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Home , Ahmednagar, Ahmednagar district, Akole, Kopargaon, Nashik district, Nevasa

www.ijhssr.com International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Review (IJHSSR); Vol. 1, Issue 2; July 2021 E-ISSN 2582-9106

A Disquisition on Forest Resources in District, ,

India

1Shejul Meena Eknath, 2Soniya Sonkar & 3Gadekar Deepak Janardhan 1Good Shepherd School, A/P-Kadit, Tal- Shirampur Dist- Ahmednagar, Maharashtra state, 2Department of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India 3Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Padmashri Vikhe Patil College of Arts Science & Commerce, Pravaranagar e-mail id: [email protected]

Abstract The forest has a unique significance. It houses many economic and environmental benefits. This vegetation keeps the environment in balance. In short, ecological plants provide shelter to the animals and also benefit the plants to maintain the quality of the environment directly and indirectly. Also, many economic activities are dependent on these forest resources, as a result of which there exists various job opportunities too. Temperature and rainfall are the major factors affecting the distribution and growth of forest. Therefore, the main objective is to study the geography of vegetation resources in . This research paper is based on the secondary data- those data collected from Directorate of Economics and Commerce, Ahmednagar district. Keywords: Forest, Resources, Ahmednagar, Natural and Human Resources, GIS Contribution/Originality: This is a study on forest resources in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India Introduction Vegetation not only maintains the quality of the environment but also helps in reducing soil erosion and helps in raising the water level. At the same time, forest brings huge economic benefits and create employment. Therefore, plants have a unique significance. In short, the plants have manifold environmental and economic benefits. The vegetation is a renewable natural resource. According to Zimmermann, resource means that every substance has some

105 www.ijhssr.com International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Review (IJHSSR); Vol. 1, Issue 2; July 2021 E-ISSN 2582-9106 latent qualities which remain hidden and with a determined value. The English language plays an inexplicable role in the post-modern era (John, 2021). The featured resource is primarily the latent quality of an object and its characteristics that give it an innovation. In the name of resource, people use it or find it useful (Roy, 2007). Resources are of two types- first is natural resources and the second, human resources (Eknath, 2020). Resource measuring is not an easy task. Forest is a cluster of trees growing together at one place and is one of the largest renewable natural resources. The most important reason for the increasing population pressure on the agricultural sector is the growing population and the declining proportion of agriculture (Deepak, 2021). Rainfall is an importance factor for vegetation distribution. Forest is a natural resource, the vegetation delineation using a Landsat-7 & 8 (OLI) ETM+ Data for resourceful vegetation mapping. A forest is a complex ecosystem which is mostly composed of tress and is a closed covering. Water is vital key among the other natural resources (Sonawane & Sonkar, 2020). the resources remain in an unequal distribution because of certain factors that influence them e.g. topography, climate, soil, water bodies. The Geographical and ecological factors and rainfall pattern and soil composition mainly affect the distribution of vegetation. The soil as a natural resource is the base of prosperity, considering any stats under which the land, water, forest is included. Resource is mainly classified into natural and human resources. Natural resource is further classified as reproducible and non-reproducible as well as biotic and abiotic but human resource is classified into qualitative and quantitative. Natural resource mainly consists of resources such as water, land, plants, sunlight, etc. Plants are one of significant natural resources. The quality of the environment and human life depends entirely on these natural resources. The supply of oxygen to human beings from these plants depends on the quality of the environment. So the first main objective in this study is to understand how the geographical distribution of vegetation is. Study Area Ahmednagar district has been selected for geographical study of plants. Ahmednagar district is the largest geographical district in the state of Maharashtra. The geographical location 18° 20´ and 19° 59´ north latitudes and 73° 40´ to 75° 43´ east longitudes (Map.1)

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Administratively, Ahmednagar district consists of 14 taluks which are mainly divided into North Ahmednagar district and president Ahmednagar district. Out of these 14 taluks, about eight taluks are affected by drought. The geographical feature of this Ahmednagar district is , the highest peak in Maharashtra. A large number of tourism developments have taken place here and many more are yet to take place.

Objective The objective of this study is to demarcate the forest area and to analyse the classification of forest on the basis of different types of vegetation. The second objective is to study the geographical distribution of forest resources in Ahmednagar district. Database and Methodology This research article depends on secondary data, data collected from Ahmednagar district statistical website in 2020 year. The obtained data for forest has been converted into percentage values for better understanding and categorized into three zones- high, moderate and low. The cartographic methods such as bar graph etc. have been used. The data is represented with the help of appropriate classification criteria of the forest area. More than 22

