Dr. VK Bahuguna
Deputy Inspector General of Forests,
Ministry of Environment and Forests,
Government of India, Room No.102,Paryavaran Bhawan,
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-10003.
Tel: 0091 11 4360379 / Fax
0091 11 4360379 / email: bahugunaifs@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Forests are the most
valuable natural resources available to the mankind on planet earth. On the one
hand, they are the essential source of livelihood for the poor and marginalised
sections of the society; on the other hand they provide furniture and other
items of desire for the rich. After
years of neglect, forestry is acquiring international dimensions. The role of forests in the environmental
amelioration and peoples life assumed global significance after the 1992 Rio
Summit. The saga of deforestation in
the developing countries on account of rising population and consequent poverty
has attracted global attention of scientists, resource managers and law
makers. To reverse the degradation in
resources, action programmes for conservation and development of forest
resources have taken shape in most of the countries. This paper present the perspective of India in achieving balance
in the forest management practices with regards to protection, production and
participation with a view to achieving sustainable forest management. The paper starts with a note on global
forest cover vis-à-vis Indian achievements in monitoring its forest areas, and
then moves on to discuss the Indian Forest Policies evolved over the last 125
years ever since scientific forestry was initiated in India in 1864 listing out
the major events and initiatives in forest conservation and development
efforts. The paper discusses the degradation of forests, its causes and extent
and initiatives taken by the Government and people to rehabilitate the degraded
forests and extend tree cover through joint efforts and to bring legal and
institutional changes to secure conservation of forests. Paper discusses the role of uniquely
successful Joint Forest Management programme and recent steps taken to
strengthen it. Through JFM around 10
million ha of forests are being managed by the forest department jointly with
around 36,000 JFM bodies at the village level. After dealing with the Indian scenario, the paper discusses
management principles of sustainable forestry which encompasses the approach on
protection, production and participation.
Situational analysis and the National Forestry Action Programme are
discussed for achieving the goals of Sustainable Forest Management. The paper concludes by seeking a balance in
these efforts for the benefit of present and future generations.
Introduction: Forests of the world are a most valuable renewable natural resource
for the mankind and have been providing goods and services since the human race
appeared on the planet earth many millions years ago. Be it a living room of a
citizen of a developed nation or a tribal hamlet in some developing country in
the tropics forest products will find a sizeable space and use; though the
level and type of use would vary significantly between the rich and the poor
people. Whereas, forests are essentially source of livelihood for the poor and
marginalised sections of the society, they provide luxurious items for the
rich. On the ecological frontiers the protective and productive influence of
forests transcends the geographic boundaries of nations and maintains the
genetic basis of life and the over all environment. A good forest is a resource
base for all other life sustaining resources. Forest occupied central stage in
the global negotiations after the Rio summit in 1992 when the future of our
environment and development was linked to the sound and efficient management of
forest resources. This has given an opportunity to all the countries of the
world for evolving global perspective in forest management practices and
policies in order to meet the objectives of Rio summit.
Though the people since time
immemorial managed forests, the modern forestry practices started only during
the last 200 years or so as an enterprise in Europe and later on introduced by
the colonial powers in the Asia, Africa, Latin America and other countries of
the world. In fact, the science of business management found early application
in forestry. Forestry as land use survived on commercial lines through the
sustained yield concept for the maximization of return from timber. To ensure
this legal systems were created which met these objectives. The economic growth
in developed nations and the land tenure systems that were developed to sustain
this proved a major reason for the success of forestry in these countries. On
the contrary in developing countries the forestry practices, notwithstanding
the timber bias also perforce focussed on the larger interests of the country
reflected in adopting ecologically and socially sensitive policy
declarations. In the following paras,
the issues in forest management are discussed with reference to Indian
situation and developing world scenario.
The United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) provided, a formal comprehensive endorsement of the
Principles of Sustainable Development.
The Conference also
adopted, along with
Agenda 21, a
statement of Principles for a
Global Consensus on
Management, Conservation and
Sustainable Development of “forests” the Convention on Biological
Diversity, and the Framework Convention on Climate Change (Anonymous,
1998). UNCED follow-up has resulted in
burgeoning interest in conservation forestry stemming from the global
environmental awareness and international publicity for controversial natural
resource issues. Issues have been
globalized, the stakeholders multiplied and long held beliefs of forest science
have been questioned.
