Remote Sensing & GIS

Applications in Forestry in India

Saibal Dasgupta
Director General
Forest Survey of India, Dehradun
 ‘I wonder if there is any other natural resource which
gives us so much and of which we know so little.’

- Dr. Rajendra Prasad

Structure of Presentation

• Brief overview of FSI

• Use of Geomatics in FSI for Forest Management
• Conclusion and way forward
 FOREST SURVEY OF INDIA

• A National Organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate

Change, Government of India
• Undertakes Forest Resource Assessment at the National Level
• In service of the Nation since 1965
EVOLUTION OF THE ORGANIZATION
1965
PISFR
•Assess availability of raw
material for establishment
of wood based industries in
selected forest rich regions
(FAO/UNDP/GOI project)
1986
FSI – New Mandate
•Biennial forest cover mapping &
preparation of SFR
1981 •Inventory of forests and trees
outside forests
•Impart training to forestry
FSI personnel in modern forest
survey and inventory techniques
•Periodic monitoring of the
forest resources •Support and oversee
•Serve the data needs of
techniques/inventory work
undertaken by State/UT forest
development planning department.
•Serve as nucleus for the •Undertake project based
technological advancement and activities of the State Forest
consultancy in the field of Departments and central
forest mapping and inventory government organizations.
•Training of forestry personnel
•Provide institutional base for
international cooperation and
training
FSI-Zonal Offices
 State of Forest Repository of
Reports data on Forest Time series
Resources
data on
forest cover

Core
Forest Fire
Competence Monitoring
• Remote sensing based
mapping of forest
resources
•Inventory of forest Carbon
resources Assessment

Imparting
Web Applications Large number of Training
DSS, e-Green Thematic Maps
watch
 Use of Geomatics in FSI
• Nation-wide Forest Cover Mapping on two year cycle

• Preparation of Forest Management Plan

• Stratification for Forest Inventory

• Assessment of Trees Outside Forests

• Forest Fire Monitoring

• Forest Type Mapping

• Assessment of Damage due to Disasters

• Monitoring of Encroachment in Forest Areas

• E-green Watch

• Decision Support System (DSS)

• Application of Very High Resolution (VHR)

 Forest Cover Mapping (FCM)
Satellite Data
NRSC (DOS)

Interpretation Classified Map

(FSI)

Consultation
with SFD

Toposheet
(SOI) Ground Truthing
(FSI) Final Classified Map
 FCM: keeping pace with technology
Cycle Year Satellite Sensor Spatial resolution Scale Map Mode

I 1987 LANDSAT - MSS 80 m 1:1,000,000 400 ha Visual

II 1989 LANDSAT – TM data (1989 – 1993) - 30m Till 1999,

to to upto 1993 1:250,000 25 ha Visual,
VII 1999 (1993 – 95) - 36.25 m
IRS Satellite data from 1999 –
1995 onwards 1995 onwards – visual &
23.5m digital

VIII 2001
To to IRS Satellite data 23.5m 1:50,000 01 ha Digital
XIV 2015
 Outcome of FCM
Inputs for the publication of ISFR on a
biennial basis
National and state level forest cover with
district wise figures
Change matrix: Change as compared to
last assessment
Mangrove Cover
Forest cover in hill & tribal districts
Forest cover in Northern Eastern States
 Forest and Tree Cover of India in 2015

Class Area (sq km) % of Geographical Area

Forest Cover

Very Dense Forest 85,904 2.61

Moderately Dense Forest 315,374 9.59

Open Forest 300,395 9.14

Total Forest Cover 701,673 21.34

Tree Cover 92,572 2.82

Total Forest and Tree Cover 794,245 24.16

Scrub 41,362 1.26

Non Forest 2,544,228 77.40

Total Geographical Area 3,287,263 100.00

 Forest Cover Assessment using Satellite images

False colour composite Classified maps of India

Class Description
Very Dense Forest (VDF) Having canopy density ≥70%

Moderately Dense Forest Having canopy density 40% to <70%

(MDF)
Open Forest (OF) Having canopy density 10% to < 40%

Scrub Having canopy density < 10% Classified maps of Uttarakhand

 Positive & negative changes detected in FCC
13
13th cycle FCC-2011 14th cycle FCC-2013 Google Earth Imagary