107 www.ijhssr.com International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Review (IJHSSR); Vol. 1, Issue 2; July 2021 E-ISSN 2582-9106 percentage of the forest cover is categorized into high forest area according to this criteria. Similarly, less than 22-10 percentage is grouped under moderated forest area and low forest area comprises less than 10 percentage forest cover, taking the total geographical area into consideration. Result and Discussion Although plants are natural resources, their unique importance in the environment depends on the oxygen cycle of the plants as well as the entire human life. The environmental quality and conditions as well as economic activities depend on this vegetation. The topography results in rainfall, and impact of rainfall steers how the vegetation is distributed. The Climate is an important factor that influences the resources. So the topography and rainfall in Ahmednagar district are observed to have affected the distribution of vegetation. Consequentially, the maximum forest cover is found in the Tehsil (27.2 percent) followed by Rahuri (15.4 percent) and (10.1 percent). The maximum vegetation cover in Akole tehsil among other tehsils in Ahmednagar District are Kalsubai, Harishchandra Garh Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) followed by Parner (10.1percentage), (9.5 percentage), Karjat (8.8 percentage) in the tehsils where moderate and low forest cover are found. Most importantly, Rehekuri WLS and Maldhok WLS are found in this area.

Table no 01: Forest area in Hectares and percentage (2020 year) Name of Total Geographical Forest area Forest area in Tehsils area in Hectares in Hectares percentages Akole 150400 41698 27.7 Jamkhed 87524 3772 4.3 Karjat 149152 13068 8.8 70613 0 0.0 Nagar 150272 13165 8.8 129204 1459 1.1

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Parner 186792 18792 10.1 117784 6426 5.5 68786 0 0.0 Rahuri 101685 15706 15.4 135780 1140 0.8 108713 1157 1.1 Shrigonda 160481 15210 9.5 50602 0 0.0 Total 1667788 131593 7.9

Sources: Directorate of Economics and Statistics Ahmednagar district 2020

The most important reason for the high vegetation in Akole tehsil in this study area is the mountainous area. The rainfall received is above average rainfall, the highest rainfall having been recorded in the taluk of Ahmednagar district. In short, all these geographical factors have affected the distribution of vegetation here, so Akole taluk of Ahmednagar district has the highest number of vegetation in Akole tehsil. The No forest area in Shrirampur tehsil where Kopargaon resides, means that the quality of environment in this tehsil is degraded. There is a necessity for planting of afforestation here to help maintain the quality of environment in this tehsil. Table no 02: Level of Forest Area Sr.no Index value in % Level of Name of the Tehsils Number of Tehsils Forest Area 01 More than 22 High Akole 01 02 22.1 to 10 Moderated Parner, Rahuri 02

03 Less than 10 Low Jamkhed, Karjat, Nagar, 08 Nevasa, Pathardi, Sangamner,

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Shevgaon ,Shrigonda 04 0 None of the Kopargaon, Rahata, Shrirampur 03 Forest Area Sources: Computed by the authors Geographically, there are two types of tropical forests found in the district. In tropical monsoon region where rainfall is seasonal and a definite dry season exists, deciduous and semi evergreen forests are prevalent. They are also known as monsoon forests. There are certain parts covered by grassland too. These forests protect the wood, land and soil the existence of which determine the climatic condition. The zone of high forest cover comprises one tehsil having more than 22 percent forest cover e.g. the Akole tehsil. This area holds the maximum forest cover because of the average rainfall being 1058 mm. Jamkhed, Karjat, Nevasa, Pathardi, Shrigonda and Shevgaon taluks in Ahmednagar district being drought prone, accounts for the vegetation in these areas being much less than the aforementioned percentage which indicates that afforestation is a must in these taluks.

Graph no 01: Level of Forest area with number of Tehsils

level of forest area

8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Number of Number Tehsils 1 0 High Moderated Low None of the forest area

Level

The zone of moderate level of forest distribution comprises two tehsil: namely Parner (10.1 percent), Rahuri (15.4 percent) and third zone where there is considerably low forest distribution (less than 10 percentage). The tehsils are Jamkhed (4.3), Karjat (8.8), Nagar (8.8),

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Nevasa (1.1), Pathardi (5.5), Sangamner (0.8), Shevgaon (1.1),Shrigonda (9.5) The condition of being drought prone and the effect of rainfall in these tehsils result in the low forest cover. Sangamner and Nagar tehsils have low forest area as both are urban. The zone of ‘No forest area' tehsils are Kopargaon, Rahata, and Srirampur. The use of remote sensing and GIS methods is leading to a large collection of agricultural information (Deepak, 2021). Conclusion The temperature, precipitation and topography in Ahmednagar district affect the distribution of forest. In short, Akole taluk in Ahmednagar district and the other mountain ranges such as the Sahyadri receive the highest rainfall. The taluk has the highest forest area in Ahmednagar district with 27.6 per cent forest cover, followed by Rahuri taluk with 15.4 per cent and Parner taluk with 10.19 per cent forest cover. On the other hand, Nevasa Shevgaon has the lowest forest cover and Kopargaon ,Shrirampur and Rahata Tehsil have zero forest area.

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