Global events in forestry
will have a far reaching policy implication for all countries particularly the
role of forestry in the climate change. The warming of earth is responsible for
global climate inconsistencies. In
India, according to one estimate by 2050, the country will be at least 3
degrees Celsius hotter, many of its rivers would have dried up, floods and
droughts would be regular, cyclones more intense and there will be severe water
and food shortage (Kaul, 2000). There
has been intense rainfall variation in India during 90s. State like Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana
have got 40-80% more rain. The Orissa
cyclone came with wind speeds of 250 km/hr. The disappearance of mangrove
forests played a key role in destruction of life and property. Rapid
deforestation has added to the excess heat on earth. World community especially
the political leadership and intellectual class in the developing countries
should act and take mitigating steps to control the global warming. The protective and productive role of
forests in this regard assumes importance.
After several rounds of discussions in the Inter-governmental Forum on
Forests, it was decided in the year 2000 to have a separate forum on forests
within the machinery of the United Nations to deal with emerging forest issues
in a holistic comprehensive and integrated manner. This reflect the importance
of forests in the global climate change negotiation. In view of these changes
at the global level, the management of forests in every country has to be
thought of in global perspective and acted upon locally.
Global Forest Cover:
According to
the State of World Forests 1999 published by FAO (Anonymous, 1999-a) the
position of the various regions of the world regarding percentage of forest
cover, per capita forests and annual loss between 1990-1995 is given below in
Table-I.
Table-I
|
No. |
Region/ Country |
% of Forest Cover to land
area |
Per capite forest |
Annual change between
1990-1995 (in thousand ha) |
|
1 |
World |
26.6 |
0.64 |
-11269 |
|
2 |
Asia |
16.4 |
0.1 |
-2901 |
|
3 |
Africa |
17.7 |
0.7 |
-3748 |
|
4 |
Europe |
41.3 |
1.3 |
+519 |
|
5 |
China |
14.3 |
0.1 |
-87 |
|
6 |
Pakistan |
2.3 |
Non-significant |
-55 |
|
7 |
Nepal |
33.7 |
0.2 |
-55 |
|
8 |
Bangladesh |
7.8 |
Non-significant |
-9 |
|
9 |
Sri Lanka |
27.8 |
Non-significant |
-20 |
|
10 |
Indonesia |
60.6 |
0.6 |
-1084 |
|
11 |
Malaysia |
47.1 |
0.8 |
-400 |
|
12 |
Philippines |
22.7 |
0.1 |
-262 |
|
13 |
Japan |
66.8 |
0.2 |
-13 |
|
14 |
USA |
23.2 |
0.8 |
+589 |
|
15 |
India |
19.27 |
0.08 |
+7 |
India is one of the few
developing countries, which has arrested the loss of forest cover as reflected
by the above figures in the table.
Table II
Class
|
Area in Sq. Km |
Percentage of geographic area |
|
Dense Forests Open Forests
Mangrove ________________________ Sub- Total Scrub
Non-
Forests
Total
|
377,358 255,064 4,871 637,293 51,896 2,598,074 3,287,263 |
11.48 % 7.76% 0.15% 19.39% 1.58% 79.03% 100.00% |
The total forest cover of
the country has been estimated to be 63.73 million ha. which is 19.39% of the
geographic area. The dense forests (with crown density more than 40%) and open
forests (crown density 10 to 40 %) occupy about 11% and 8% of the geographic
area respectively. Mangrove forests occurring along the inter-tidal coastal
region. occupy 0.15 % of the geographic area.
The comparative assessment
of the forest cover and changes therein over a period of past 12 years is given
in the following table III
Table III
COMPERATIVE
FOREST COVER OF INDIA
(1987
TO 1997 ASSESSMENTS)
(Area
in sq.km)
|
Assessment
Year |
Period
|
Forest
Cover |
Percentage
of Total geographical area |
|
1987 |
1981-83 |
642041 |
19.52 |
|
1989 |
1985-87 |
640134 |
19.47 |
|
1991 |
1987-89 |
639182 |
19.44 |
|
1993 |
1989-91 |
640107 |
19.47 |
|
1995 |
1991-93 |
639600 |
19.46 |
|
1997 |
1993-95 |
633397 |
19.27 |
|
1999 |
1995-97 |
637297 |
19.39 |
It is seen from the table
that the forest cover in India during the past 12 to 13 years has remained in
the vicinity of 19% of the geographic area. As compared to 1997 assessment the
forest cover as per the recent assessment has increased by 3896 Sq. Km. The
dynamics of change revealed that the dense forests has increased by 10,098 Sq.
Km. and Mangrove by 44 Sq. Km. On the other hand the open forest cover has
decreased by 6,246 Sq. Km. The increase in forest cover is largely
attributed to inclusion of large block plantations, practice of JFM, protection
efforts and natural regeneration. However, the forest cover has also declined
in 12 (out of 28) States mainly due to shifting cultivation, encroachments and
uncontrolled removals from the forests without adequate regeneration
Taking into account the tree
cover existing outside the Government controlled forests (around 17 million
ha), the total geographical area under forest/tree cover is around 24%.