13th cycle CLS DATA 14th cycle CLS DATA

Ground Truthing Photo(Jan-Feb 2015)

Place: Alibag District: Raigad State: Maharashtra

Latitude: 18o40I14II N Longitude: 73o01I15II E Toposheet No:47BF
Change Class: NF to Mangrove(O)
Reason for change: Increase in Mangrove Area Due to entrance of Backwater.
13th cycle FCC-2011 14th cycle FCC-2013 Google Earth Imagary

13th cycle CLS DATA 14th cycle CLS DATA Ground Truthing Photo(Jan-Feb 2015)

Place: Malshiras District: Solapur State: Maharashtra

Latitude: 17 59 50 N
o I II Longitude: 74o46I50II E Toposheet No:47K
Change Class: NF to TOF(O)
Reason for change: Growth of Prosopis spp.
Balrampur District, U.P Increase in forest area because of Sal plantation.
13th Cycle FCC 14th Cycle FCC
 REAL CHANGE OF MADHYA PRADESH
13 thFCC 14 thFCC Google Earth Image

Ground truthing
13 th Classified(2011) 14 th Classified(2013-14) (January2015)
STATE – MADHYA PRADESH DISTRICT – SINGRAULI
LOCATION –SINGRAULI LAT LONG - 24° 9'7.69"N 82°33'7.56"E
SHEET NO. – 63L/12
CHANGE- VDF/MDF TO NON FOREST
REASON –RELIANCE MINING ACTIVITIES.
 REAL CHANGE OF MADHYA PRADESH
13 thFCC(2011) 14 thFCC(2013-2014) Google Earth Image

Ground truthing
13 th Classified 14 th Classified (January2015)
STATE – MADHYA PRADESH DISTRICT – SINGRAULI
LOCATION –SINGRAULI LAT LONG - 24° 8'32.24"N 82°26'2.28"E
SHEET NO. – 63L/08
CHANGE- VDF/MDF TO NON FOREST .
REASON –JAYPEE MINING ACTIVITIES.
 13th cycle FCC-2011 14th cycle FCC-2013 Google Earth Imagary

13th cycle CLS DATA 14th cycle CLS DATA Ground Truthing Photo(Nov-Dec 2014)

Place: Bawanthadi Dam District: Nagpur State: Maharashtra

Latitude: 21 34 30 N
o I II Longitude: 79 30 58 E
o I II Toposheet No: 55O
Change Class: MDF/OF To Water
Reason for change: Submergence of Forest due to Bawanthadi Dam construction.
 National Forest Inventory over the years
o From 1965 to 2002 need based &
o 2002 onwards – Nationwide

Since earlier inventory work was carried out in different parts

of the country at different time, it was not possible to generate
national estimates of growing stock for forest and TOF.
Therefore, sampling design was modified in 2002 to have a
national level estimates of GS both for forest and TOF:
 Inventory of Forests
 Inventory of TOF (Rural): outside the recorded forest area in
rural areas.
 Inventory of TOF (Urban): outside the recorded forest area in
urban areas
 New National Forest Inventory design
 Addressing information need of:
Sampling of grids on 5 yr cycle
1st yr – all 1s 2nd yr- all 3s 3rd yr – all 5s
INDIA 4th yr – all 2s 5th yr- all 4s 6th yr- all 1s
• Niti Aayog 5x5 km grids
5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
• Finance Commission
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1
• UNFCCC 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2
• REDD+ 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3
4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4
• State level estimates etc.
5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1
2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2
3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3
Around 7,000 forested grids & 10,000
 Reducing time of revisit from 20 years to 05 years TOF grids to be inventoried/ year
 National Forest Inventory Design

