INSTUTIONALIZATION OF GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY IN Management and Planning

By Rajbir Singh Bondwal IFS (Retd) Former: Head, Forest Division Forest Research Institute Dehradun-248006 Email:[email protected], Mobile No 9599558503 INVOLVEMENTS • Forest Cover Mapping and other GIS Projects as DD, FSI Dehradun • as Regional Director, FSI Shimla • Identification and Study of Forest Fringe Villages and GIS support in other Research Projects as Head, Forest Informatics Division, FRI Dehradun • Teaching preparation of forest Working Plan according to NWPC 2014 to new as well as experienced forest officer as guest faculty in CASFOS Dehradun • Teaching RS GIS in FRI University as guest faculty The premise • Knowledge is immaterial unless translated into a meaningful action (plan) • Think globally act locally - Plan with a larger spatial and temporal perspective and play own present part effectively in a collective and continuous endeavor • In Management, district level Working Plan is the building block of national/international endeavors • For a meaningful action plan we have to be clear about where we are, where we want to reach and what are the possible pathways Geospatial technology provides wherewithal to visualize the present status, projected scenario and intervening stages in a visual manner National Working Plan Code – 2014 For Sustainable Management of and Biodiversity

in India Emergent Issues : Appreciation of “Multiple Functions”

Multiple Goods and Services accruing from the forests Goods a) Woody products e.g. Timber, Fuelwood, etc. b) NWFP e.g. Fodder, Fruits, Tendu leaves, Honey, Lac, Flowers, Medicinal and Aromatic plants etc. Services a) Hydrological functions – Power generation, Flood control etc. b) Soil and water conservation for local productivity and prosperity c) Biodiversity conservation for ecosystem integrity and gene pool for posterity d) for climate change mitigation e) Educational, recreational, cultural, spiritual values

Hence the necessity to Manage Forests for Multiple Functions as laid down in the National Working Plan Code -2014

OBJECTIVES AND OTHER ESSENTIALS OF MANAGEMENT PLANNING • Biodiversity Conservation and Development • Joint • Community Forest Management • Fringe Forest Management • Water Resources Management • Soil and Water Conservation • Forest Health and Diseases • Forest Fires and Protection • GROWING STOCK, NWFP AND OTHER FOREST RESOURCES ARE PRESUMED TO BE KNOWN

“Whatever man does he must do first in his ”

Albert Szent-Gyorgyi (1893-1986), Hungarian Biochemist, 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine

“What gets measured gets managed”

RK Pachauri, TERI Require Multiple Types of Forest Resource Survey

• Growing Stock Estimation (Spatial Domain) • Carbon Stock Estimation (Spatial Domain) • Biodiversity Assessment (Spatial Domain) • Assessment (Spatial Domain) • Soil Survey And Assessment (Spatial Domain) • Socio-economic Assessment (Spatial Domain) • Assessment Of NTFPs (Including Maps) (Spatial Domain) • Assessment Of Wild Habitats And Species (Spatial Domain) • Drivers of degradation (Spatial Domain)

Monitoring: Whether things are happening as planned?

21-5-2005 17-3-2009

Change Detection Grid based sampling

Sampling for a number of parameters  GIS substitutes the laborious, time consuming work of marking survey points in base maps in FSI  The FSI methodology of grid based sampling to replace the age old random sampling method of growing stock estimation as suggested in the NWPC 2014 for working plan data collection.  The WP grids may be twenty times the NFI and hence near impossible to mark manually  GPS, a great tool to reach straight to the sample point or any other location instead of laying out the laborious baselines and cruise lines A synergy between methodology and technology Plot Layout for Pilot Project for Working Plan data Spatial database in GIS according to NWPC-2014

 According to NWPC – 2014, illustration of have been suggested in the form of GIS layers.  A scale of 1:25,000 or higher has been suggested for clear visualisation of the information at better resolution.  On screen digitization for creating various layers has been suggested at sufficiently large scale 1:25,000 or higher.  A common projection parameters; having Projection system of UTM (WGS 1984), Datum: WGS84, Spheroid: WGS84 is suggested for all the GIS layers.  For creating layers from the satellite images, images with spatial resolution 5.8 m or higher is advised.

Required Maps • GIS based • Forest Area map, • Slope Map, • Aspect Map, • Drainage Map, • DEM, etc. • Remote sensing data based • Forest Cover maps, • Area under current jhum, • Area under jhum fallow, etc. • Combining both • forest type map, • FC Draped DEM, etc.