India’s Forest Policies
The era of
scientific forest management in India began in 1864, which marked a break in
the old indigenous practices. Since then in India forest policies have been
enunciated in 1894, 1952 and 1988. The
implementation of these policies has had a major influence on forest management
strategies and methods. The Forest Policy of 1894 subordinated
forest conservation to the promotion of agricultural interest. The policy clearly stated that whenever
forestland was required for agriculture it should be excised without
hesitation. Forest ecology and conservation in those days though were
considered inconsequential but nevertheless, did aim at soil and
moisture
conservation. Further this policy
stated that the consideration of forest income should be subordinated to the
needs of the local people.
Major forestry related events
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1864
Appointment
of D. Brandis as Inspector General of Forests.
1865
1st
Indian Forest Act enacted
1878
2nd
Indian Forest Act was enacted
1894
First
Forest Policy of India.
1927
3rd
Indian Forest Act enacted
1952
Second
Forest Policy of India
1972
Wildlife
Protection Act enacted
1976
Social
Forestry Programme initiated
1977
Forestry
transferred from the State List to the Concurrent
List through 42nd Constitutional Amendment.
1980 Forest
Conservation Act enacted
1988
Present
National Forest Policy enunciated
1990 Joint Forest Management instituted
(Source: Bahuguna & Raghavan, 1999)
The National Forest Policy 1952 was adopted after independence and was
recognized as an excellent scientific policy document. It rejected the belief that forestry should
be restricted to residual lands not required for any other purposes. The policy proposed that 60% of the land
in the hills and 20% in the plains and over all 1/3rd of the total
geographical area should be under forest/tree cover. This policy also stated the need for checking denudation on the
hills, soil erosion and invasion of sand from deserts and coastal areas. The establishment of tree lands to
ameliorate conditions and promote well being of the people and to maximise
annual revenue in perpetuity consistent with the fulfillment of all the other
conditions was also stated. Most
provisions of the policy could not be implemented mainly due to the problems of
increasing human and livestock population and chronic food shortages.
The new National Forest Policy was enacted in 1988. The primary
objective is to ensure environmental stability and ecological balance. In this policy, derivation of direct
economic benefits is to be subordinated to this principal aim. This policy emphasizes the need to meet the
domestic demands of the tribal and rural people for forest produce and also the
need to involve them in protection and management of forests. The first charge on forest produce would be
the domestic requirement of the people living in and around the forests but
this fulfillment should be restricted to the carrying capacity of the
forests. Conservation and protection
of existing forests and restoration of productivity on degraded forests has
been prioritised. This policy also
emphasis the need for strengthening the Protected Area Network for overall gene
pool resource protection and conservation.
Industrial requirements for raw material will not be met from the
natural forests but from the farm forestry and agro forestry sector through tie
up between farmers and industry. The
objective of the 1952 policy of having 33% of the geographical area under tree
cover has been reiterated and seeks the expansion by afforestation of the
wastelands. The poor people have always been treated as liabilities by the forest
managers due to their dependence but this policy through peoples’ participation
in forest management converted this liability into an asset for the
conservation.
The policy is based on the
following principles (Anonymous, 1988)
-
Maintenance
of environmental stability through preservation and, where necessary,
restoration of the ecological balance that has been adversely disturbed by
serious depletion of the forests of the country.
-
Conserving
the natural heritage of the country by preserving the remaining natural forests
with the vast variety of flora and fauna, which represent the remarkable
biological diversity and genetic resources of the country.
-
Checking
soil erosion and denudation in the catchment areas of rivers, lakes, reservoirs
in the interest of soil and water conservation, for mitigating floods and
droughts and for the retardation of situation of reservoirs.
-
Checking
the extension of sand-dunes in the desert areas of Rajasthan and along the
coastal tracts.
-
Increasing
substantially the forest/tree cover in the country through massive affoestation
and social forestry programmes, especialy on all denuded, degraded and
unproductive lands.
-
Meeting
the requirements of fuelwood, fodder, minor forest produce and small timber of
the rural and tribal population.
-
Increasing
the productivity of forests to meet essential national needs.
-
Encouraging
efficient utilisation of forest produce and maximising substitution of wood.
-
Creating
a massive people’s movement with the involvement of women, for achieving these
objectives and to minimise pressure on existing forests.