INDIA GRID 5Km x 5Km

8m
900

5m

40m
40
m Single Grid of 5Kmx 5Km

900

8m 5m

40m 40
40m
8m 900 m 8m 900

5m 5m

40 m

60 m
NFI PLOT DESIGN
 New parameters of NFI design

 Availability of water
 Invasive spps
 NTFPs
 Incidence of Disease (tree)
 Incidence of Insect (tree)
 Mortality
 Dead standing tree
 Rotten/missing cull
 Compacted crown ratio
 Outcomes of Inventory of Forest & TOF
 To estimate growing stock (stems
and volume) inside and outside
forest areas
 To estimate biomass and carbon
stock in the India’s forest
 To estimate Growth and
productivity
 Inventory of Important NTFPs
 Growing stock of bamboo
 To estimate important
characteristic of forest such as
regeneration, grazing, fire
incidence etc.
 Climate Change: FSI’s efforts
• Communications to UNFCCC
GHG Inventory for LULUCF (Assessment of forest carbon stock)
Natcom I
Natcom II, and
BUR.
• MRV by preparing NFMS for REDD+.
• Developing Forest Reference Level for REDD+.
• Providing information for INDC for Forestry Sector.
• Revised NPV calculation (12 Eco-system services including Forest carbon
value).
• XIV FC – distribution of Funds to State.
 Training of forestry personnel

Human resource development (capacity

building) and institutional exchange
FSI conducts 10-12 training courses every year
Training on GPS, DGPS, Remote sensing, GIS,
Inventory techniques etc.
Level of officers: CF, DCF, ACF & ROs
Two courses are sponsored by MoEF & CC
Customised training programme are conducted
on the request of SFDs
So far more than 4000 officials of SFDs have
been trained
Monitoring Encroachment of Forest Areas
Jambu Island in Sunderban as in 1989
Encroachment at centre of forested island
Encroachment grows and island erodes
More than 200 ha cleared by Mar 2001
In July 02, encroachers removed and blanks planted
 New Initiatives
e-GREEN WATCH
 The e-Green Watch is a web-based system for monitoring works undertaken
under CAMPA.
 The system is capable of showing the Compensatory Afforestation, Diverted
Land, Plantations, other Plantations and Assets categories on Satellite
imageries, Forest Cover, Forest Types on FSI Portal and on Google earth.
 It will also facilitate the temporal change detection for proper online
monitoring and evaluation.
 Monitoring of National Afforestation Program(NAP),National Afforestation
Eco-development Board (NAEB),National Tiger Conservation
Authority(NTCA),Green India Mission (GIM) Plantations and other state
funded afforestation activities to be taken up later.
e-GREEN WATCH contd.
• Dedicated e-Green Watch lab established

• 28 States at present linked with e-Green Watch

portal.

• Google Earth imageries for monitoring

• Facilitates 2 way communication
• Updated works are monitored concurrently and
also revisited to observe changes over time
• Total 82,956 polygons analysed out of which
22,538 are Correct; 17,924 are Incorrect and
42,494 Unascertainable. Total revisited polygons
31,719

• Transparency and accountability

• Capacity building of SFDs
State: Andhra Pradesh Division: Bellampally
Range: Bellampally Area:20 (ha)
GPS_ID : 1810
Status: Pre-Planting Operation (PPO)
Project Start year:2011-12
Category: Plantation Work

Date of Pass:15.05.2011
State: Andhra Pradesh Division: Bellampally
Range: Bellampally Area:20 (ha)
GPS_ID : 1810
Status: Third Year Operation /Maintenance
Project Start year:2011-12
Category: Plantation Work

Date of Pass:18.03.2014
 Madhya Pradesh
Project Start year : 2013-14
Circle: Seoni Category: Plantation Work GPS_ID : 16303
Division: Seoni North(T) Area: 10 (ha)
Range: Shikara
Date of pass-05-04-2010

Date of pass-24-04-2014

Before Planting

Bamboo-3,000
Emblica officianalis-2,500
Gmelina arborea-10,500 After Four years
 Andhra Pradesh
Project Start year : 2011-12
Circle: WLM - Tirupathi Category: Other Plantation Work GPS_ID : 1536
Division: WL Chittoor East Area: 15 (ha)
Range: Srikalahasthi Eucalyptus (Clones)-24990

