FOREST RESOURCES
INTRODUCTION
• Natural Resources
– Natural resources are components of the atmosphere.
– Natural resources are goods and services supplied by our environment. It can be
defined as “a substance that is obtained from nature and which can be
transformed into a form that becomes valuable and useful for human beings.”
• Forest, water, mineral, food, energy, land (soil), Atmosphere (air), plants and
animals
– Some resources get exhausted soon, whereas other resources would be lasting for
a long period of time
– Depending on this factor, these resources are divided into two categories.
• Renewable Resources (Inexhaustible Resources)
• Non-renewable Resources (Exhaustible Resources)
• Renewable Resources (Inexhaustible Resources)
– Inexhaustible resources have the ability to reappear or replenish
themselves by recycling, reproduction or replacement. Includes :
• Sunlight
• Soil
• Water
• Non-renewable Resources (Exhaustible Resources)
– The non- renewable resources are the earth's materials. These
renewable sources include
• Minerals
• Fossil fuels
FOREST RESOURCES
• Forests are ecosystems characterized by a dominance of tree cover and they
contain a variety of other organisms (e.g., other plants, animals)
• India has classified forest into
Reserved forests:
– Species are protected in their natural habitat and no human
interference is allowed.
– Activities such as hunting, grazing are banned eg;J&K,Kerala
Protected forests:
– Human intervention not prohibited.
– Rights to activities like hunting and grazing are sometimes given to
communities living on the fringes of the forest, who sustain their
livelihood partially or wholly from forest resources or products as
per the law eg; Punjab, Haryana, Bihar
IMPORTANCE OF FOREST
• Protective functions:
– Check Soil erosion, maintain soil fertility, against droughts, floods, intense
radiations, protection to wildlife, enhance local rainfall and water holding
capacity of the soil, regulate the earth’s temperature regimes and water cycle,
reduces atmospheric pollution
• Productive functions:
– Source of wood, gums, resins, medicines, pulp, paper etc
• Accessory functions
– Adobe of animals and tribal people
– Maintains the biodiversity of nature
IMPORTANCE OF FOREST RESOURCES
1. Ecological Balance: Forests and wildlife are essential to maintain ecological balance of an
area.
2. Renewable Natural Resources: Forests are an important renewable natural resources.
3. Eco-system: Trees dominate forest ecosystem; their species content varieties in different
parts of the world.
4. Economic Development: Forest contributes to the economic development of the country
because they provide goods and services to the people and industry.
5. Environment Quality: The forest enhance the quality of environment by influencing the life
supporting system.
6. Safeguard against Pollution: Forest check air pollution and soil erosion. Thus, they
exercise safety and against pollution.
7. Soil Conservation: Forest save the hill-slopes from landslides.
8. Wind Erosion: In deserts, trees reduce wind erosion by checking wind velocity.
9. Check the Extension Balance: The forest checks strong gales and keeps the soil intact
beneath the roots of trees and thus checks extension of desert.
10. Maintains Ecological Balance: The forest check pollution of air through increasing
oxygen content of the air.
11. Attract Rainfall: By causing condensation of water vapour in clouds, forests attract rains.
12. Control Floods: The floods are controlled because forests dry up rainwater like sponge.
IMPORTANCE OF FOREST
13. Linked with Cultural and Civilization: Forests are linked with our cultural and
civilization.
14. Supply of Raw Material: Forest supply wood, which is used as under: (i) Fuel, (ii) Raw
material for various industries as pulp, paper, newsprint, board; (iii) Timber for furniture
items; (iv) To be used in packing articles like fruits, tea etc. (v) For preparing matches,
sport goods etc.
15. Minor forest products: Some examples of minor forest products, are canes, gums,
resins, dyes, flocks, medicines, tannins, lac, fibres, etc. For tribal people are provided
with food like tuber, roots, leaves, fruits, meat from birds and other animals etc.
16. Employment opportunities: About eight crore people are employed in wood based
industries like paper and match and small and cottage industries. Besides, those who are
employed in the forest department in various states.
17. Revenue Receipts: The forest provide Rs. 400 crores per year as revenue to the
government.
