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Indian
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Prepared By :
Nikunj P Jha
EN. NO 140070125012

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES - 2110007

PRODUCTION ENGINEERING
BVM ENGINEERING COLLEGE
V.V. NAGAR

Content Layout
Definition

Types of Forest
Moist Tropical Forests

Function of Forests

Dry Tropical Forests

Montane Sub-Tropical Forests

Protective Function

Montane Temperate Forests

Productive Function

Sub-Alpine Forests

Regulative Function
Accessory Function

Importance of Forests
Ecological Importance
Economical Importance

Alpine Scrubs

Indian Scenario

Definition
A 'Forestis any large area of land covered with trees and other
woody vegetation.

Hundreds of more precise definitions of Forest are used

throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree
height, land use, legal standing and ecological function.

The word forest is derived from a Latin word Foris means Outside
Forest are one of the most important natural resources of the earth.
Approximately 1/3rd of the earths total area is covered by forests

Function Of Forest
The functions of forest may broadly classified into
following categories :
Protective Function
Productive Function
Regulative Function
Accessory Function

Protective functions
Forest Provide protection against Soil erosion, Droughts,
floods, noise, radiations

Productive Functions
Forest Provide various products like , gum, resins, medicines,
Katha ,honey ,pulp ,bamboo ,timber and fruits.

Regulative Functions
The Forest regulates the level of Oxygen and carbon dioxide in
atmosphere. The forests also help in regulating temperature conditions

Accessory Function
Forest provides aesthetics, habitat to various flora and fauna
besides that it also has an recreational value.

Importance of Forests
Forests and biodiversity is key to all life forms. The richer the
diversity of life, the greater the opportunity for medical
discoveries, economic development and adaptive responses
to such new challenges as climate change.
We can divide the importance into two parts i.e.
Ecological Importance
Economical Importance

Ecological Importance of Forests

Regulation of global climate and temperature :
Forest play a crucial role in regulation of global climate
and temperature as forest cover absorb the solar
radiations that would other wise be reflected back into the
atmosphere by bare surface of the earth.
Transpiration of plants increases the atmosphere
humidity which affects the rainfall, cools the atmosphere and
thus regulate the hydrological cycle.

Reduction of Global
Warming

Production of
Oxygen

Conservation of Soil

Absorption of air
pollutants

Control of water
flow

Habitat to wild life

Fuel Wood
Timber

Raw material for wood

based industries

Economical Importance of Forest

Foods
Miscellaneous products :

Miscellaneous products like, resin,

gums, oils, medicines, katha, honey
are provided by forests.

Types of Forest
Moist Tropical Forest
a)Tropical wet evergreen: Western
Ghats(Maharashtra Karnataka ,
Kerala)
b)Tropical semi evergreen:
Lower hills of western Ghats.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

c)Tropical moist deciduous:

Dehradun, mahableshwar
d)Damp Forests:
Sunderbans ,Bengal delta,
and Andaman.

Dry Tropical Forest

a)Tropical dry deciduous:
Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh
b)Tropical thorn forest:
Delhi, Punjab, Gujarat

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

c)Tropical dry evergreen:

Eastern Ghats
d)(Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu)

Monotone Sub Tropical Forest

Coniferous Forest

a)Subtropical broad:
Shillong , Nilgiris
b)Sub-tropical pine forest:
Arunachal Pradesh, Kashmir
(b)

c)Sub-Tropical dry evergreen:

Foot Hills of Himalayas.

(a)

(c)

Monotone Temperate Forest

a)Montana Wet temperate:
Nilgiri , Palmi Hills
b)Himalayan wet temperate:
Assam , Himachal Pradesh
c)Himalayan dry temperate:
Kashmir

Sub-Alpine Forest
Ladakh And Sikkim

Alpine Forest
a) Moist alpine scrub:
high Himalayas
b) Dry alpine scrub: Sikkim

Indian Scenario
According to the state forest Report 1999,the total forest
cover of India is 6,37,293 km2 which is 19.39% of the
total geographical area of the country. Out of this
Dense Forest
- 11.48 %
Open Forest
- 07.76 %
Mangrove Forest - 00.15 %

 Among the 16 differ types of forests in the country the most

common is
Tropical dry deciduous

- 38.7%

Tropical moist deciduous - 30.9%

Tropical Thorn

- 6.9%

These three types of tropical deciduous forests account for more

than 76.5% of forest area in India
Nearly 96% of forests are owned by government, 2.6 by
corporate bodies and rest are in private owner ship.

Forest Degradation In India

At the beginning of 20th century about 30% of land in India
was covered with forests but by the end of 20th century the
forest cover was reduced to 19.4%.
As a result of exploitation , the tropical forest cover in India ,Is
now only reduced to coastal western Ghats and northern
India.
We have a huge population size and a very low precipitate
forest area 0.075 ha/capita as compared to 0.64 ha/capita of
world forest area.
The deforestation rate per unit population in India is lowest
among the major tropical countries.

Reference:
Book : Environmental Studies
B.R.Shah and Snehal Popli

Facts On Environment
Readers Digest

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