Introduction

Forest is major natural resource, which plays a vital role in maintaining environmental balance. The word ‘’ is derived from Latin word ‘foris’ meaning outside the reference being to village boundary or fence and must have included all uncultivated and uninhabited land it is a large tract of land covered with . Today forest is any land managed for the diverse purpose of whether covered with trees, shrubs, climbers etc.

Plants life that generally grows in wild and without any human influence is considered as forest. The word "forest" was borrowed by Middle English from old French and Medieval Latin forest is, literally meaning "outside". Uses of the word "forest" in English to denote any uninhabited area of non-enclosure are now considered archaic. Norman rulers of England introduced the word as a legal term (appearing in Latin texts like the Magna Carta) denoting an uncultivated area legally set aside for hunting by feudal nobility.

The forest once considered renewable resource is now termed ‘critical’ In India, as in other developed countries, the forest has mostly been lost to abate the agricultural land. The Indian word ‘Jungle’ has been adapted in the English language to describe a collection of trees shrub, etc. that are not grown in a regular manner. In rural landscapes, people are heavily dependent on the forest for fodder and fuel .

Definitions of : The forests are defined differently, primarily the reason being the percep Ation through which they are looked at. Given below are some of the definitions.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia : Complex ecosystem in which trees are the dominant life- form. -dominated forests can occur wherever the temperatures rise above 50 °F (10 °C) in the warmest months and the annual precipitation is more than 8 inches (200 mm). They can develop under various conditions within these limits, and the kind of soil, plant, and animal life differs according to the extremes of environmental influences.

FAO: Food and Agricultural Organization of United Nations : Defines forest as land with tree canopy cover of more than 10% and area more than 0.5 hectare. Forest is not determined by only the presence of trees but also by the absence of other predominant land uses. Thus, according to FAO, timber and rubber wood are classified as forest but fruit orchards and trees planted under the agro forestry system are categorized as other land with tress outside forest.

Definitions of forests in India: The Indian Forest Act, 1927 does not define the forests, and the legal extent of forests depends upon the process of notifications. The definition of a forest given in Indian Forest Record (new series), Vol. 2(1) published in 1936 reads as “an area set aside for the production of timber and other forest produces or maintained under woody vegetation for certain indirect benefits which it provides, e.g. climatic or protective.” Hon. Supreme Court of India has taken a view regarding extending preview of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 to all the areas falling in the "dictionary meaning" of forests irrespective of ownership and control.

To define a forest in India is difficult due to a large variety of stakeholders, each with its own perception of a forest. In an attempt to define a forest these stakeholders and their opinions were taken into account to define a forest. Based on this various possible definitions that emerges are as follows;

“An area under Government control notified or recorded as forests under any Act for the conservation and management of ecological and biological resources.”

Explanation: Such forests will include areas with trees, scrubland, grasslands, wetlands, water bodies, deserts, glaciers, geomorphic features or any other area that is necessary to maintain ecological security.

World forest: A forest, also referred to as a wood or the , is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classifications according to how and what of the forest is composed. These plant communities cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface (or 30% of total land area), though they once covered much more (about 50% of total land area), in many different regions and function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of the most important aspects of the biosphere. Although forests are classified primarily by trees, the concept of a forest ecosystem includes additional species (such as smaller plants, fungi, bacteria, and animals) as well as physical and chemical processes such as energy flow and nutrient cycling.

Forests can be found in all regions capable of sustaining tree growth, at altitudes up to the tree line, except where natural fire frequency or other disturbance is too high, or where the environment has been altered by human activity.

The latitudes 10° north and south of the Equator are mostly covered in tropical , and the latitudes between 53°N and 67°N have boreal forest. As a general rule, forests dominated by angiosperms (broadleaf forests) are more species-rich than those dominated by gymnosperms (conifer, montane, or needleleaf forests), although exceptions exist.