Forest Degradation:
India is the second most
populous and seventh largest country in the world having population over 1
billion with only 1.8% of the world’s forest cover. The forests of India are sustaining the needs of 16.7% (as per
latest Census of March, 2001) of the
world’s human and 18% of the livestock population. The degradation of forests
in India and other developing countries is primarily due to following reasons:
Uncontrolled
and thus unsustainable removals (due to increased pressures) without adequate
and commensurate investments and other inputs leading to erosion in the growing
stock and qualitative decline in the productivity of forests over time.
Land-use change on account of diversion of forestland to non-forestry uses
resulting in disappearance of forests in certain areas leading to quantitative
decline in the forest. The
unsustainable withdrawals are due to wide gap in demand and supply. In 1996, the wood budget of India was as
under.
(million tonnes) 201
Forest 17 86
Non-forest 98
Timber
64 Forest 12 21
(million Cum) Non-Forest 31
The gap of timber is being
met largely through imports. The wide gap in demand and supply of fuelwood is
causing degradation. Similarly , in
the absence of adequate productive pasture lands, the forests are the major
source of grazing and fodder. Out of
the total 450 million cattle in the country, an estimated 270 million graze in
the forests and cause damage to the regenerating seedlings. Another cause of degradation is the
practice of shifting cultivation particularly in the North-Eastern States. An area of about 2 million ha is subjected
annually to shifting cultivation. Over
the years, due to increase in tribal population and decrease in productivity,
the shifting cultivation cycle has been reduced from 20 years to about 4 to 5
years causing ecological imbalance.
The bio diversity of the country is severely threatened by forest fires
also. An area of about 3 million ha is
annually affected by forest fires causing a loss very moderately estimated
(replacement cost of the seedlings) at Rs.440 crore (US$ 100 million)
(Bahuguna, 1999).
Forestry Development
(a)
Government Initiatives
During seventies several
popular movements especially the “Chipko Movement” brought awareness in the
forefront for the conservation of forest and environment. Several policy and legal initiatives were
taken to check deforestation and degradation of forest cover. These were: The Wildlife (Protection) Act
1972 was enacted for protecting and conserving the bio-diversity of the
country. Project Tiger was launched to
protect the dwindling habitat of tigers and its population. The Forest Conservation Act of 1980 was
enacted to prevent diversion of forest lands for the non-forestry use. This reduced the rate of diversion per year
from 150,000 ha. in 1980 to just 15,000 ha in 1999-2000. The new Ministry of Environment and Forests
was created and new National Forest Policy was adopted in 1988. A major shift in the management was
involvement of forest user communities through the Joint Forest Management
Programme in 1990.
During the last fifty years
since independence, around 31 million hectares of land has been planted during
the various plan periods, considering the pressure on forests due to
uncontrolled and unsustainable removals and grazing as well as forest fires,
the actual plantations existing in the field would be less and are to be
expected around 50 % of the originally planted i.e. 15 million ha. The survival
percentage varies considerably in block planting by Forest Department in public
land from 60% to 70% as per the monitoring done in the field by the National
Afforestation and Eco-development Board (NEAB) of the Government of India in
fifty districts every year since 1992-93.
On private lands, the survival percentage is estimated to vary from 25%
to 50%. The results of awareness, afforestation
efforts and other actions have started showing results. The deforestation has been checked as
revealed from Table-II as the forest cover during the last 10 to 12 years has
remained around 19% of the geographic area.
In spite of biotic pressure, the country has been able to protect its
bio-diversity through rigorous protection measures in the national parks and
sanctuaries. However, due to continuous
population pressure, the depletion in the quality of forest is still continuing
and is a serious cause of concern.
(b)
Public Initiatives
The rural community has also
taken up planting of private and community lands under Social forestry/Farm
forestry/Agro forestry programmes initiated in1980s. In some areas, industry has also developed linkages with the
local farmers by supplying planting material, technical advise and making
buy-back arrangements. The significant
contribution of farmers small and large in production of wood and other
products which were earlier obtained only from forests has been a significant
success in assuring forest conservation efforts in India. Today around 17 million ha of forest/tree
growth exists on the farmlands. Very
large volumes of wood mainly of Eucalyptus, Teak, Poplar, Acacias etc. have
been produced by private farmers either as pure plantations or as trees raised
on the bunds and near their houses.
Forest Departments have also raised very large plantations on the
community lands and non-forest Government lands outside the Government
Forests.
An industry community
initiative in the development of forestry resources through block plantations
on private degraded lands for the mutual benefit of the stakeholders in Madhya
Pradesh & U.P. has opened another possibility of accelerated afforestation
of degraded lands. This need to be
critically examined and expanded.
Considering the need and withdrawals, the investment made in the
forestry sector are rather inadequate.
