Forests of Jammu & Kashmir
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ISSN 2455 - 8575 Volume 5-Issue 3 July – September 2018 J&K ENVIS NEWSLETTER State of Environment & its Related Issues in J&K J&K ENVIS Hub Department of Ecology, Environment & Remote Sensing Jammu& Kashmir Forests of Jammu & Kashmir CONTENTS FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK Forests cover one third of the Earth's land mass, performing vital functions around the • Forests – Global Scenario. world. Around 1.6 billion people - including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures - • Forest Cover in India depend on forests for their livelihoods, medicines, fuel, food and shelter. Forests are • Forest Cover in J&K the most biologically-diverse ecosystems on land, home to more than 80% of the terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects. Yet despite all of these priceless • Did You Know ecological, economic, social and health benefits, global deforestation continues at an • Facts and Figures alarming rate - 13 million hectares of forest are destroyed annually. Deforestation • Champion & Seth Classification accounts for 12 to 20 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to of J&K Forests climate change. Forests, for better or worse, make “big targets”: they have social and cultural benefits, enhance resilience and ecosystem services, and contribute to green • Identify economy. Planting trees or cutting down forests has major consequences. If we manage • Event Dairy forests well, they will give us goods and services that we cannot live without. If forests • Rules & Regulations disappear, we will lose any prospect of sustainable development. Forests and trees are rooted in life and livelihoods. They are a renewable resource that can be grown, improved, and looked after. It would be hard to find a simpler and more universal way “Ann poshi teli of changing the world for the better than by planting and managing trees. There is need to raise awareness of the importance of forests to people and their vital role in poverty eradication, environmental sustainability and food security. This yeli wan poshi” newsletter is an effort to create awareness about the forest resources in the state. I am hopeful that the compilation will prove very beneficial for the student community. Food will thrive only Till the woods survive Sd Om Prakash Sharma, IFS Sheikh Noor-ud-din Wali (RA) Director NUND RISHI (CA. 1377-1440) DEE&RS, J&K FORESTS – GLOBAL SCENARIO Forests provide many important goods, such as timber and paper. They also supply essential services—for example, they filter water, control water runoff, protect soil, regulate climate, cycle and store nutrients, and provide habitat for countless animal species and space for recreation. Forests cover 31 percent of the world’s land surface, just over 4 billion hectares. (One hectare = 2.47 acres.) This is down from the pre-industrial area of 5.9 billion hectares. According to data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, deforestation was at its highest rate in the 1990s, when each year the world lost on average 16 million hectares of forest—roughly the size of the state of Michigan. At the same time, forest area expanded in some places, either through planting or natural processes, bringing the global net loss of forest to 8.3 million hectares per year. In the first decade of this century, the rate of deforestation was slightly lower, but still, a disturbingly high 13 million hectares were destroyed annually. As forest expansion remained stable, the global net forest loss between 2000 and 2010 was 5.2 million hectares per year. Forests are a vital part of any country’s economy as well as social and cultural life and have been cherished for long for their value. Apart from economic benefits, forests also perform other ecological functions like regulating the water cycle, preventing soil erosion, regulating river flow and maintaining wind patterns. Forests are an indispensable resource for all countries but their type and quality depend on geographical factors. Here is a list of countries with the largest forest areas. Country Forest area (km2) % Forest 1 Russia 8,149,300 49.40% 2 Canada 4,916,438 49.24% 3 Brazil 4,776,980 56.10% 4 United States 3,100,950 33.84% 5 China 2,083,210 21.83% 6 Australia 1,250,000 16.00% 7 Democratic Republic of the Congo 1,172,704 50.00% 8 Argentina 945,336 34.00% 9 Indonesia 884,950 46.46% 10 India 802,088 24.68% FOREST COVER IN INDIA Forestry in India is a significant rural industry and a major environmental resource. As of 2010, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates India's forest cover to be about 68 million hectares, or 22% of the country's area and by 2015 FAO Global assessment observers the forest cover increasing to 70.68 million