Forests and Biodiversity

Chapter 5: Forests and Biodiversity Introduction Forests are invaluable natural resources and important eco-systems, which benefit mankind in number of ways. The economic benefits include agroforestry, forest related tourism and revenue earned from trade of forest products such as fuel wood, charcoal, weaving materials, agricultural products and industrial products like gums, resins, oils, and timber. Ecological and environmental benefits of forests are in the form of catchment protection, wild life conservation, soil erosion control, regulation of local and global weather through the absorption and creation of rainfall and the exchange of atmospheric gases. However, the economic benefits, in terms of climate control, pollution abatement, and wildlife maintenance, have rarely been calculated. Several factors are responsible for the loss of forest cover across the globe. The permanent removal of forest cover and conversion to a non-forested land use constitutes deforestation. Because of the worldwide loss of forests, thousands of species of birds and animals are threatened with extinction. Although GoI enunciated several programmes, including formulation of forest policy, as early as in 1952, for sustainable management of forests, over the years, forests in the country have suffered serious depletion. This is due to relentless pressure arising from the ever-increasing demand for fuel- wood, fodder and timber; inadequacy of protection measures; diversion of forestlands to non-forest uses without ensuring compensatory afforestation and essential environmental safeguards; and the tendency to look upon forests as a revenue earning resource. It was imperative to evolve a new strategy for forest conservation and thus, a National Forest Policy (Forest Policy of 1988) was devised with an aim to maintain, on an average, 33 per cent of the country’s area under forest cover as against the world average of 26.6 per cent. India’s forest cover during the last decade (1990-2000) when compared with that of Asia and the world, indicates that while the average forest cover in Asia and the world is diminishing, it is showing increasing trend in India. On the other hand, India’s large and ever-increasing population has resulted in a very low per capita forest cover, which is 0.08 ha and much lower than the world average of 0.64 and Asia’s average of 0.1 ha. According to ‘State of Forest Report’, 2003, India’s forest cover has increased from 675,538 Km2 in 2001 to 678,333 Km2 in 2003. The total forest and tree cover is 778,229 Km2 constituting 23.68 per cent of the country’ total geographic area. Of this, dense forest constitutes 390,564 Km2 (63 percent is in tribal districts) and open forest 287,769 Km2. Thus, India has lost 26,245 km2 of dense forests between 2001 and 2003. On the other hand, the open forests- forests with a crown density of only 10 to 40 per cent have increased by 29,000 sq. km (SFR, 2003). Biodiversity is defined as ‘the variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part. This includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity is fundamental to ecological sustainable development. It is prudent to conserve not only those species we already have information about, but also the species we have not yet identified from an economic point of view. Habitat destruction, overexploitation and pollution are the major causes of biodiversity loss in India (UNEP, 2001). India has eight per cent of the world’s species and of the 12-biodiversity spots in the world two are in India namely, North-East region and Western Ghats in the State of Maharashtra. Forests in Maharashtra In Maharashtra, at the end of 2003-04, the total area under forests was 61,900 Km2, which accounted for 20.13 per cent of the State’s geographical area, much below the expected standard norm of 33 per cent. Out of this recorded forest area, 47500 Km2 is forest cover of which 65.1 percent is dense and remaining is open forests. During 2003-2004 about 24,200 ha of forest land and community lands were covered under various afforestation programmes by the Forest Department and FDMC. Thus, the State has made substantial progress in terms of actual forest cover, which was only 15.17 per cent in 1999 and 15.43 per cent in 2001. However, the state’s forest cover is still lesser than India’s forest cover of 23.7 per cent (FSI, 2000; FSI, 2002; GoM, 2005). Driving Forces and Pressure Intensive land use changes and unsustainable use of forest resources have put considerable pressure on forests and biodiversity, expelling flora and fauna from their natural habitats, thereby drastically reducing their natural population. Degradation of the forests due to rapid urbanisation, industrialisation, construction of big dams, use of forestlands for rehabilitation purposes, etc. affect various components of the ecosystem such as water, air and soil. Thus, protection, preservation and development of forests, requires urgent attention. Biodiversity is