On an average around 1% or less has been assigned to forestry during the
various five year plan periods.
(c) Joint efforts:
Participatory
action involving the government and local communities for regeneration of
degraded forests through effective protection, sharing of produce and improving
the Socio-economic conditions of these communities through employment
generating forestry activities, was initiated by the Forest Department as a
pilot project in Arabari, West Bengal in 1971-72. The programme covered an area of over 1,270 ha degraded forests
involving 618 families in 11 villages. This joint initiative rehabilitated the
forests and thus became an example.
Subsequently, this has been institutionalised through the Forest Policy
of 1988 and JFM Circulare of June 1990.
Now over 36,165 committees (and around 75 million people) in 26 states
are participating with the government to manage over 10.25 million ha of forests. The launching of this Joint Forest
Management (JFM) Programme has been a major breakthrough in the involvement of
local communities in the management of forests and has produced very positive
results in regenerating the degraded forests and grasslands. The highlights of the programme guidelines
promulgated in 1990 by Ministry of Environment & Forest, Government of
India are
summarized as follows:-
·
Developing
partnership: between communities and Forest Departments, facilitated by
Non-Governmental Organisations;
·
Access
and benefits: only to organised communities undertaking regeneration, with
equal opportunity based on willing participation (based on care and share);
·
Right
to usufruct: all non-timber forest products and percentage share of final
harvest to communities, subject to successful protection and conditions
approved by the State;
·
10
years Working Scheme: micro-plans detailing forest management institutional and
technical operations to be developed by community management organisations with
local foresters and NGOs;
·
Funding:
From Forest Department programmes with encouragement to communities to seek
funds from other agencies.
The Government of India
reviewed the JFM progress in the country during 1999-2000 and after wider
consultation with all the stakeholders decided to further strengthen it and on
February 21, 2000 fresh guidelines were issued to all the State
Governments. The circular inter alia
provides:
In a new innovative policy
initiative for involving the JFM Committees in integrated land development and
employment generation activities, State Governments have been requested by the
Government of India to constitute Forest Development Agencies (FDAs) as
federation of these institutions at the district level. The FDAs will be registered bodies legally
and will be funded for carrying out afforestation and regeneration activities
in tandem with other rural development and employment generation
programmes. This will not only ensure
regeneration of forests but also decentralisation of administrative powers and
genuine participation of people in resource management.
The extent of progress of
JFM in each state is given in Table-IV below.
Table-IV
Extent of Joint Forest
Management Programme
(As on 1.9.2000)
|
S.No. |
State |
No. of JFM Committees |
Area under JFM (ha.) |
Source |
|
1 |
Andhra Pradesh |
6575 |
16,32,190.00 |
SFD* |
|
2 |
Arunachal Pradesh |
10 |
5,285.00 |
SFD |
|
3 |
Assam |
101 |
3,060.00 |
SFD |
|
4 |
Bihar |
1675 |
935,065.50 |
SFD |
|
5 |
Gujrat |
706 |
91,071.28 |
SFD |
|
6 |
Himachal Pradesh |
203 |
62,000.00 |
SFD |
|
7 |
Haryana |
350 |
60,733.56 |
SFD |
|
8 |
Jammu & Kashmir |
1599 |
79,273.00 |
SFD |
|
9 |
Karnataka |
1212 |
12,800.00 |
SFD |
|
10 |
Kerala |
21 |
4,000.00 |
SFD |
|
11 |
Madhya Pradesh |
12038 |
58,00,000.00 |
SFD |
|
12 |
Maharashtra |
502 |
94,727.99 |
SFD |
|
13 |
Manipur |
35 |
1,400.00 |
SFD |
|
14 |
Mizoram |
103 |
5,870.00 |
SFD |
|
15 |
Nagaland |
55 |
627.00 |
SFD |
|
16 |
Orissa |
3704 |
4,19,306.00 |
SFD |
|
17 |
Punjab |
89 |
38,991.42 |
SFD |
|
18 |
Rajasthan |
2705 |
235,634.00 |
SFD |
|
19 |
Sikkim |
98 |
2,191.00 |
SFD |
|
20 |
Tamil Nadu |
599 |
224,382.00 |
SFD |
|
21 |
Tripura |
157 |
16,227.30 |
SFD |
|
22 |
Uttar Pradesh |
197 |
34,569.36 |
SFD |
|
23 |
West Bengal |
3431 |
4,90,582.00 |
SFD |
|
|
Total |
36165 |
10,249,986.41 |
|
·
State
Forest Department
The experience
of last ten years of participatory forestry has revealed that the programme has
been well adopted and implemented all over the country due to the leadership
provided by the foresters and well supported by NGOs and other actors. The extent of success however, differ from
State to State and from place to place, depending upon the interest taken by
the people and implementing agencies and types of forests. The programme has succeeded better in those
areas where the felt needs of the people made them more responsive and where
the JFM
programme was linked to other rural development activities, where homogenous
groups existed and where the foresters, committee members and NGOs have shown
exemplary leadership, commitment and dedication.
