vulnerable households have been brought under 300 village conservation committees (VCC).

 

5: Size and Distribution of Forest in India: The Forest Survey of India is assigned the task to do regular assessment of forest cover in the country. Since 1981 it undertakes on a two year cycle basis assessment of forest in the 14 physiographic zones into which country is divided for this purpose. The assessment of tree cover is done by digital processing of the satellite imageries for the tree cover blocks of more than 1ha(called forest cover) and a statistical inventory based assessment is done for the notional tree cover outside forests(TOF) accounting for patches having less than 1 ha extent.

 

Figure 4: Tree Cover Distribution in India

 

Source: Google images

Figure 4: Forest Types

 

Source: India State of Forest Report, 2015

 

In India the forest cover is put in two categories namely; very dense and moderately dense forest. The Indian forest cover is largely moderately dense accounting 9.59 per cent while the very dense category returned just 2.61 per cent during 2015.Open forest covers accounted slightly less than the moderate dense category at 9.14 per cent. Altogether they accounted 21.34 per cent to be clubbed as total forest cover including mangroves, too. The last forest category of Tree cover reported at 2.82 per cent thus accounting the total forest and tree cover in country to be at 24.16 ways behind the ideal   percentage of the total geographical area of the country it should have. Scrubs accounted at 1.26 per cent which though not forest have immense importance for livestock rearing (Table4.4.9)

 

Table 9: Forest Cover in India, 2015

 

Source: India State of Forest Report, 2015

 

In respect of actual forest cover (in Sq.km) Madhya Pradesh(77462) leads the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh(67248), Chhattisgarh(55586),Maharashtra(50628),Odisha(50354),Karnataka(36 421),Assam(27623),Tamil Nadu(26345),Andhra Pradesh,(24424)and Uttarakhand(24240).Area having very dense forest is reported from Arunachal Pradesh with 20804 Sq.km which is much larger than the rest states having very dense forest. For example the second and third ranking states reported at only 8712 and 7023Sqkm respectively by Maharashtra and Odisha. However in respect of moderately dense forest having area three states viz. Madhya Pradesh (34902), Chhattisgarh (34846) and Arunachal Pradesh (31301 Sq. km) reported close figures in 2015.In respect of both open forest and scrub category of vegetation the three top states of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra ranked gradually in decreasing order of their areal extent(Table 4.4.10).

 

Table 10 : State wise Forest Cover in India,2015

 

Source: India State of Forest Report, 2015

 

The Indian forest is grouped as classified and unclassified categories wherein the former is further divided into two types- reserved and protected forest .They are notified either under Indian Forest Act or a State Forest Act .The reserve forest enjoys higher degree of protection wherein human activities are prohibited unless expressly permitted. In the protected forests human activities are allowed barring a few prohibited activities. The forest which has not been notified under either reserve or protected is called unclassified forest. Among the top 10 states and UTs in forest area(in Sq.km) Andhra Pradesh(94689)ranked 1st in 2015 followed by Arunachal Pradesh(61579), Assam(59772), Bihar(58136), Chhattisgarh (51407), Delhi (38284), Goa(38000), Gujarat(37258), Haryana(37033)and Himachal Pradesh(32737).Same year the reserved forest area was reported largest from the state of Madhya Pradesh(61886 Sq.km) followed by Maharashtra(49546), Andhra Pradesh (31959),Karnataka(28690) and Chhattisgarh(25782).The protected forest across the states are having different presence. It was reported for the year 2015 most from the state of Himachal Pradesh(33130Sq.km), Madhya Pradesh(31098) and Chhattisgarh(24036).The last category of Unclassified category forest is reported its largest spread in the states of Arunachal Pradesh(31039 Sq.km),Odisha(16282) and Manipur(11780)Table4.4.11)

 

 

 

Table 11: Forest of India by Class

 

Source: India State of Forest Report, 2015

 

The mangrove forest constitutes the salt tolerant plant communities found in the sheltered coastal areas. They are one of the richest biodiversity having ecosystems. They provide excellent breeding and nursing ground for marine species and are source of food, fuel, fodder, building materials and medicines. They protect by functioning as tide breakers. India accounts nearly 3% of the world mangrove spread in an area of 4740 sq km .Around half of it is found in the Sunder ban delta area of West Bengal and ¼ reported from Gujarat. The rest of it is reported from Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and other coastal states and UTs (Table4.4.12).