Desired GIS Layers SN Layers in the Spatial Database SN Layers in the Spatial Database 1. Division boundary* 13. Rest houses 2. Range boundary* 14. Stream network* 3. RF and PF boundary* 15. Nurseries* 4. National parks and wildlife 16. High resolution satellite imagery* sanctuaries* 5. Beat boundary 17. Forest cover* 6. Block* 18. Forest type/stock map* 7. Compartment boundary* 19. Police station/chowkis 8. Location of all the offices* 20. JFMCs* 9. Village locations* 21. Plantation locations in the last 15/20 years 10. Road network* 22. Forest depots 11. Railway line 23. Fire locations recorded in the last 5 years 12. Forest check gates* 24. Parent geology

* indicates mandatory layers Indicative list of GIS Layers SN Layers in the Spatial Database SN Layers in the Spatial Database 25. Protected areas* 34. Encroachment* 26. Wildlife corridors 35. Management areas and working circles 27. Eco-tourism spots 36. location of saw mills 28. Soil type 37. Mining areas 29. Altitude zones* 38. Grid layer of rainfall 30. Slope 39. Grid layer of temperature 31. Aspect 40. Forest research plots 32. Fire affected area 41. Seed production areas /Plus /CSOs 33. Fire sensitive spots

 Out of 41 GIS layers indicated above, there are 19 mandatory essential layers including Stock map (exemplified with *) according to new NWPC.

* indicates mandatory layers Possible sources for developing desired layers

SN Layers in the Spatial Database Possible source(s) 1 Division boundary* Maps in the division/ department 2 Range boundary* Maps in the division/ department 3 RF and PF boundary* Maps in the division/ department / SOI toposheets/existing digitized boundary 4 National parks and wildlife Maps in the division/ department/ WII sanctuaries* 5 Beat boundary Maps in the division/ department 6 Block* Maps in the division/ department 7 Compartment boundary* Maps in the division/ department 8 Location of all the offices* Maps in the division/ department/GPS 9 Village locations* SOI toposheets /Census 10 Road network* SOI toposheets /Google Earth 11 Railway line SOI toposheets 12 Forest check gates* Maps in the division / department /GPS 13 Rest houses Maps in the division / department /GPS 14 Stream network* SOI toposheets /Satellite Image/ASTER DEM Possible sources for developing desired layers

SN Layers in the Spatial Database Possible source(s) 15 Nurseries* Maps in the division / department/GPS 16 High resolution satellite imagery* NRSC 17 Forest cover* FSI / Self Interpretation 18 Forest type/stock map* FSI/ maps in the division/ department 19 Police station/chowkis SOI Toposheets/ Police Department’s Map 20 JFMCs* GPS 21 Plantation locations in the last Maps in the division/ department/GPS 15/20 years 22 Forest depots Maps in the division/ department/GPS 23 Fire locations recorded in the last FSI’s website and conversion of the same in 5 years to point coverage 24 Parent geology Maps from GSI 25 Protected areas* Maps in the division/ department/ WII 26 Wildlife corridors Maps in the division/ department/ WII 27 Eco-tourism spots Maps in the division/ department /GPS Possible sources for developing desired layers

SN Layers in the Spatial Database Possible source(s) 28 Soil type NBSS&LUP map on 1:250,000 scale 29 Altitude zones* ASTER DEM 30 Slope ASTER DEM 31 Aspect ASTER DEM 32 Fire affected area Burnt area mapping using IRS P6 LISS III data 33 Fire sensitive spots Grid analysis using FSI’s forest fire spots data 34 Encroachment* Existing map in the division / remote sensing based change detection 35 Management areas and working To be identified/created in GIS in the course circles of preparing WP 36 location of saw mills Existing maps/GPS survey Possible sources for developing desired layers

SN Layers in the Spatial Database Possible source(s) 37 Mining areas Existing maps/GPS survey 38 Grid layer of rainfall Indian Meteorological Department, Pune 39 Grid layer of temperature Indian Meteorological Department, Pune 40 Forest research plots GPS 41 Seed production areas /Plus GPS trees/CSOs GIS database or coverage procured from Secondary Sources Extraction of Area of Interest from a Larger Secondary Data Coverage

Extent of Timli Range extracted from the total coverage of Kalsi Soil Conservation Division

Data on any attribute of the parent database can be extracted for any of the constituent unit in this manner Timli Range Boundary on SOI Toposheet nos. 53F11 and 53F15 Non-Forest

Overlaying multiple thematic layers of interest in the project area map: Block and Compartment boundaries overlaid on the Range Map Non-Forest

Pattern of 25”x 25” grid based 200 plots in the whole area straight in horizontal, vertical and diagonal directions. NATIONAL RAINFED AREA AUTHORITY BUFFER A SIMPLE TOOL TO IDENTIFY FOREST FRINGE VILLAGES IN 275 DISTRICTS The shape file of the district boundary was overlaid on the digital forest cover layer of corresponding state to extract forest cover layer of the district.

The raster layer was converted to vector format.

All vector limits for forest categories were dissolved to generate shape files of forest cover only.

The 1km buffer was generated on the forest boundary on dissolved shape files The digital village boundary layer was intersected with 1km buffer area of forest layer.

The intersected villages were recorded as forest fringe villages

 The intersected villages were recorded as forest fringe villages ISSUES Last mile connectivity i.e. visualizing and simple interactive capabilities at cutting edge at affordable price Capacity building in Open Source SW Simple tools workable like mobile phones Easy availability of relevant local data to all More use of easy vernacular language instead of technical jargon

Connect between R&D and end user A lot more advance things are happening in scientific institutions What would make impact on the ground is what is doable on the ground howsoever simple It will be great if more and more scientific and technological development is translated into action on ground Specie-level mapping of NTFP mapping contribute a lot in SFM THANKS