Today’s, forest
management practices are influenced by the socio-cultural and economic
realities of the society and governed by the political class based on their perceptions
in meeting their administrative and political goals in the short term. It must
be remembered that the foresters and other resource managers have been plying
their role within this system. The expediency dominated approach has often
resulted in lopsided policies leading to poor resource planning and management
in the developing world. The
sustainable development depends very largely upon effective management of the
natural and other resources. For example, in India the exponentially growing
human population is not only polluting the environment, but also degrading life
sustaining systems for both human need and greed through unplanned and
uncontrolled exploitation. Renewable resources like forests would become
non-renewable in not too distant a future, if timely rectification measures are
not taken in limiting the consumption levels to regenerating levels. In
countries where the primary source of income is agriculture, only the good
management of land-based resources could provide economic and ecological
security to the people. It is a well-recognized ecological fact that a rational
land use man-made system, Viz., agriculture and urban-industrial, should be
supported by an equal extent of natural and semi-natural system. A natural
forest ecosystem is more stable and resistant to disturbances due to climax and
mature vegetation having greater diversity compared to immature community in a
forest in an early or intermediate succession stage or a man made forests.
However, immature communities are more productive and their importance to man
is no less than the natural forests with a vegetation of climatic climax. A
sound and pragmatic forest management regimes would strive for a stable and
productive environment having an adequate mixture of mature natural forests and
plantations of desired species (Lal & Bahuguna, 1992).
Society needs not only the
“services” but also “goods” from the forests. To secure goods and services,
forests are to be managed with certain planned management regimes. Managing
forests for the multiple benefits would do no harm to the forest stability if
the forester can apply four principles while managing them
·
First,
the closed nutrient cycling be maintained;
·
Second,
do not allow permanent gaps in the canopy;
·
Third,
harvesting to be limited to the regenerating capacity;
·
Fourth, bio-diversity of species should not be
reduced to a level that pests become significantly damaging.
This can only be possible if
we lay adequate emphasis on protection of forests and involve the larger civil
society specially the stakeholders in the management of forests. Thus, for
sustainable forest management, a balance must be achieved in production,
protection and participation. This has
already been proved to a certain degree in India during the last 20 years of
forestry programme as discussed above. The roles of forests to the society are
thus founded on these three imperatives.
a) Protection: the protective function of
forests with respect to soil, water and bio diversity are vital for the welfare
of present and future generations. This means that forest sustainability is
essential to environmental conservation. Indian forestry is today dominated by
this dictum and considerable numbers of stakeholders are currently engaged in
promoting this imperative as discussed above.
Indian forests are rich in flora and fauna. The plant wealth of India is about 45,000 species constituting
about 12% of al global plants. There
are 81,000 species of animal found in India.
At present in India nearly 4.8% of the geographic area (15 million ha)
and 18% of good density forests are being managed under the protective area
network through 447 sanctuaries and 89 national parks. All kinds of rights and
privileges have been suspended in this area and by and large the local
population supports the endeavor of government though of late, lot of conflicts
have emerged.
In India, out of the total
densely covered forest area of 38 million ha under category dense forest (crown
density 40% and above) about 15 million ha will continue to remain under
national parks and wildlife sanctuaries and thus will be totally protected as
bio diversity and gene pool reserves and will not be available for bio mass
production. The remaining 23.5 million
ha of high forest area is required to be regenerated through appropriate
silvicultural, tree improvement and management practices for maximum
sustainable productivity for meeting the local and national needs. These areas will be covered by scientific
Working Plans which needs to be prepared with adequate inputs using MIS and GIS
technology for sustainable management.
The objective should be to maintain the richness of forest diversity and
to enhance the productivity.
b) Production: without production of
goods and services to meet the rapidly increasing needs of the society, forests
can not be sustainable over a period of time. To meet the legitimate local and
national needs of the society from the natural as well as plantations
sustainable harvesting is permitted. No forest ecosystem can be claimed to be
stable unless it is productive. This is especially true in the context of
developing countries. About 15.5 ha of
forest area in India require very careful treatment to get them back on forest
cover. The existing root stocks have been
depleted and degenerated and may not regenerate to give desired
productivity. The imperative would be
to use these lands for high technology based plantations of fuel, fodder, NTFP
and timber species and silvi-pasture etc.
c) Participation: The traditional forest
management systems in India with the Forest Departments having the custodial
role have continue to deteriorate under the pressures of population growth,
both human and livestock, leaving a widening gap between the demand and supply
of various forest products and the services that the forests provide. It is now widely recognised that unless
true stake holders are effectively involved in establishing sustainable forest
management systems, including rehabilitation of degraded forest lands, deforestation
will continue at a rapid rate much to the detriment of country’s ecological
stability, economic viability, conservation of bio diversity, environmental
security and bio mass productivity with disastrous consequences.