Forests sometimes contain many tree species only within a small area (as in tropical rain and temperate deciduous forests), or relatively few species over large areas (e.g., taiga and arid montane coniferous forests). Forests are often home to many animal and plant species, and per unit area is high compared to other vegetation communities. Much of this biomass occurs below ground in the root systems and as partially decomposed plant detritus. The woody component of a forest contains lignin, which is relatively slow to decompose compared with other organic materials such as cellulose or carbohydrate.

Forests are differentiated from woodlands by the extent of canopy coverage: in a forest, the branches and the foliage of separate trees often meet or interlock, although there can be gaps of varying sizes within an area referred to as forest. A woodland has a more continuously open canopy, with trees spaced farther apart, which allows more sunlight to penetrate to the ground between them .Among the major forested biomes are:

 rain forest (tropical and temperate)

 taiga

 temperate hardwood forest

 tropical dry forest

Deforestation - According to ‘Brubekar, in the year 1900 nearly 7000 Million hector’s of land was covered by forest till 1975 it was reduced to 2890 million hector’s & in the year 2000 only 2370 million hector’s of land was reaming which was covered by forest. It clearly indicates that within a century 4630 million hector of land was deforested i.e. more then 50% of forest land has been deforested mainly the conversion of tropical forests to agricultural land – shows signs of decreasing in several countries but continues at a high rate in others. Around 13 million hectares of forest were converted to other uses or lost through natural causes each year in the last decade compared to 16 million hectares per year in the 1990s. Both Brazil and Indonesia, which had the highest net loss of forest in the 1990s, have significantly reduced their rate of loss, while in Australia, severe drought and forest fires have exacerbated the loss of forest since 2000. and natural expansion of forests in some countries and regions have reduced the net loss of forest area significantly at the global level. The net change in forest area in the period 2000–2010 is estimated at –5.2 million hectares per year (an area about the size of Costa Rica), down from –8.3 million hectares per year in the period 1990–2000.

South America and Africa continue to have the largestnet loss of forest Oceania also reported a net loss of forest, while the area of forest in North and Central America was estimated as almost the same in 2010 as in 2000. The forest area in Europe continued to expand, although at a slower rate than in the 1990s. Asia, which had a net loss in the 1990s, reported a net gain of forest in the period 2000–2010, primarily due to the large-scale afforestation reported by China and despite continued high rates of net loss in many countries in South and Southeast Asia.

Source: Global Forest Resources Assessment 2010, FAO Tropical forests are found more in developing countries. In these countries because of developing project more area is deforested. In the year 1900, nearly 1600 million hector‘s of land was covered by tropical forest region & till 1975 it has been reduced to 938 million hector’s so within a period by 75 years, 41. % tropical forest region has been deforested out of this more deforested, rate is nearly 63.3% which is present in India, Myanmar & Sri Lanka.

Forestry in India: plays a significant role in preserving the ecological balance and natural eco- systems. Forests are also an economic benefit. They furnish timber and fuel wood. The choicest timber comes from forests, distinctive of the monsoon lands. These deciduous forests widen between the Western Ghats in the south and the sub-Himalayan region in the north. Sal is yet another foremost and functional tree, more prevailing in the eastern part of the country. Space for sal trees is comparatively greater than the teak trees.

The other trees in more rainy areas comprise , and rosewood. They are more widespread in Assam and Kerala. Sundari trees of mangrove category from Sundarbans are used for boat building and manufacture of boxes. The soft wood from coniferous forests of the Himalayas is used for furniture, packing boxes and also as timber in building houses. Pulp is made from soft wood and is in great demand. Regrettably the present time demands the use of forest resources as cautiously as possible and only on a continuing basis, contrasting the present practice of their uncontrolled demolition. Indian forests provide timber, cane, resin, wood pulp, , firewood and gums, medicinal herbs, fodder and grass. Forestry in India is a major government enterprise in India, which faces the challenges of declining forest cover area due to effects of overpopulation, farming and environmental factors.