hectares occupying 23.8% of the total land area of the country. The 2013 Forest Survey of India states its forest cover increased to 69.8 million hectares by 2012, per satellite measurements; this represents an increase of 5,871 square kilometers of forest cover in 2 years. However, the gains were primarily in northern, central and southern Indian states, while northeastern states witnessed a net loss in forest cover over 2010 to 2012. In 2002, forestry industry contributed 1.7% to India's GDP. India produces a range of processed forest (wood and non-wood) products ranging from wood panel products and wood pulp to make bronze, resin, etc. India's paper industry produces over 3,000 metric tonnes annually from more than 400 mills. The furniture and craft industry is another consumer of wood. India's wood-based processing industries consumed about 30 million cubic metres of industrial wood in 2002. India annually consumes an additional 270 million tonnes of fuelwood, 2800 million tonnes of fodder, and about 102 million cubic meter of forest products - valued at about ₹27,500 crore (US$3.8 billion) a year. India is one of the world's largest consumer of fuel-wood. India's consumption of fuel-wood is about five times higher than what can be sustainably removed from forests. However, a large percentage of this fuel-wood is grown as biomass remaining from agriculture, and is managed outside forests. Fuel-wood meets about 40% of the energy needs of the country. Around 80% of rural people and 48% of urban people use fuel-wood. India's dependence on fuel-wood and forestry products as a primary energy source is not only environmentally unsustainable, it is a primary cause of India's near-permanent haze and air pollution. Forestry in India is more than just about wood and fuel. India has a thriving non-wood forest products industry, which produces latex, gums, resins, essential oils, flavours, fragrances and aroma chemicals, incense sticks, handicrafts, thatching materials and medicinal plants. About 60% of non-wood forest products production is consumed locally. About 50% of the total revenue from the forestry industry in India is in non-wood forest products category. In 2002, non-wood forest products were a source of significant supplemental income to over 400 million people in India, mostly rural. The total forest cover in India is 708,273 Sq km, which is 21.54 percent of the total area of the country. Between 2015 and 2017, India has added 6,778 sq km of forest cover and extended 1, 243 sq km more of tree cover by Feb 16, 2018.The forest cover (in square kilometres) in 2017 in India by state and union territory as published by the Forest Survey of India. State / UT Geographical Very Moderately Open Total forest % of forested Area dense dense forest area area Andhra Pradesh 162,968 1,957 14,051 12,139 28,147 17.27% Arunachal Pradesh 83,743 20,721 30,955 15,288 66,964 79.96% Assam 78,438 2,797 10,192 15,116 28,105 35.83% Bihar 94,163 332 3,260 3,707 7,299 7.75% Chhattisgarh 135,192 7,064 32,215 16,268 55,547 41.09% Delhi 1,483 7 56 129 192 12.97% Goa 3,702 538 576 1,115 2,229 60.21% Gujarat 196,244 378 5,200 9,179 14,757 7.52% Haryana 44,212 28 452 1,108 1,588 3.59% Himachal Pradesh 55,673 3,110 6,705 5,285 15,100 27.12% Jammu & Kashmir* 222,236* 4,075 8,579 10,587 23,241 10.46% Jharkhand 79,716 2,598 9,686 11,269 23,553 29.55% Karnataka 191,791 4,502 20,444 12,604 37,550 19.58% Kerala 38,852 1,663 9,407 8,251 20,321 52.30% Madhya Pradesh 308,252 6,563 34,571 36,280 77,414 25.11% Maharashtra 307,713 8,736 20,652 21,294 50,682 16.47% Manipur 22,327 908 6,510 9,928 17,346 77.69% Meghalaya 22,429 453 9,386 7,307 17,146 76.76% Mizoram 21,081 131 5,861 12,194 18,186 86.27% Nagaland 16,579 1,279 4,587 6,623 12,489 75.33% Odisha 155,707 6,967 21,370 23,008 51,345 32.98% Punjab 50,362 8 806 1,023 1,837 3.65% Rajasthan 342,239 78 4,340 12,154 16,572 4.84% Sikkim 7,096 1,081 1,575 688 3,344 47.13% Tamil Nadu 130,060 3,672 10,979 11,630 26,281 20.21% Telangana 112,077 1,596 8,738 10,085 20,419 18.22% Tripura 10,486 656 5,246 1,824 7,726 73.68% Uttar Pradesh 240,928 2,617 4,069 7,993 14,679 6.09% Uttarakhand 53,483 4,969 12,884 6,442 24,295 45.43% West Bengal 88,752 2,994 4,147 9,706 16,847 18.98% Andaman & Nicobar Islands 8,249 5,678 684 380 6,742 81.73% Chandigarh 114 1 14 6 22 18.91% Dadra & Nagar Haveli 491 0 80 127 207 42.16% Daman & Diu 111 1 6 13 20 18.46% Lakshadweep 30 0 17 10 27 90.33% Puducherry 490 0 18 36 54 10.95% Total 3,287,469 98,158 308,318 301,797 708,273 21.54% *Including PoK and CoK FOREST COVER IN JAMMU & KASHMIR State of Jammu and Kashmir occupies a pivotal position in Indian ecological and geographical context, due to its strategic location in the northern most limits, as well as the position of confluence it commands over flow of flora and fauna over time and space.