18. Fodder for Cattle: Forest provide fodder to cattle.
19. Foreign Exchange Earners: Forest produce a great number of articles like essential
oils, resins and dyes. Which find market in foreign countries. Nearly Rs. 50 crores are
earned in foreign exchange through selling lac, terpentine oil and sandal wood oil to
abroad. Thus, the forests are nation’s wealth. They are useful to us directly and
indirectly.
DEFORESTATION
• Deforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring forests by
the processes of humans logging and/or burning of trees in a
forested area
• Imbalance between demand and production of fuel wood and
timber is one single factor that has contributed most to the
depletion of forests in the country
Difference
• Deforestation: Change of forest with
depletion of tree crown cover more than
90%
• Degradation: Depletion of forest tree
crown cover less than 90%
CAUSE OF DEFORESTATION
• Encroachment of forest land for agricultural
use(grazing cattle, planting crops)
• Expansion of cities to accommodate the growing
population
• Construction of dams, canals and highways
• Establishment of industrial areas
• Demand for firewood
• Mining
• Shifting cultivation: North East and Orissa
• Forest fires
• Submergence of forest in river valley projects
EFFECTS OF DEFORESTATION
• Soil erosion: the soil in slope area gets washed away with rain
water, since soil become loose due to the absence of
forests/trees.
• Expansions of deserts: barren land is getting converted into
deserts due to the action of strong winds. Since there is no
barrier to strong wind because of absence of trees.
• Decrease in rainfall: Forests bring rains due to high rate of
transpiration and precipitation. In the absence of forests,
rainfall declines considerably
• Loss of fertile land: Less rainfall results into the loss of fertile
land owing to less natural vegetation.
• Effect on climate: The climate of a region is mainly controlled by the rainfall, snowfall,
etc. Deforestation causes decrease in rainfall, which in turn increases the climatic
temperature.
• Lowering of water table: Decrease in rainfall results into a lowered water table due to lack
of recharging of underground reservoirs.
• Economic losses: Deforestation will cause loss of industrial timber and non-timber
products and loss of long-term productivity on the site.
• Loss of biodiversity: Loss of flora and fauna leads to disturbances in ecological balance
worldwide. Certain species of flora and fauna are getting extinct
• Greenhouse effect: Forests store large amount of carbon that are released when trees are
cut or burnt. Burning of biomass and deforestation result into 15% increase in
Greenhouse effect.
• Rise in sea level: Due to global warming
MEASURES TO INCREASE &
CONSERVE FOREST PRODUCTIVITY
CONTROL OF DEFORESTATION
• Mining activities should be prohibited in areas declared as protected
forest
• Cutting of trees should be followed by massive plantation
• Environmental laws and legal provision should be strictly enforced
• Public awareness should be created regarding medicinal and other
economical and environmental significance of forests
• Afforestation
• Awareness of population explosion.
• Movements like Chipko in Himalayan forests
• Government involvement
• Making less use of minerals
• Control over industrialization
TYPES OF TIMBER EXTRACTION
1. Clear Felling
2. Selective logging
3. Mechanical logging
4. Hand logging
5. Reduced impact logging
CHIPKO MOVEMENT
• The movement is best known for its tactic of hugging trees to
prevent them being cut down and to prevent commercial timber
harvesting.
• Chipko means tree hugging or “embrace” as the villagers hugged
the trees.
• The people of the villages under the leadership of Chandi Prasad
Bhatt pledged that they would not permit any more felling of
trees. The people (mostly women) started hugging trees whenever
forest contractors tried to cut them down.
• Resistance to destruction of forests spread in the hills of
Uttaranchal in 1970’s.First Chipko action March 1974 in Reni
village.
• Chipko movement advocates the slogan of planting five Fs
— food, fodder, fuel, fibre and fertiliser trees—to make
communities self-sufficient in all their basic needs.
Success Of Chipko
Movement
• The movement has spread to many states in the country.
• It stopped felling of trees in the Western Ghats and the Vindhyas.
• Generated pressure for formulation of a natural resource policy.
• Achieved a major victory in 1980 with a 15-year ban on green
felling in the Himalayan forests
• More than 1,00,000 trees have been saved from excavation.
• Started protecting forest slopes and Restoring bare ones.
• Villagers paid special attention in care of the trees and forest trees
are being used judiciously.
