NDLI: Quantification and monitoring of deforestation in India over eight decades (1930

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Sudhakar Reddy, C. Jha, C. S. Dadhwal, V. K. Hari Krishna, P. Vazeed Pasha, S. Satish, K. V. Dutta, Kalloli Saranya, K. R. L. Rakesh, F. Rajashekar, G. Diwakar, P. G.
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	There is still large uncertainty over the status of global forest cover owing to the paucity of comprehensive and holistic studies related to long term forest cover change. The aim of the present work is to prepare a nation-wide multi-date forest cover database which describes and quantifies historical and recent changes in natural forests of India. This analysis facilitated the determination of the state of Indian forest cover changes over last eight decades. Here, we have mapped the total area under forest cover, evaluated the spatial tracking of changes in natural forests, estimated the rate of deforestation and afforestation, analysed the biogeographic zone wise and state wise forest cover change, existing land use in deforested area, influence of environmental factors such as terrain on deforestation and implication of different definitions of forest used by agencies reporting deforestation in India. The results indicated that forests covered an area of 869,012 km2 in 1930 which has decreased to 625,565 km2 in 2013, a net loss of 243,447 km2 (28 %) in eight decades. The highest annual average forest loss was found to be 4795 km2 during 1930–1975, 1476 km2 during 1975–1985, 767 km2 during 1985–1995, 356 km2 during 1995–2005 and 209 km2 during 2005–2013. Between 1930 and 1975, forest experienced large scale deforestation at gross annual rate of 0.77 % which has declined to 0.29 % and 0.14 % for the 1975–1985 and 1985–1995 periods respectively. Quantification of annual rate of gross deforestation for the recent period indicates 0.07 % during 1995–2005 and 0.05 % during 2005–2013. The lower rates of deforestation during recent period support effectiveness of conservation measures taken at national level. It was found that deforestation rate has decreased in many biogeographic zones by 2005, except for Andaman & Nicobar Islands and North East. The major deforestation has mostly occurred due to conversion of forests to agriculture. The construction of reservoirs contributed to 4.1 % of forest loss. The tropical forests have experienced large scale deforestation followed by subtropical forests. The findings of the study will be useful to prioritize conservation and protection of forest cover at the regional level. It shall also provide a base for future research on the impacts of deforestation on carbon flux and biodiversity.
Starting Page	93
Ending Page	116
Page Count	24
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09603115
Journal	Biodiversity and Conservation
Volume Number	25
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	15729710
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2015-12-01
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Deforestation Monitoring Forest Conservation Remote sensing India Evolutionary Biology Plant Sciences Tree Biology Biodiversity Ecology Conservation Biology/Ecology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
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7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
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9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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