During the early 1990s, some 500,000 square kilometers, about 17 percent of India`s land area, were regarded as Forest Area. In 1987, however, actual forest cover was 640,000 square kilometers. However, because more than 50 percent of this land was unproductive or bush land, the area under productive forest was actually less than 350,000 square kilometers, or approximately 10 percent of the country`s land area. The growing population`s high demand for forest possessions continued the destruction and deprivation of forests throughout the 1980s, taking a heavy charge on the soil. An estimated 6 billion tons of topsoil were lost every year. However, India`s 0.6 percent average annual rate of for agricultural and non- lumbering land uses in the decade beginning in 1981 was one of the lowest in the world.

Many forests during the mid-1990s are found in high-rainfall, high-altitude regions, areas to which access is difficult. About 20 percent of total forestland is in Madhya Pradesh; other states with significant forests are Orissa, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh; Arunachal Pradesh; and Uttar Pradesh. The variety of forest vegetation is large in India; there are almost 600 species of hardwoods, sal (Shorea robusta) and teak being the principal economic species. India`s long-term strategy for forestry development reflects three major objectives. The first being to reduce soil erosion and flooding; secondly, to supply the growing needs of the domestic wood products industries; and finally to supply the needs of the rural population for fuelwood, fodder, small timber, and various forest produce.

To achieve these objectives, the National Commission on Agriculture in 1976 suggested the reorganization of state forestry departments and advocated the concept of social forestry. The commission itself worked on the first two objectives, emphasizing conventional forestry and wildlife activities; in search of the third objective, the commission recommended the establishment of a new kind of unit to develop community forests. Besides Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, a number of other states also established community-based forestry agencies that highlighted programs on farm forestry, timber management, extension forestry, of degraded forests, and use of forests for leisure purposes.

Such socially responsible forestry was encouraged by state agencies, who strongly emphasized such projects as planting wood lots on uncovered communal cattle-grazing grounds to make villages self-sufficient in fuel wood, to supply timber needed for the creation of village houses, and to provide the wood needed for the repair of farm implements. Both individual farmers and tribal communities were also encouraged to grow trees for their own Profit.

The role of forestry in the national economy and in ecology was further stressed in the 1988 National Forest Policy, which alerted on ensuring environmental stability, restoring the ecological balance, and preserving the remaining forests in India. Other objectives of the policy were meeting the need for fuel wood, fodder, and small timber for rural and tribal people while distinguishing the need to actively involve native people in the management of forest resources. Also in 1988, the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was amended to assist more firm conservation measures. A new target was to increase the forest cover to 33 percent of India`s land area from the then-official estimate of 23 percent. In June 1990, the Central Government took resolutions that combined forest science with social forestry, i.e. taking the socio-cultural traditions of the local People into consideration.

Forest conservation in India has been an avowed goal of government policy since independence. Afforestation increased from a negligible amount in the first plan to nearly 89,000 square kilometers in the seventh plan. Forestry is one arena in which India has actually regretted since independence. Annual fellings at about four times the growth rate are a major cause of deforestation in India. Widespread pilfering by villagers for firewood and fodder also represents a major decrement. In addition, the forested area in India has been shrinking as a result of land cleared for farming, inundations for irrigation and hydroelectric power projects, and construction of new urban areas, industrial plants, roads, power lines, and schools.

Since the early 1970s, as the researchers realised that deforestation threatened not only the ecology but also their livelihood in a variety of ways, people have become more concerned and involved in conservation. The best-known popular activist movement is the Chipko Movement that is related to forestry in India. In this movement, local women under the leadership of Sunderlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt decided to fight the government and the vested interests to save trees. The women of Chamoli District, Uttar Pradesh, declared that they would embrace trees if a sporting goods manufacturer attempted to cut down ash trees in their district. Since initial activism in 1973, the movement has spread throughout and has become an ecological movement leading to similar actions in other forest areas. The movement has slowed down the process of deforestation, exposed vested interests, increased ecological awareness, and demonstrated the viability of people power.

In 2006 forestry in India experienced a major change with the passage of the Forest Rights Act, a new legislation that requests to reverse the "historical injustice" to forest dwelling communities that resulted from the breakdown to record their rights over forest land and resources. It also sought to bring in new froms of community conservation.

