Dr Devendra PANDEY

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Status issues of the World Forests
MCT course of IFS officers -Phase IV Indira
Gandhi National Forest Academy , Dehradun 26
June 2013

• Dr Devendra PANDEY
• Fmr DG, Forest Survey of India
• Fmr PCCF and Prl Secretary Forests, Arunachal
  Pradesh
• Email ID dpandeyifs_at_rediffmail
  pandeyd30_at_gmail.com

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OVERVIEW OF WORLDs FORESTS RESOURCE

• The interest in the worlds forests has grown
  due to awareness of their role in the global
  carbon cycle
• Mitigates climate change by reducing C
  emission due to deforestation and forest
  degradation and increasing C stock due to
  afforestation, conservation and SFM.
• Role of forest in conserving biodiversity and
  providing livelihood support for a large
  proportion of population has received prominence
  .

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OVERVIEW OF WORLDs FORESTS RESOURCE

• FAO of UN assesses world forest resource
  systematically and comprehensively every 5 years.
  Latest is of 2010.
• There are other agencies like JRC of European
  Commission, USGS, WRI etc. NOW China has also
  joined the race.
• FAO considers 7 thematic elements of SFM
• -extent of forest resource
• -forest biological diversity
• -forest health and vitality
• -productive function, -protective function
• -socio-economic functions and legal policy and
  institutional framework

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OVERVIEW OF WORLDS FOREST RESOURCE

• Worlds total forest in 2010 was about 4 billion
  ha or 31 of land area per capita forests was
  0.6 ha
• The five most forest rich countries constitute
  53
• i. Russia 809 mn ha
• ii. Brazil 520 mn ha
• iii. Canada- 310 mn ha
• iv.USA - 304 mn ha
• v. China- 207 mn ha
• Other countries in hierarchy are
• vi. DR Congo- 154 mn ha vii. Australia- 149 mn
  ha
• viii. Indonesia- 94 mn ha ix. Sudan 70 mn ha
• x. India - 68 mn ha

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OVERVIEW OF WORLDS FOREST RESOURCE

• Around 13 million ha of forests were annually
  lost during 2000- 2010, mostly in tropical
  countries for agriculture other purpose
• The major loss has occurred in Brazil and
  Indonesia. About 4 million ha was lost in South
  America and 3.4 million ha in Africa
• The net loss of forests has slowed down from 16
  million ha per year during 1990-2000
• There is overall increase of forests in Asian
  region mainly due to large scale afforestation
  efforts of China
• The net loss of forests is 5.2 million ha

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OVERVIEW OF WORLDs FOREST RESOURCE

• In Europe the status of forests is stable over
  the last 20 years, forest area extended but the
  focus of management shifted from productive to
  conservation
• About 13 of the world forests are legally
  established as PAs
• About 1 of the worlds forests are annually
  affected due to forest fire ( MODIS data) but
  affected area is severely under reported
  specially in Africa
• In North America (USA and Canada) and in Russia
  there is a significant loss of forests due to
  forest fires and insects and pests.
• Annual wood removal is about 3.4 billion m3 of
  which 43 constitute wood-fuel.

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A New Independent Remote Sensing Survey by
FAO Design
Systematic sample of 10 km x 10 km, satellite
image extracts at each 1-degree intersection of
latitude and longitude. About 13,000 samples
excluding no data sites. Globally, equivalent to
a 1 percent sample of the Earths land surface.
The Landsat provides global coverage and a long
time-series of acquisitions suitable for the
detection of changes in tree cover. Majority of
imageries were provided by USGS for 1990, 2000
2005.
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A New Independent Remote Sensing Survey

• Partners FAO, USGS, JRC of European Commission
  and South Dakota University USA supported by
  countries.
• Launched in 2008 and took almost 4 years to
  complete
• Enhanced capacity in countries for monitoring,
  assessing and reporting on forests and land use
  changes

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A new Independent Remote Sensing Survey by FAO
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Distribution of Sample plots
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Distribution of sample points, pantropics, RSS
2000
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These results slightly differ from FRA
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Results of the Global RS Survey

• Results differ from FAO FRA assessments
• Worldwide, the gross reduction in forests
• -9.5 mn ha per year between 1990 and 2000 and
• -13.5 million ha per year between 2000 and 2005.
  