 

 

Figure 2 Mangrove Distribution in India

 

Source:https://www.slideshare.net/janilosarmiento/forest-resources-15981456

 

Table 1 2: Mangrove Cover Assessment, 2015

 

Source: India State of Forest Report, 2015, Forest Survey of India

6 Indian Forest Resource and Livelihood: “From the point of view of forest utilization value, the important forest regions include the central southern region with predominantly teak forests, the eastern region with sal dominated forests and the western Himalayan region with coniferous species like pine, cedar, spruce and fir. The northeastern region is rich in tropical and subtropical moist forests with much diversity of hardwood and softwood species. Similar composition of forests in the Western Ghats and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been an important source of wood and wood products. Other specific ecologically important regions include sandalwood habitats in the southern dry belt, red sanders in Andhra Pradesh, shola forests in Nilgiris, mangroves in the Sundarbans in West Bengal, rain forests in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Himalayan alpines.”(FAO, 2009)

 

Table 13: ANNUAL SURVEY OF INDUSTRIES (FACTORY SECTOR), 2013-14

 

Source: Statistical Yearbook India,2017(Available at: http://www.mospi.gov.in/statistical-year-book-india/2017)

 

The types of industries dependent on forest for their raw material include saw milling and planing of wood, manufacture of veneer sheets,plywood,laminboard,particle board and other panels and board, builders’ carpentry and joinery, wooden containers and other products of wood; manufacture of articles of cork, straw and plaiting materials and; products of wood, cork, straw and plaiting materials. Manufacture of pulp, paper, paperboard, corrugated paper and containers of paper and paperboard are other important industries. The annual survey of industries 2013-14 reported a total of 20.78 thousand factories operational engaging 6.46 lac persons in India. A total output of 2.08 lac crores including the net value addition of around 27 thousand crores was accounted for such forest raw material based industries. Manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products recorded lions share among all such industries in respect of the entire attributes like no. of factories, employment, total output and the net value added (Table4.4.13).

 

6.1: Forest as a Source of Livelihood in India: Forest and forest produce are the multipurpose resources which have immense potential to provide livelihood to the forest dwellers and fringe/ poor people mostly living on the fringe of forests. Hence the government guarantees constitutional provision empowering the panchayat to exercise rights at least on the non wood forest products (NWFPs).The JFM or Common Property Resource Management (CPRM) model focus on empowerment of community institutions in management and deriving livelihoods from forests. The Constitution of India puts the responsibility of social forestry on local panchayat.

 

6.2: Economic valuation of Forests and Forest Products: Estimating the value of intangible benefits of forest is not without doubt. However a few attempts have been made in India recently to estimate the economic value of the intangible benefits of forests. One such estimation of a few benefits on a unit area basis has been depicted in the table 4.4.14.

 

Table 14. Annual values of selected benefits of forests in India

 

 

Summary: Forests protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems by combating desertification, halting and reversing land degradation and halting biodiversity loss. This helps mitigate climate change and provide increased resilience in the face of increased human pressures and mounting disasters. Forest produce benefits for all communities such as; clean air, water, food, raw materials and medicines, among others.

 

Forest plays the role of savior by storm protection, flood control, drought recovery. By regulation of hydrological flows it ensures provisioning of water for agriculture, industries and transportation.

 

By soil formation, retention, enrichment and prevention of loss it gives the support system without which agriculture can die down. Among innumerable benefits some others are waste treatment, pollution control, detoxification, pollination and above all the primary production extractable as food, feed and fodder. Forests also have aesthetic, artistic, educational, spiritual, scientific and recreational values to count among others.

 

 

you can view video on Forest Resource

 

References