Prepared By : Nikunj P Jha

EN. NO 140070125012

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - 2110007PRODUCTION ENGINEERINGBVM ENGINEERING COLLEGE

V.V. NAGAR

Forest Resources :

Indian and World Scenario

Content Layout

• Definition

• Function of Forests Protective Function

Productive Function

Regulative Function

Accessory Function

• Importance of Forests Ecological Importance

Economical Importance

• Types of Forest Moist Tropical Forests

Dry Tropical Forests

Montane Sub-Tropical Forests

Montane Temperate Forests

Sub-Alpine Forests

Alpine Scrubs

• Indian Scenario

Definition

• A 'Forest is any large area of land covered with trees and other woody vegetation.

•  Hundreds of more precise definitions of “Forest” are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing and ecological function.

• The word forest is derived from a Latin word “ Foris” means Outside

• Forest are one of the most important natural resources of the earth.

• Approximately 1/3rd of the earth’s total area is covered by forests

Function Of Forest

• The functions of forest may broadly classified into following categories :

Protective FunctionProductive FunctionRegulative FunctionAccessory Function

Protective functions

• Forest Provide protection against Soil erosion, Droughts, floods, noise, radiations

Productive Functions

• Forest Provide various products like , gum, resins, medicines, Katha ,honey ,pulp ,bamboo ,timber and fruits.

Regulative Functions

• The Forest regulates the level of Oxygen and carbon dioxide in atmosphere. The forests also help in regulating temperature conditions

Accessory Function

• Forest provides aesthetics, habitat to various flora and fauna besides that it also has an recreational value.

Importance of Forests

• Forests and biodiversity is key to all life forms. The richer the diversity of life, the greater the opportunity for medical discoveries, economic development and adaptive responses to such new challenges as climate change.

• We can divide the importance into two parts i.e. Ecological Importance

Economical Importance

Ecological Importance of Forests

• Regulation of global climate and temperature :

Forest play a crucial role in regulation of global climate and temperature as forest cover absorb the solar radiations that would other wise be reflected back into the atmosphere by bare surface of the earth.

Transpiration of plants increases the atmosphere humidity which affects the rainfall, cools the atmosphere and thus regulate the hydrological cycle.

Reduction of Global Warming

Production of Oxygen Conservation of Soil

Absorption of air pollutants

Control of water flow Habitat to wild life

Timber

Fuel Wood

Raw material for wood based industries

Economical Importance of Forest

Foods

Miscellaneous products like, resin, gums, oils, medicines, katha, honey are provided by forests.

Miscellaneous products :

a)Tropical wet evergreen: Western Ghats(Maharashtra Karnataka , Kerala)

b)Tropical semi evergreen:

Lower hills of western Ghats.

c)Tropical moist deciduous:

Dehradun, mahableshwar

d)Damp Forests:

Sunderbans ,Bengal delta, and Andaman.

Types of Forest

Moist Tropical Forest

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

a)Tropical dry deciduous: Madhya Pradesh, Uttar

Pradesh

b)Tropical thorn forest:

Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat

c)Tropical dry evergreen:

Eastern Ghats

d)(Andhra Pradesh,

Tamil Nadu)

Dry Tropical Forest

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

a)Subtropical broad: Shillong , Nilgiris

b)Sub-tropical pine forest: Arunachal Pradesh,

Kashmir

c)Sub-Tropical dry evergreen:

Foot Hills of Himalayas.

Monotone Sub Tropical ForestConiferous Forest

(a)

(b)

(c)

a)Montana Wet temperate:

Nilgiri , Palmi Hills

b)Himalayan wet temperate:

Assam , Himachal Pradesh

c)Himalayan dry temperate:

Kashmir

Monotone Temperate Forest

a) Moist alpine scrub:

high Himalayas

b) Dry alpine scrub: Sikkim

Sub-Alpine Forest Alpine Forest

Ladakh And Sikkim

• According to the state forest Report 1999,the total forest cover of India is 6,37,293 km2 which is 19.39% of the total geographical area of the country. Out of this

• Dense Forest - 11.48 %• Open Forest - 07.76 %• Mangrove Forest - 00.15 %

Indian Scenario

• Among the 16 differ types of forests in the country the most common is

• Tropical dry deciduous - 38.7%

• Tropical moist deciduous - 30.9%

• Tropical Thorn - 6.9%

• These three types of tropical deciduous forests account for more than 76.5% of forest area in India

• Nearly 96% of forests are owned by government, 2.6 by corporate bodies and rest are in private owner ship.

• At the beginning of 20th century about 30% of land in India was covered with forests but by the end of 20th century the forest cover was reduced to 19.4%.

• As a result of exploitation , the tropical forest cover in India ,Is now only reduced to coastal western Ghats and northern India.

• We have a huge population size and a very low precipitate forest area 0.075 ha/capita as compared to 0.64 ha/capita of world forest area.

• The deforestation rate per unit population in India is lowest among the major tropical countries.

Forest Degradation In India

Reference:

Book : Environmental StudiesB.R.Shah and Snehal Popli

Facts On Environment Readers Digest

Website: Google Wikipedia Yahoo