• Reduction partially offset by gains due to
  afforestation and expansion of natural forest
• -6.8 million ha per year between 1990 and 2000
  and
• -7.3 million ha per year between 2000 and 2005.
• There is a net increase in boreal, temperate and
  sub-tropical forests and net loss in tropical
  forests

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Snow covered Boreal forests of Siberia -Russia
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Distribution of boreal forests- Mostly in
Canada, Alaska, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway
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Key issues of the World forests

• (source State of Worlds Forests 2011, FAO)
• Regional trends on forest resources (extent)
• The development of the sustainable forest
  industries
• Climate change adaption and mitigation
• Local values of forests for sustaining livelihood
  of local communities including non-cash value of
  forests

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• Dynamics of carbon stock in forest ecosystem is
  the most robust parameter for climate change
  mitigation.
• Measurement of C- stock of forests and its
  dynamics over a period has become the priority
  activity.
• Capacity of most of the developing countries has
  be to built in this area specially for
  implementation of REDD mechanism major
  challenge

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Global Overview of C-Stock in forests (source
FAO, FRA 2010 of 233 Countries /territories)-
reliability level

• 180 countries reported on carbon in tree/woody
  biomass
• 72 countries included deadwood and
• 124 countries litter mostly default values (2.1
  t/ha)
• 121 countries reported on soil carbon mostly the
  default values as provided in the IPCC 2006
  guidelines.
• For filling the gaps for remaining countries and
  areas, FAO estimated carbon stocks by taking the
  sub-regional averages per hectare and multiplying
  these by the respective forest areas.

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Global Overview of C-Stock in forests (source
FAO, FRA 2010)

• Total C- stock in forest ecosystem 652
  billion tones
• C-stock in total biomass (all four pools) 360
  billion tones
• C- stock in soil 292 billion
  tones
• C- stock per ha forest ecosystem 162 tones
• C- stock per ha in biomass 90 tones
• C- stock per ha in soil 72 tones
• 44 in live biomass, 11 in deadwood and 45 in
  soil
• During 2005-10 C stock in forest biomass
  decreased
• by 0.5Gt per year.

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Five World Heritage Forest sites having highest C
density in biomass

• (based on review of Biomass/carbon of 56 country
  reports)
• Redwood National and State Parks of USA -573 t/ha
  (SOM 52 t/ha)
• Olympic National Park of USA -419 t/ha (SOM 96
  t/ha)
• Te Wahipounamu South West New Zealand 253 t/ha
  (SOM 65 t/ha)
• Central Suriname Reserve of Suriname -227 t/ha
• (SOM 47 t/ha)
• Tongariro National Park of New Zealand -208 t/ha
• (SOM 65 t/ha)

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Level of variability in C stock in forests

• High variability in C stock in biomass 16 to
  573 t/ ha
• (high C density is found in West coast of
  USA/Canada in oceanic forests part and also in
  Redwood Olympic NP USA)
• Low variability in C stock of soil 25-132
  t/ha
• ( high SOM lies in sub-tropical humid and
  temperate oceanic forests of Australia, tropical
  moist deciduous forests of Brazil, Lake Baikal,
  Virgin Komi Forests in boreal mountain forests of
  Russian federation)

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STATUS OF INDIAs FOREST

• India is among the few countries to have
  comprehensive operational system of forest cover
  monitoring
• In addition to forest cover, tree cover (tree
  groves less than 1 ha in area) is also estimated
• FSI undertakes these activities for the country
  biennially using remote sensing technology and
  results published in India State of Forest Report
  .
• Twelve Reports (last in 2011) have been
  published so far

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Indias Forest Resource
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OVERVIEW OF INDIAs FOREST RESOURCE

• Area under different Forest types as per
  Champion Seth (1968) classificaton as verified
  by latest study by FSI
• It has been found that broadly, about
• 17 Tropical Evergreen / semi evergreen
  category,
• 20 Tropical Moist Deciduous,
• 42 Tropical Dry Deciduous,
• 2.3 Tropical Thorn,
• 5.7 Subtropical Pine and about
• 8 Himalayan Temperate category.

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OVERVIEW OF INDIAs FOREST RESOURCE

• National Forest Inventory (NFI) is also done to
  by laying sample plots on the ground but NFI is
  least publicized and discussed by media and
  others including academia
• About 4000 sample plots are laid systematically
  in selected about 30 districts of the country
  each year
• Assessment of Tree outside forests (TOF) resource
  is part of this activity
• Growing stock of wood in forests and TOF,
  biomass, carbon stock , bamboo resource are
  results of NFI

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OVERVIEW OF INDIAs FOREST RESOURCE

• Annual Timber production
• ( source Forest Sector Report of India, ICFRE
  -2012)
• Forests 2.5 million m3
• TOF 44.5 million m3
• Imported 6.0 million m3

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Carbon stocks in Indias forests
(Million tonnes)
Component Carbon Stock in forest land in 1994 Carbon stock in forest land in 2004 Net change in Carbon stock
Above Ground Biomass 1784 2101 317
Below Ground Biomass 563 663 100
Dead wood 19 25 6
Litter 104 121 17
Soil 3601 3753 152
Total 6071 6663 592
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Trend of Indias Forest resource

• The total forest cover of the country is either
  stable or marginally increased
• There is no reliable data to comment on the
  degradation status of the forests at the
  national level.
• Per capita forest declined to 0.06 ha due to
  increased population. Comparing with USA, Indias
  geographic area is almost 1/3rd of the USA
  whereas the population is 4 times, thus
  population density is 12 times.
• Tree outside forests have become the major source
  of wood production in the country

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THANK YOU