The involvement of people
who are heavily dependent on forests for meeting their livelihood needs,
participation of NGOs and other stakeholders can provide vital inputs to the
policy planners and field forest administrators for striking a balance between
the ecological and economic roles of forests.
There are 200,000 villages in India in the fringes of forests where a
population of around 350 million lives.
The involvement of these people in the management is very vital for the
sustainability of forest resources.
Out of 25 million ha of
degraded forests on estimated 15.5 million hectares of these degraded forest
areas have natural root stocks which can regenerate if given proper protection
and assistance in regeneration. These
areas will require assisted natural regeneration, gap filing, conservation of
soil, water and bio diversity for sustainable yield of goods and services to
the community as well as partially meeting the national and regional ecological
and economic needs. These areas are ideally suitable for management under Joint
Forest Management (JFM) System. The 10
years experience of JFM in India as narrated above has shown the success
achieved.
Forest management policies
and strategies have to be viewed in the context of causes of rapid degradation
of forest resources and the institutional and policy constraints being faced in
accelerating the pace of rehabilitation to reverse the trend. An appropriate
policy and institutional framework has to address the twin objectives of
reversing the rate of degradation and the goal of achieving the desired level
of forest cover which in Indian situation is targeted at 33 percent of the
total geographical area. The following issues need to be kept in mind while
considering policies and institutional alternatives.
·
The
sustainably extractable quantity of fuelwood from India's forests is far below
the requirements of the population;
Out of the total requirement of 201 million tonnes only 17 million
tonnes is sustainably available. Around
98 million tonnes is available from non-forest sources. The gap of 86 million tonnes is met from
the forests.
·
The
livestock population in India is greater than can be sustainably supported by
the available land and forest resources;
Out of the 450 million cattle, around 270 million graze in forests.
·
The
industrial and other wood demand, part of which is currently being met by
imports, will continue to rise and the environmental concerns in exporting
countries may not allow such imports in the near future which may constrain the
growth of Indian wood-based industries;
·
Policies
which encourage unregulated and increased harvesting of non-wood forest
products may result in loss of biodiversity.
·
Expansion
of protected area networks will require further investment in resources for
productivity increase as well as creation of additional resources in
surrounding areas to meet the local needs
·
Involvement
of all stakeholders may be necessary in order to achieve the goals of
regeneration of existing forests, community forestry, agro-forestry,
rehabilitation of degraded lands etc. in reaching the target of 33 percent of
land under forest cover.
·
Resource
mobilization from institutional and other sources may be necessary as the
government forest budgetary resources are not adequate to address the tasks
ahead. There is a vast scope for tapping wood growing potential in the
agro-forestry & community forestry sector. As against the annual requirement of Rs.53000 million (US$ 1180
million) only around Rs.16000 million (US$ 360 million) are available from all
the budgetary sources of Central and State Governments.
·
There
is a considerable potential in forestry development in 200,000 villages
situated in and around forest areas under JFM and Integrated Rural Development
Programs for meeting the livelihood needs.
National Forestry Action Plan- A Plan of Action for future to achieve
the balance
In order to achieve the
goals in forest management, the Ministry of Environment and Forests have
prepared National Forestry Action Programme (NFAP), a comprehensive strategic
long term document for the next twenty years to address the issues underlying
the major problems of the forestry sector in line with the National Forest
Policy, 1988 (Anonymous, 1999-c). The
NFAP is organised into following lines.
I. Protect Existing Forest Resources:
It has three main-sub
programmes of (i) forest protection, (ii) soil and water conservation, and
(iii) protected areas and biodiversity conservation.
This would include forest
survey, demarcation and mapping, protection of forest boundary, inventory of
forest resources, prevention of illicit activities like thefts, pilferage and
encroachment, control of deforestation, establishing legal deterrents,
biodiversity conservation, protected area management, controlling shifting
cultivation, tenurial issues, preventing conversion of forests for non-forest
use, protection of forests from grazing, poaching, and fire, control of
desertification, watershed protection, protection of fragile ecosystems like
mangroves, conservation strategy for genetic resources, joint forest
management, eco-development for wildlife area, eco-tourism, strengthening
working plan and other such related issues.