Date of pass - 24-09-2011

 Andhra Pradesh
Project Start year : 2011-12
Circle: WLM - Tirupathi Category: Other Plantation Work GPS_ID : 1536
Division: WL Chittoor East Area: 15 (ha)
Range: Srikalahasthi Eucalyptus (Clones)-24990

Date of pass - 08-05-2013

 Andhra Pradesh
Project Start year : 2011-12
Circle: WLM - Tirupathi Category: Other Plantation Work GPS_ID : 1536
Division: WL Chittoor East Area: 15 (ha)
Range: Srikalahasthi Eucalyptus (Clones)-24990

Date of pass - 27-02-2014

 Decision Support System (DSS)
DSS is a web based application that provides information w.r.t. geo-referenced area. DSS has been developed to
facilitate, informed, unbiased and expeditious decisions on management of forest in general and implementation
of FC Act in particular.

CURRENT LAYERS :
 Forest Cover Map (FCM) - FSI
 Forest Type Map (FTM) - FSI
 Biological Richness (BR) - IIRS
 Landscape Integrity (LI) – FSI
 Hydrological Layer - CWC
 Protected Area (PA) - WII
 Tiger Reserves (TR) - WII
 Wildlife Corridors – WII
 India Grid (1km x 1km)
 Recorded Forest Boundaries (23 states)
 Proposed Additional Functionalities in DSS
 Up gradation of DSS application using JAVA /html.

 Development of mobile DSS application.

 Analysis of Forest cover inside & outside the Recorded Forest Area(RFA).

 Report generation with geo referenced PDF maps.

 Additional layers-
1) Eco-sensitive Zone
2) Coastal Regulation Zone(CRZ)
3) Mining Areas
4) Village, town, canal, soil, DEM and meteorological data etc.

 Training to State Forest Departments

 Forest Fire Assessment

 Real time forest fire monitoring

Forest fire spots - 24817 (till 30th June)
 Pre-warning alert system for forest fire on a pilot
basis
 IMD Data
Forest Type
Advanced model needed
 Burnt area assessment since 2015 on
experimental basis carried out.
 A dedicated Forest fire cell.
 An interactive portal for displaying forest fire
hotspots.
 Real Time Monitoring of Forest Fire Using MODIS Data

Signals Transmitted to
Earth Station

Suppression and
Mitigation of Forest Fires Data Received at Earth
Station(NRSC)

State wise Fire Alerts

Dissemination Forest Survey of
State Forest Department
India

Processing
Real Time Forest
Fire Alerts

Fire Point Processing

Centre
 Very High Resolution Data (VHR)
 For effective management of forest resources the various basic requirements
and priorities are essentially of three tier system i.e., State level, District level
& Micro level.

 The priorities of forest management are :

(1) Distribution & plantation monitoring
(2) Estimation of forest growing stock
(3) Forest inventory
(4) Forest change and conversion studies
(5) Forest damage assessment due to forest fires
(6) Biomass assessments
(7) GIS applications ;using remote sensing and other collateral data.

 Technological advances and increasing availability of very high-resolution

satellite imagery offer the potential for more accurate land cover
classifications and pattern analysis, which could greatly improve the
detection and quantification of land cover change for conservation.
 Very High Resolution Data (VHR)
• Preliminary objective is the development of Visualizing Application for monitoring of plantation and allied
activities using VHR satellite data .

• A pilot project on three states – Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa.

• The raw and ortho-rectified data has been ordered through NRSC.

Plantations seen, much greener, the Plantations seen, but green cover
• VHR lab with required hardware has tree cover to the NE portion of the very low, likely trees have shed the
AOI has improved leaves
been established .

• Software procurement for Ortho-

rectification and other processes is in
various stages of progress.

