[CA] India State of forest Report – 2017; top 3 States

Top States with Forest Coverage in India India State of forest Report – 2017
States	Area (in sq. km)
Madhya Pradesh	77414
Arunachal Pradesh	66964
Chhattisgarh	55547
States	% of forest
Lakshadweep Is	90.33
Mizoram	86.27
Andaman & Nicobar Is	81.73

[CA] Forest Report - 2017

[Geog-Ind] Mangrove Forests

MANGROVE FORESTS

Introduction:

·        Mangroves are found only in the tropical and subtropical regions

·        Mangroves are mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S.

·        Mangroves grow along the land-sea interface, in bays, estuaries, lagoons and backwaters.

·        Mangroves are either shrubs or trees that grow up to 25 metres.

·        Intertidal zones are the best habitat for mangroves.

·        Mangroves belong predominantly to the plant family Rhizoporaceae

·        Mangrove roots not only provide support, but also help the plant to breathe.

·        This ecosystem is also called as tidal forest, coastal woodlands or oceanic rainforest

·        Mangrove plantations in Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and India host several commercially important species of fishes and crustaceans.

·        Despite restoration efforts, developers and others have removed over half of the world's mangroves in recent times.

·        Mangrove swamps protect coastal areas from erosion, storm surge (especially during hurricanes), and tsunamis.

·        The mangroves' massive root systems are efficient at dissipating wave energy.

·        Likewise, they slow down tidal water enough so its sediment is deposited as the tide comes in, leaving all except fine particles when the tide ebbs. In this way, mangroves build their own environments.

·        Because of the uniqueness of mangrove ecosystems and the protection against erosion they provide, they are often the object of conservation programs, including national biodiversity action plans.

Locations:

·        Mangroves can be found in over 118 countries

·        Largest percentage of mangroves is found between the 5° N and 5° S latitudes.

·        Approximately 75% of world’s mangroves are found in just 15 countries.

·        Mangrove vegetation is mainly located in two regions of the globe, (Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere)

Continent wise

Continent	% of Mangroves
Asia	42
Africa	21
North America	15
South America	11

·        Indonesia is the country having the largest area under Mangroves

·        30% of the global mangroves are confined to Indonesia

·        Brazil, Australia and India comes in next order

 Mangroves in India:

v Found along the coastlines of 9 states and 3 union territories

v 38 Mangrove sites (Maharashtra – 10 sites; Odisha – 7 Sites and Tamil Nadu – 5 sites)

v In India, there are 34 species of true mangroves

v Bhitatkanika (Odisha) has 31 species; Sundarbans have 27 spices and the A&N Is have 24 species

v As per IFSR, 2013 Mangroves occupy an area of 4,628 sq km in India (IFSR: Indian State of Forest Report)

v This area accounts for 0.14% of the country's total geographical area; nearly 3% of the world's mangrove vegetation.

v The Forest Survey of India has been assessing the mangrove cover using remote sensing data

v In India, Sundarbans has the largest area under mangroves

v Mangrove area in India decreased by 34 sq. km when compared with the previous IFSR, 2011

Mangrove Cover Assessment (IFSR, 2013)
(Area in km2)
States/UTs	Very Dense Mangrove	Moderately Dense Mangrove	Open Mangrove	Total
Andhra Pradesh	0	126	226	352
Goa	0	20	2	22
Gujarat	0	175	928	1103
Karnataka	0	3	0	3
Kerala	0	3	3	6
Maharashtra	0	69	117	186
Odisha	82	88	43	213
Tamil Nadu	0	16	23	39
West Bengal	993	699	405	2097
A&N Is	276	258	70	604
Daman & Diu	0	0	1	1
Puducherry	0	0.14	1.49	1.63
Total	1351	1457	181	4628

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[Geog-India] Forests in India

Forests in India

Synopsis

(01)   Forest

(02)  Forest Divisions in India

(03)  Forest Area in India

(04)  Geographical Distribution of Forests in India

(05)  Indian State of Forest Report, 2013

(06)  Indian States in Forest Report 2013

(07)   Major Forest Products

(08)   Minor Forest Products

(09)  Indirect Use of Forests

(10)   Forest institutions in India

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 (01)Forest

(02)Forest Divisions in India

·        Forests in India are classified into 16 types in 5 major divisions

·        5 major divisions:

(i) Moist Tropical Forests

(ii) Dry Tropical Forests

(iii) Montane Sub-tropical Forests

(iv) Montane Temperate Forests

(v) Alpine Forests

  

Moist Tropical Forests
Characteristics	Tropical Wet Evergreen	Tropical Semi-Evergreen	Tropical Moist Deciduous	Littoral and Swamp
Average Rainfall	> 250 cm	200 – 250 cm	100 – 200 cm	75 – 100 cm
Annual Temperature	25° – 27°C	24° – 27°C	27°C	26° – 27°C
Annual Humidity	>77%	75%	60% - 75 %	75%
Major Area	* Western Sides of Western Ghats * Arunachal Pradesh * Upper Assam * Nagaland * Manipur * Mizoram * Tripura	* Western Coast * Assam * Odisha * Lower Slopes of Eastern Himalayas * Andamans	* Western Ghats * Telangana * Andhra Pradesh * Chotta Nagpur Plateau * Manipur * Mizoram * Odisha	* Deltas of  Ganga, Mahanadi, Cauvery, Krishna and Godavari
Major Products	* Bamboo * White Cedar * Mesua * Jamun * Calophyllum	* Mango * Rosewood * Semul * Thorny Bamboo * Haldu	* Teak * Sal * Rosewood * Jamun * Badam	* Sundri * Amur * Agar * Bhendi * Nipa * Palms

  

Montane Temperate Forests
Characteristics	Montane Wet Temperate	Himalayan Moist Temperate	Himalayan Dry Temperate
Average Rainfall	150 – 300 cm	150 – 250 cm	< 100 cm
Annual Temperature	11° – 14° C	Around 15°	Around 10° C
Annual Humidity	> 80%	> 80%	> 80%
Major Area	* Tamil Nadu * Kerala * West Bengal * Assam * Arunachal Pradesh * Sikkim * Nagaland	* Kashmir * Himachal Pradesh * Sikkim * Uttarakhand	* Kashmir * Sikkim
Major Products	* Deodar * Plum * Blue pine	* Pines * Cedars * Spruce * Silver Firs	* Deodar * Oak * Ash * Maple

Alpine Forests
Characteristics	Sub – Alpine	Moist Alpine scrub	Dry Alpine scrub
Average Rainfall	100 – 200 cm
Annual Temperature	Around 10° C - 15°
Annual Humidity	70 - 80%
Major Area	* Kashmir * Himachal Pradesh * Uttarakhand * Arunachal Pradesh
Major Products	* Fir * Kail * Spruce * Plum * Yew

  

(03) India – Forest Area

#	Forest group	Area in million hectares	% of total area
01	Tropical Moist Deciduous	23.680	37.0
02	Tropical Dry Deciduous	18.304	28.6
03	Tropical Wet Evergreen	5.120	8.0
04	Sub-tropical Moist Hill (Pine)	4.224	6.6
05	Tropical Semi-Evergreen	2.624	4.1
06	Montane Wet Temperate	2.304	3.6
07	Himalayan Moist Temperate	2.176	3.4
08	Tropical Thorn	1.664	2.6
09	Sub-tropical Dry Evergreen	1.600	2.5
10	Alpine (all divisions)	1.344	2.1
11	Littoral and Swamp	0.384	0.6
12	Sub-tropical Broad-leaved	0.256	0.4
13	Himalayan Dry Temperate	0.192	0.3
14	Tropical Dry Evergreen	0.128	0.2
	Total	64.000	100.0

 (04) Geographical Distribution of Forests in India

  

#	Geographical Region	% of total area
01	Peninsular Plateaus & Hills	57.00
02	Himalayan Region	18.00
03	Western Ghats and Western Coastal Plain	10.00
04	Eastern Ghats and Eastern Coastal Plain	10.00
05	Great Plain of India	05.00
	Total	100.00

(05) India State of Forest Report, 2013

·        India had lost 367 square kilometres of its forest cover

·        Andhra Pradesh recording the maximum loss

  

 ·        As per the National Forest Policy 1988, state needs to have 33% forest cover

·        The present assessment shows that 15 states/UTs have above 33 percent of the geographical area under forest cover (Out of these states and UTs, eight states have more than 75 percent forest cover while seven states have forest cover between 33 percent and 75 percent)