II. Improve Forest Productivity:
It has four main sub-programmes:
(i) rehabilitation of degraded forests, (ii) research and technology
development, (iii) development of NTFPs and (iv) assisting private initiatives
with community participation. These
involve mainly research, improvement in technology, enrichment planting, soil
and water conservation, regeneration, rehabilitation and afforestation, bioprospecting, better growth and yield,
effective management for wood and NTFPs, use of secondary species,
improving density of species, valuation
of forest services, use of unknown
flora and fauna, research on short rotation, high yielding and genetically
improved varieties for plantations,
superior nursery technology improvement,
multiple cropping, fuelwood and pasture development, establishment of
GIS, MIS for efficient management etc. .
III. Reduce Total Demand:
It has three main sub
programmes: (i) fuelwood and fodder, (ii) timber, and (iii) NTFPs. This includes the programmes for reduction
of demand placed on forests through the technology of preservation, seasoning,
substitutions, and efficient utilisation of forest products, biomass
plantations, waste-free harvesting of
forest products, processing technology,
chemical treatments, improved cooking practices and alternative
fuels, rotational grazing and stall feeding, value addition, quality
control, substitution of solid wood, reducing demand through market
manipulation and pricing mechanism etc.
IV. Strengthen Policy and Institutional Framework:
It has three main sub
programmes i.e. Strengthening of (I) central forestry administration, (ii)
central forestry institutions, and (iii) State forestry administration and
institutions. These include the
development of infrastructure like buildings, communications, etc., and
strengthening of staff including HRD.
This issue also covers all aspects of capacity building, forest policy
and legislation, public forest administration and organisational structure,
research, planning and budgeting,
rationalising the revenue system, safeguarding intellectual property
rights relating to forestry,
restructuring of sectoral
institutions, sectoral and project planning, development of data systems,
investment analysis, monitoring and evaluation, extension and public education,
dissemination of information etc.
V. Expand Forest Area:
It has two main
sub-programmes (I) tree plantation on forest and non-forest lands, and (ii)
people's participation in plantations and its protection. It
includes the programmes of creation of plantation forests through
wasteland reclamation, afforestation and promotion of agro-forestry, desert reclamation, strip plantations along roads, railway
lines, canals, farm forestry, urban forestry, shelterbelts, industrial
plantations, greening and landscaping.
The programme will be implemented
by the States Governments. The
implementation of NFAP requires huge financial resources and the total
investment estimate for the State sector is
Rs.1232321 millions (US$ 26790 million) and for the Central sector is
Rs.106706 millions (US$ 2320 millions).
Total requirement for the country is Rs.1339 billions (US$32 billion)
over the next twenty years. The
current requirement of funds is Rs.53000 million (US$1152 million). As against this, the funds available are
only around 2000 million (US$435 million).
All out efforts, are therefore needed to achieve the targets and ensure
balance in forest management.
Conclusion: The above narration is an
illustration of forestry practices in a developing country scenario where
around 350 million people are dependent on forests for their livelihood
needs. It leads to the conclusion that
future management policies and practices in forestry will have to integrate the
social, economic and cultural realities with the scientific aspects of forestry
in order to meet the emerging challenges in the 21st Century. The diversity of situation and points of
debate that exists at the global level pose challenges for the foresters,
planners and law makers all over the world but at the same time also provide
immense opportunities for convergence of views considering the progress made by
various international conventions.
Equally noteworthy is the progress made by various scientific and social
organisations in influencing forest management practices. What is needed is to strike a balance for
the benefit of present and future generations and a commitment to ensure
this.
References
1. Anonymous (1976) Paper
of the National Commission of Agriculture,
Vol. IX, Government of India,
New Delhi.
2. Anonymous
(1988) National
Forest Policy, 1988,
Ministry
of Environment and Forests,
Government
of India
3. Anonymous
(1998) A.K.
Mukerjee Committee Report
on
the Afforestation Policies and rehabilitation
of wastelands.
Ministry
of Environment and Forests:
Government
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4. Anonymous
(1999 – a) State of the World’s Forests
FAO
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5. Anonymous
(1999 – b) State of Forest Report, 1999. Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Environment
and Forests, Government of
India, Dehra Dun: 1-15
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Ministry of Environment and
Forests, Government of India, New Delhi
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Ministry of Environment and
Forests,
Government of India.
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IIFM Bhopal. 30th
Nov.- 3rd Dec., 1999.
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(2000) Forest
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Forest Management: An Instrument
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1992.