Deforested rate in India is a major concern. In India 19 % of land is under natural vegetation. Major reason for deforested in India a is the ever-growing population. Till date in India per year ’18 lakhs hector’s as natural vegetation land has been deforested. Natural vegetation in India is influenced by attitude and rainfall. On basis of attitude, the Himalayan region has all the vegetation varieties found in tropical to tundra region. The rest of the country has mainly tree major vegetation regions, namely tropical wet evergreen and semi evergreen forest the tropical deciduous and the thorn forest. India is the 10 th in the world and 4 th Asia in plant diversity. The present forest cover of the country is 19.39%. It has about an area of 752.3 lakhs hectare as notified forest. These include the following.

1 Reserved forest 401.1 lakhs hetare (53.32%) 2 Protected forest 215.1 lakhs hetare (28.54%)

3 Unclassified forest 131.1 lakhs hectare (17.43%)

Total 752.3 (100%)

Based on study by H.G champain (1936) S.K. Seth (1968) S.S.Negi (1990) India’s forest is classified into 5 main types and 16 sub types. The main forest types in India are.

a) Moist Tropical forests. b) Dry Tropical forests c) Mountain sub tropical forest d) Mountain Temperate forests e) Alpine forest.

Out of the above forest maximum area is covered by tropical dry deciduous forest. (29.2 m.hectare) Indian forests are distributed over five geographical regions

a) Himalayan region 18% of total forest area of country. b) Northern plain region 5% of the 18% of total forest area of country. c) Peninsular hills and plateau 57 % 18% of total forest area of country. d) Western Ghats and costal region 10% 18% of total forest area of country. e) Eastern Ghat and costal region 10 % 18% of total forest area of country. Forest Resources in Maharashtra:

The Forest cover in the State, based on interpretation of satellite data of October-December 2006, is 50,650 km 2, which is 16.46 % of the State’s geographic area. The State has 8,739 km 2 very dense forest, 20, 834 km 2 moderately dense forest and 21,077 km 2 open forest. The forest cover of the State is shown in following figure: (ref: India State of Forest Report, 2009, , Dehradun)

Note: Forest cover includes all lands which have a tree canopy density of 10 percent and above with Very Dense Forest: All lands with tree cover of canopy density of 70% and above. Moderately Dense Forest: All lands with tree cover of canopy density between 40% and 70% Open Forest: All lands with tree cover of canopy density between 10% and 40% Scrub: Degraded forest lands with canopy density less than 10 %. Non-forest: Any area not included in the above classes. Area under VDF, MDF and OF also includes mangrove cover of the corresponding density class.

As per the ‘Economic survey of Maharashtra’ for the year 2008-09, the total forest area in Maharashtra at the end of year 2007-08 was 61,939 km2, which is 20.1 % of the geographic area.

District-wise Forest Cover in Maharashtra: District wise Forest Cover in Maharashtra is presented below. Out of the total forest cover in Maharashtra, Gadchiroli District accounts for the maximum forest cover followed by Ratnagiri and Chandrapur. Maximum area under ‘Very Dense Forest’ is in Gadchiroli followed by Chandrapur district.

Recorded Forests in Maharashtra: As per the India State of Forest Report, 2009, the recorded forest area of the State is 61,939 km2, which is 20.13 % of the State’s total geographic area. Reserved Forests constitute 79.47 %, Protected Forests 13.23 % and Unclassed Forests 7.30 % of the total forest area. About one fifth of the State’s eographical area is under recorded forests.

Tree Cover in Maharashtra: All areas more than 1 ha in extent and having tree canopy density of 10% and above are included under forest cover. However, there are many small patches of trees less than 1.0 ha in extent, such as trees in small scale plantations, woodlots, or scattered trees on farms, homesteads and urban areas, or trees along linear features, such as roads, canals, bunds, etc. not being captured by satellite sensors under forest cover due to technological limitations. These patches are included under ‘Tree Cover’. As per the India State of Forest Report, 2009, the estimated tree cover of Maharashtra is 9,466 km2, which is 3.08 % of the geographical area of the State. Tree Cover constitutes the largest area in Maharashtra as compared with other States in the Country.