·        By area wise, the states with the maximum forest cover are:-

Ø     Madhya Pradesh (77, 522 sq km)

Ø     Arunachal Pradesh (67, 321 sq km)

Ø     Chhattisgarh (55, 621 sq km)

Ø     Maharashtra  (50, 632 sq km)

Ø     Odisha (50, 347 sq km)

·        States / UTs with forest are of 33% and more than that:

Ø     Mizoram (90.38%)

Ø     Lakshadweep (84.56%)

Ø     Andaman &Nicobar Islands (81.36%)

Ø     Arunachal Pradesh (80.39%)

Ø     Nagaland (78.68%)

Ø     Meghalaya (77.08%)

Ø     Manipur (76.10%)

Ø     Tripura (75.01%)

Ø     Goa (59.94%)

Ø     Sikkim (47.32%)

Ø     Kerala (47.32%)

Ø     Uttarakhand (45.82%)

Ø     Dadra & Nagra Haveli (43.48%)

Ø     Chhattisgarh (41.14%)

Ø     Assam (35.28%)

(06) Indian States and Forest – Report 2013

#	State/UT	% of forest
1	Mizoram	90.38
2	Lakshadweep	84.56
3	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	81.36
4	Arunachal Pradesh	80.39
5	Nagaland	78.68
6	Meghalaya	77.08
7	Manipur	76.10
8	Tripura	75.01
9	Goa	59.94
10	Sikkim	47.32
11	Kerala	46.12
12	Uttarakhand	45.82
13	Dadra & Nagra Haveli	43.38
14	Chhattisgarh	41.14
15	Assam	35.38
16	Odisha	32.33
17	Jharkhand	29.45
18	Himachal Pradesh	26.37
19	Madhya Pradesh	25.15
India’s Average Forest Cover		21.23
20	West Bengal	18.93
21	Karnataka	18.84
22	Tamil Nadu	18.33
23	Andhra Pradesh	16.77
24	Maharashtra	16.45
25	Chandigarh	15.14
26	Delhi	12.12
27	Puducherry	10.43
28	Jammu & Kashmir	10.14
29	Daman & Diu	8.28
30	Bihar	7.74
31	Gujarat	7.48
32	Uttar Pradesh	5.96
33	Rajasthan	4.7
34	Haryana	3.59
35	Punjab	3.53

(07) Major Forest Products

·        Indian forest produces about 5000 species of wood, of which 450 are commercially valuable

·        Hardwoods and Softwoods are obtained from Indian forests

Hardwoods	Softwoods
Includes Teak, Mahogany, Logwood, Ironwood, Ebony, Sal, Kikar etc	Includes Deodar, Pine, Fir, Cedar, Balsan etc
Used for furniture, wagons, tools	Used for constructional timber, mainly paper pulp
70% of hardwood is burnt as fuel and 30% of hardwood is used in industries	70% of softwood is used in industries and 30% of softwood is burnt as fuel

Timberwood 1) Jammu and Kashmir 2) Punjab 3) Madhya Pradesh

Fuelwood 1) Karnataka 2) West Bengal 3) Maharashtra

 (08) Minor Forest Products

·        Grasses, Bamboos and Canes

·        Tans and Dyes

·        Oils

·        Gums and Resins

·        Fibers and Flosses

·        Leaves

·        Drugs, Spices and Poisons

·        Edible Products

·        Animal Products

Ø     Bamboo is called as Poor Man’s Timber, as it provides cheap material for roofing, walling, flooring, matting, basketry, and a host of other things

 (09) Indirect Use of Forests

·        Prevention and Control of soil erosion

·        Flood control

·        Checks on spread of deserts

·        Increase of soil fertility

·        Effect on climate

(10) Institutions connecting with Forests in India

·        Indian Council of Forest Research and Education – Dehra Dun

·        Forest research Institute – Dehra Dun

·        Institute of Arid Zone Forestry Research – Jodhpur

·        Institute of Rain and Moist Deciduous Forests – Jorhat

·        Institute of Wood Science and Technology – Bangalore

·        Tropical Forestry Research Institute – Jabalpur

·        Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding – Coimbatore

·        Temperate Forest Research Centre – Shimla

·        Centre for Forest Productivity – Ranchi

·        Centre for Social Forestry and Environment – Allahabad

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