Introduction Forest is major natural resource, which plays a vital role in maintaining environmental balance. The word ‘forest’ 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 trees. Today forest is any land managed for the diverse purpose of forestry 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 wood. Definitions of Forests: 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. Tree-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 plantations 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 woods, 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 rainforest, 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 biomass 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. Afforestation 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: 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 teak 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 bamboos, mahogany 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.