• Training and Capacity building work is

in progress.
 DATA UPLOADED ON VHR APPLICATION

 Karnataka State
 TripleSat
 Sentinel-2A
 Landsat-8
 IRS P6- LISS IV TripleSat
 IRS P6- LISS III
 FOREST COVER
MAP
 FOREST TYPE MAP
 DTM (10m) Landsat-8 FCM FTM
 Applications of High Resolution Data

o Plantation Monitoring
o Asset monitoring
o Better visualization
o Ground truthing for Forest Cover Division : Mangalore
District : Dakshin Kannad
Mapping
o Information Extraction Under
Cloud/Shadow Areas
o Better estimates for Inventory
o Improvement of Forest Type
Mapping
o Help in species identification, etc.
Division : Hunsur
o Forest Fire Burnt Area Assessment District : Mysore
 Applications of High Resolution Data

• Monitoring of diverted forest

lands(mining areas).

• Working plan preparation.

• Site selection for plantation ,

watershed conservation etc.

• Watershed related studies including

hydrology.

• Use in environmental impact

assessment (EIA).
Contour trench viewing
 Site suitability for plantation

Landsat-8 (30m) LISS III (23.5m) Sentinel-2A(10 m)

TripleSat(0.80m) LISS IV (5.8m)

 Encroachment monitoring
Landsat-7 (30m) LISS III (23.5m) Sentinel-2A(10 m)
(Year: 2003) (Year: 2013) (Year: 2016)

RFA
Boundary

TripleSat(0.80m) TripleSat(0.80m) LISS IV (5.8m)

(Year: 2016) (Year: 2016)

Zoomed image
 Burnt area monitoring

LISS III (23.5m)

Forest Cover Map (Data Period
(ISFR 2015) Oct,2013 -
March,2014)

TripleSat (0.80m)
(Data Period
Oct,2015 -
March,2016)
Monitoring of mining activities
 Plantation monitoring

Division : Mangalore
District : Dakshin Kannad
 Plantation monitoring

Division : Munsur Division : Hunsur

District : Mysore District : Mysore
 Rural TOF
Shimoga District, Karnataka
Urban Tree Mapping
Tree Species mapping
Shimoga District, Karnataka

Areca Nut/
Palm Plantation
Shadow area monitoring

LISS III (23.5m) TripleSat(0.80m)

TripleSat(0.80m)-zoomed view
 Special Studies and Projects
In addition to mandated work, FSI also undertakes special studies of national/sub-
national importance on the request of state forest departments and ministries on
project mode.
Till date, FSI has completed 45 projects/ special studies on different topics
Ongoing Projects
 Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP-FAO Project)
 Designing of National Forest Inventory for Sri Lanka Forest Department
 Forest PLUS (USAID Global Project)
 Bihar Project on Forest Cover Assessment using High Resolution Data
 Impact of FSI
• Forest cover mapping biennially with Accuracy Assessment
• Tree cover as coined by FSI to compare the target of 33% of forest and tree cover.
• Forest type mapping recording 178 forest types of 16 type groups
• Mapping of Corals
• Near real time monitoring of forest fire, pre-warning and fire alerts system
• Growing stock of forest and TOF at national and state level
• Carbon estimation for GHG inventory. Also reported to UNFCCC.

• Helping different ministries and Hon'ble Supreme Court on decision making

• Capacity building of over 4,000 forest officials

• New information increased Contribution in GDP - up from 0.7% to 1.7%

• Timber Production from TOF
• Fodder Production from Forests
 Future Road Map - FSI
 Implementation and establishment of the new National Forest Inventory (NFI) design and linking
it to the new Working Plan Code.

 Development of National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) for the country.

 Synergy between Remote sensing and National Forest Inventory based activities.

 Enabling web based applications like E-Green Watch and DSS & to be made more user
friendly by addition of more layers and development of the mobile application.

 Use of the Very High Resolution (VHR) data for specific areas to enable visualisation application
for better management.

 From the climate change perspective, maintaining and recording periodic data from around
1,000 Permanent Observational Plots (POP)/Permanent Preservation Plots (PPP) every five years.
 Future Road Map – FSI contd.
 Developing modelling algorithms for pre fire alerts and making burnt area
assessment more robust.

 Use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data for different forestry applications
including biomass assessment – pilot basis.

 Linking of all forestry related applications on one Mega Geo Portal.

 A dedicated Research & Development (R&D) cell for working on cutting edge
technology

 Capacity building on application of technologies in forestry planning and

monitoring especially in SAR, high resolution data and UAV.
Thanks