Natural Forest resources in india their types and distribution in India for upsc, mppsc and other exams like ssc, rrb, group D, bank exams.
Natural vegetation and factors affecting it
It refers to plants community that has been undisturbed over a long period of time, so as to allow its individual species to adjust themselves to climatic and soil conditions as far as possible. This is known as virgin vegetation.
Asia has fourth position in floral diversity while india ranks tenth in Floral diversity.
Various climatic conditions, India having different relief features like mountains plateaus and plains and soils, Hence, different types of natural vegetation ranging from tropical forests to tundra vegetation are found in India.
Factors affecting natural vegetation
- Land - fertile land good for agriculture while grassland and woodlands grows in relief and terrain regions.
- soil - different soil found different types of vegetation like sandy soil supports shrubs, cactus and thorny bushes while wet and marshy soil supports mangroves and deltaic vegetation.
- climate - Temperature, insolation and rainfall are factors influence the vegetation, for example slopes of himalayas and hills of peninsula height above 915 metres, tropical to subtropical, temperate and alpine type of vegetation and its growth varies.
Forest In India
forest derived from word foris which means outside, the reference being to a village boundry or fence and it must have included all uncultivated and uninhabited land.
The forest is complex ecosystem consists of those trees that buffer the earth and support a myriad of life forms.
The important component of forest are trees, which helps in creating environment.
FAO defined forest as land with tree covers of more than 10% area and area more than 0.5 hectare.
Natural forest - not deliverately planted consists of indigenous tree species.
plantation - specialised crops includes mainly cash crops.
various classification of forests in India
classification of forest based on administration
- Reserved Forest -
Entry of peoples is strictly prohibited in Tis area, Total - 53% of total forest area.
- protected forest
comes under supervision of government of india, human activities are not strictly prohibited, people can wood, and can feed catles in this region without causing any threat to forest. It consits 29% of country's forest area.
- Unclassifies Forest
No restriction on cutting trees and feeding. It consists 18% of total forest area of india.
Classification of forest on the basis of average annual rainfall.
- Evergreen forest
- monsoon forest
- dry forest
- desert forest
on the basis of vegetation and climatic regions indian forest can be classified in following groups.
clasification of forest in India climatic regions
Tropical Evergreen Forest
These forests are dense and multilayered, harburs many types of animals and plants. Trees are evergreen as there is no definite period to shed their leaves.
found in areas receiving more than 200cm rainfall and temperature above 22degree celsius.
this types of forest found in sahyadri(western ghats), shillong plateau, andaman and nicobar islands and lakshadweep.
Trees average height - 60 metres
Trees include - mahogany, Rosewood, Bamboo, canes cinchona, rubber etc.
semi evergreen forest - mixture of evergreen and moist deciduous trees are found in less rainy parts this regions. e.g - andaman and nicobar
Tropical wet deciduous forest
also called as monsoon forests. found in chattisgarh, odisha, bihar jharkhand, andhra pradesh, karnataka kerala and tamilnadu,
most widespread forests in india.
divided in moist and dry deciduous.
moist deciduous forests - area with 100 to 200cm rainfall.
regions - western slopes of sahyadri, north eastern parts of peninsular plateaus, bhabar and tarai regins along with foothills of shivaliks.
Major trees - Teak, sal. mango, mahua, bamboo, shisham, Khair and sandal.
Dry deciduous forest -
found in region where 70 to 100 cm rainfall. these transition type between moist deciduous and thorn forests.
average height of trees are 6 to 9 metres generally]
distribution - eastrn rajasthan, western madhya pradesh, south western uttar pradesh southern punjab haryana and other rain shadow regions of western ghats.
trees includes - mahua, Babool, Tendu, Khair, Peepal.
Tropical thorn Forests
Found in areas were rainfall is less than 75cm and high temperature around 25 t 30 degrees celsius.
Trees height - 6 m
Thorny leaves minimise loss of water.
found in regions - in a crescent belt extending from indore district madhya pradesh to kurnool district andhra pradesh
trees found - Babool, Khair, Palm, Date, cacti, and palas.
Montane forest -
In mountaneous regions vegetation ranges from tropical to alpine types.
The himalayan ranges show a succession of vegetation from tropical to tundra with change in the altitude.
Trees found are - Deodar, spruce, silver, Fir, chir, whose leaves are conical.
Alpine vegetation found at the height of 2800m to 4800metres. At lower altitude only chinar, apricot trees and pastures are found but at higher altitude, no vegetation is found.
Littoral and swamp forest
also called as tidal or Mangrove
found in marshy areas where the fresh water of rivers continuously mixes with the saline water of sea.
Ideal region - Ganga, Godavari, krishna,
Trees prevent erosion
Example - sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world
Area wise mangrove forests isfr report - 2021
west Bengal - 2114 sq km
Gujarat - 1175 sq km
Andaman and Nicobar - 616 sq km
Importance of forest
- economic importance - 2% of Gdp of India is obtained from the forests.
- controls erosion - increase natural fertility
- Habitat for species - animal
forest conservation in india
History - of forest conservation rules
the indian national forest policy of 1894 provided impetus to conserve Indian forest weath with the prime objective to maintain environmental stability and meeting basic needs of fringe forests user groups.
- van mahotsav 1950
launched to make people aware about the importance of planting trees. observed in first week of july every year. with the objective to keep local people involved in plantation and spread awareness.
- chipko movement
modern movement initiated by Garhwal region of uttarakhand.
year 2011 declared as international year of forests.
- International day of forests
un general assembly declared 21 march as international day of forests.
to raise awareness with international efforts.
theme this year
- forest conservation act 1980
covers - conservation of all type of forests and related species.
aim - arrest deforestation
features of this act are -
- stop illegal activities in forests
- protection against alteration of reserved forest
- forests not used for other purposes
- National Forest Policy
about 24 percent area covered under forest
The first policy of India was formed in 1894 and amended in 1952 and 1988.
Target of National forest policy 1988 - to bring 33 percent of forest area under forest. fixed in 2012
- forest conservation rules 2022
issued by ministry of environment, forest and climate change in 2022. to implement the provisions of forest conservation act 1980
constituted - advisory committee, regional empowered committee at each empowered regional offices.
screening committee at state and ut govt level.
some other missions
- National Bamboo mission
on 25th april 2018, the cabinet committee on economic affairs approved the restructured national bamboo mission under national mission for sustainable development.
social forestry scheme running since 1976. for management of forests and afforestation of barren lands.
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