Threats to Forests in Maharashtra: As the rate of development is increasing, it is putting pressure on all the natural resources around us. Forests are also getting depleted at a fast rate all over the world. Over use and irrational use, technological and industrial growth, population growth and increasing consumption levels are major factors causing depletion of forest resources. Some other factors are mining, submergence due to big dams, , use of forestlands for rehabilitation, agriculture, transport and tourism. All these activities are causing qualitative as well as quantitative depletion of forests. The forest wood is used up for construction, furniture, deriving energy (coal and firewood) and thus the increasing demand for timber, energy, paper and paper products has led to massive destruction of forests. When forest is cut , it is not just the trees that go but the entire ecosystem is lost which is invaluable. The full grown forests, existing since thousands of years can’t be replaced by plantations. As forests grow very slowly, people cannot use more resources than they can produce during a growing season. If timber is felled beyond a certain limit, the forest cannot regenerate. The gaps in the forest change the habitat quality for its animal, and the more sensitive species cannot survive under these changed conditions. Over- utilizing forest resources is an unsustainable way of using our limited forest resources. As the forest resources are exploited, the forest canopy is opened up, the ecosystem is degraded, and its wildlife is seriously threatened.

Increasing tourism activities are also causing destruction to forest ecosystem. When the frequency of visitors and tourists becomes excessive, problems of soil erosion occur along and adjacent to footpaths. Wildlife is also disturbed, plants and saplings are trampled, and the waste is dumped at these places which disturbs entire ecosystem.

Forest fire is also an important threat to forests, which destroy large areas of forest every year all over the world. It has detrimental impact on forest, wildlife and people living around. Along with the loss of biodiversity, it results in increased air pollution, migration of animals to different areas. It directly affects the livelihood of people dependant on forest resources.

Natural disasters like Tsunami, earthquake and landslading destroys large forests areas in a short span of time. All these natural as well as man-made factors cause destruction of forests at a large scale.

The area under forest in the Maharashtra at the end of 2001-02 was 61916 sq.km which accounts for 20% of the geographical of the state. As per seventh assessment of forest cover based or visual interpretation of landsat Imagery. 57 % of the total forest area was under dense forest cover, 42.8 was under open forest cover 0.2 % was under mangrove forest cover. The entire forested area of Maharashtra carries only broad-leaved forests, there are no conifers, but there are significant patches of bamboos. Five types of forest recognized in the state based on typology given by champion and sheth in 1968 Types of forest in Maharashtra.

Tropical semi evergreen 5.30 % of the total forest

Tropical moist deciduous 16.05 % of the total forest

Tropical Dry deciduous 63.10 % of the total forest

Tropical Thorny deciduous 15.30 % of the total forest

Tropical Broad leaved Hill forest 63.10 % of the total forest

Total 100 %

FOREST RESOURCES IN KOLHAPUR DISTRICT –

In Kolhapur District western hilly region receives heavy or orographic rainfall from s.w. monsoon winds. As influence of rainfall and other local factors this region have mainly tropical moist and decidus forest. As per the state of forest report 2005 (SOFR) published by forest survey of India Dehardun the ‘Actual forest cover’ of Kolhapur district is 1657 km 2 that is 21.56 % of the geographic area out of which very dense forest cover is nearly 6 % while moderately dense is 57 % of the total forest cover ‘The open forest cover’ constitutes 37 % of the total area under forest cover.

Today as per forest office record (Tippani) Actual remaining forest cover of Kolhapur district is 1398.89 km2 that is 18.35 % of the geographic area which is 7620 km2.

Hence problems arising that forest resources are under tremendous pressure. The forest areas which are close to human settlement are under the ill effect of deforestation processes eventually degraded over the years. Those are disputatively needed to the recovered by forestation activates the demand of the fodder and fuel is not diminishing but on the country it is abating as population is growing in Kolhapur district however the area under the forest is as it is even decreasing.