also affected by a combination of driving forces like urbanisation, industrialisation, agriculture, transport and tourism etc. The major forest cover of Maharashtra is shown in Figure 5.1. Figure 5.1: Forest Map of Maharashtra Source: MoEF (2002) 178 Types of Forests The forests in Maharashtra may be classified into five types, each representing a unique eco-system. Southern Tropical Semi-Evergreen Forests These forests are found mostly on the upper hill slopes, from 450 meters to 1050 metres above the msl in the Western Ghats. The main species are Terminalia paniculata (Kinjal), Memocylon umbellatum (Anjani), Terminalia chebula (Hirda), Syzigium cumini (Jambul), Olea diocea (Parjamun) and Mangifera indica (Mango), Actinodaphne hookeri (Pisa), etc. Southern Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests These consist of two main sub types, namely, Moist Teak bearing Forests and Moist Mixed deciduous Forests. These are commercially important and valuable forests of the State and are mainly confined to the Project Tiger area in the Melghat region of Amravati district, Chandrapur, Gadhchiroli and Thane districts, consisting of species such as Tectona grandis (Teak); the associates are Terminalia tomentosa (Ain), Delbergia latifolia (Shisham), Adina cardifolia (Haldu), Madhuca indica (Moha), Pterocarpusmarsupium (Bija), Mitragyna parviflora (Kalam), Salmalia malabaricum (Semal) and Dendrocalamus strictus (Bamboo) etc. Teak is present occasionally and the evergreen component of species is larger than in case of teak bearing forests. The main species are Pterocarpus marsupium (Bija), Salmalia malabaricum (Semal), Terminalaia bellarica (Behada), Dalbergia latifolia (Shishum), Syzigium cumini (Jambul), Terminalia tomentosa (Ain), Lagerstremia parviflora (Bendara) etc. Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests Forests falling in this group occupy a major part of state. The main species are Tectona grandis (Teak). These forests produce middle and small size timber and consist of the following sub-types, namely, Dry Teak Bearing Forests and Dry Mixed Forests. Principal species is Tectona grandis (Teak) and the associates are Ougeinia dalbergiaoides (Tiwas), Acacia catechu (Khair), Gmelania arborea (Shivan) and Anogeissus latifolia (Dhawada) etc. Southern Tropical Thorn Forests These consist of the forests in low rainfall areas of Marathwada, Vidarbha, Khandesh and Western Maharashtra. Majority of these forests are heavily degraded due to low fertility coupled with low rainfall. The main species found in these forests are Acacia arabica (Babul), Acacia leucophleca (Hiwar), Zizyphus jujuba (Bor), Butea monosperna (Palas), and Belanites rexburghii (Hinganbet), Euphorbia and Cassia scrub etc. Littoral and Swamp Forests These forests are found along the creeks and littorals in the Sindhudurg and Thane district. Although their comparative extent in the State is marginal, they are important for protection of seacoast and marine life. The typical mangrove species found in this area are Avicennia spp. and Rhizophora spp. etc. Table 5.1 and Figure 5.3 show the trends in forest cover in Maharashtra in the last three decades and in the year 1999 and 2001, respectively. Maharashtra’s actual forest cover in the 1970s was 40700 km2, which reduced to 30740 km2 by 1980-82 and then increased to 46143 km2 by 1997 and 47482 km2 by 2001. This trend is visible in the case of both dense as well as open forest area. However, the area under dense forest cover in Maharashtra has increased by 2991 km2 from 1997 to 1999 and a further 4173 km2-between 1999 and 2001 (FSI, 2000 and FSI, 2002). This increase is due 179 to the conversion of open forests, scrub and non-forest areas into dense forests. In both the assessments, Maharashtra showed the greatest increase among all the states (GoM, 2005). Figure 5.2: Forest Cover and Recorded Forest Cover of Maharashtra Forest Cover Recorded Forest Area Reserved Forest on-Forest 79.5% Area 84.6% Dense Forest 10.0% Protected Forest Open Unclassed 13.2% Forest Forest 5.4% 7.3% Source: GoM (2005) Table 5.1: Forest Cover in Maharashtra Year Reported Actual Forest % of Actual Forest Dense Forest Open Forest Forest Cover Cover (mha) to Geographical Cover Cover (mha) Area 1972-75 - 4.07 13.22 2.90 1.15 1980-82 - 3.04 9.86 1.86 1.16 1983-85 6.41 4.74 15.41 2.72 2.00 1985-87 6.41 4.41 14.32 2.62 1.77 1987-89 6.39 4.40 14.30 2.62 1.78 1989-91 6.39 4.39 14.30 2.57 1.80 1991-93 6.38 4.38 14.20 2.57 1.80 1993-95 6.38 4.61 15 2.36 2.24 1997-99 - 4.66 15.17 2.66 1.99 2000-01 - 4.74 15.43 3.08 1.65 2002-03 - - 20.13 - - Source: CSE (1999), FSI (2000), FSI (2002), GoM (2005) 180 Figure 5.3: Forest Cover in Maharashtra in 1999 and 2001 50000 45000 40000 35000 30000 25000 20000 15000 Square Kilometre 10000 5000 0 Dense Forests Open Forests Total 1999 2001 Source: FSI (1999) and FSI (2001) Figure 5.4 compares forest cover in various divisions of Maharashtra in 1999 and 2001.

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