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Working Plan has been the main
instrument of forest planning (more exactly forest working) in
the country for scientific management
of forests. It is a very useful document for evaluating
the status of forests and biodiversity
resources of a forest division, assessing the impact of
past management practices and
deciding about suitable management interventions for future.
Periodical up-dating and revision
of working plan is essential to keep pace with the trends
emerging out of forest–people
interface and to address national and international obligations.
Brief historical reference of
planned working of forests in India may be counted as under;
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i.
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The first planned working of
forests in the country was crafted in 1837 by Mr. U. V.
Munro, the then Superintendent
of Forests in Travancore. On the basis of his personal
observation and long experience
of working in the woods he estimated that about
100,000 trees of teak were fit
to be felled. Later in 1856, Dr. Dietrich Brandis propounded
the fundamental principle that
the first class trees (trees over a prescribed diameter) to
be felled in a year should be
restricted to the growing stock of the second class trees that
will eventually replace them
in that year. Based on this principle of yield control, he
prepared the first forest management
plan using strip sampling for the Pegu Yoma
Forests of Myanmar in the year
1860.
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When the Forest Department was
decentralised in 1882, it caused a major setback to the
progress of working plans. However
in 1884, the diligent efforts of Sir Wilhelm Schlich,
Inspector General of Forests,
resulted in a country wide unified approach towards the
preparation of working plans
and scientific management of forests as per prescription of
working plans. The experience
so gained in the past led W.E. D'arcy to bring out his
treatise “Preparation of Forest
Working-Plans in India” (1891), providing guidelines for
systematic working plan preparations.
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From 1906, the work of checking
working plans was entrusted to the Superintendent of
Working Plans stationed at Forest
Research Institute, Dehradun. It is from this time the
working plans in our country
reached the stage of academic discussions based on
research undertaken in the institutional
forum. Working plan officers based their
prescriptions on more definite
information about the silvicultural characters of most of
the important tree species,
techniques of obtaining their regeneration and their probable
response to the main silvicultural
treatments. However, central control was once again
lost in 1935 and felling of
forests was carried out in total disregard to the working plan
prescriptions.
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After India became independent
in 1947, the forest department undertook big drives to
recover substantial areas under
the working plans. For the next half a century, the
state/provincial governments
adopted their own provincial working plan codes. As per
regional requirements, provincial
working plan codes were adopted in different states of
the country. However with the
intervention of Hon. Supreme Court of India in 1996, it
was clarified that all working
plans were to be approved by the Central Government on
account of forests being brought
in the concurrent list. The Ministry of Environment and
Forests (MoEF), Govt. of India
then adopted a uniform code, the National Working Plan
Code - 2004 for preparation
of working plans for the management of forests under the
prescriptions of a working plan/scheme
to standardize the procedure. The working plan
facilitates monitoring, evaluation
and impact assessment of forest management practices
being followed in the country.
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ii.
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iii.
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iv.
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National Working Plan Code– 2014
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2.
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Preparation of working plan
is a highly technical exercise under taken at regular interval in
each forest division. The preparation
of the working plan is based on stock and vegetation
maps which is prepared through
ground surveys. Recently, the use of modern tools like
remote sensing, GIS and GPS
is being utilized for preparing the forest cover maps of forest
divisions. Every working plan
includes the area specific scientific prescriptions for proper
management of forests of a particular
forest division, while working schemes are prepared for
smaller areas for a specific
purpose or for forest areas under the control/ ownership of such
bodies as private, village,
municipal, cantonment, autonomous district council (especially in
north eastern states), etc.
These prescriptions enable necessary co-existence of development
with nature for simultaneous
implementation of Indian Forest Act, 1927, Wildlife (Protection)
Act, 1972, Forest Conservation
Act, 1980, Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act,
1996 (PESA), Biological Diversity
Act, 2002, and Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest
Rights) Act 2006; and meeting the requirements of the
objectives of the National Forest
Policy and other international conventions/agreements.
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All forests are to be sustainably
managed under the prescriptions of a working plan/scheme.
The National Forest Policy clearly
states “No forest should be permitted to be worked without
an approved working plan by
the competent authority”. It is the duty of the manager or owner
of the forest area to ensure
the preparation of the working plan / scheme. The authority as
designated by the MoEF, will
approve the working plan and ensure its implementation. Even
working schemes have all major
elements of a working plan and these schemes also need the
sanction of the competent authority.
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There has been a paradigm shift
in the objectives of management of forests and forest
management has become more people
centric and oriented to provide the goods and services
from forests on sustained basis,
with an emphasis on ecological services and harvest of
usufructs as well. The working
plan should be in consonance with general planning, which is
village based. Therefore the
working plan should encompass the village as a unit and realign
the compartments accordingly.
Proper guidelines for sustainable use of community forests;
extraction, processing, market
and trade of minor forest produce, etc. may be provided under
separate working circles. Forest
community rights related to community forest resources,
minor forest produce, grazing
grounds, water bodies, etc. recognized under the provision of
the Forest Rights Act, 2006,
can be exercised within the framework of sustainable use. On the
other hand, management of forests
adversely affected by mining, industries, urbanisation and
other non-forest activities
is also of great challenge for which special planning initiatives are
needed.
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For involvement and benefit
of local stakeholders, micro plans are to be prepared within the
ambit of working plan prescriptions
for Joint Forest Management (JFM) areas and eco
development plans are to be
prepared for eco-sensitive forest areas adjoining the notified
protected areas. The microplan
of jointly managed forests is prepared by the members of the
Joint Forest Management Committee
(JFMC), through Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), with
the technical assistance of
forest staff of the territorial division as per MoU, for sharing the
responsibilities of implementation
and equitable sharing of usufructs among the stakeholders
within the broad prescriptions
of working plan. Micro plan is approved by concerned Working
Plan Officer (WPO)/Divisional
Forest Officer (DFO)/Forest Development Agency (FDA) as per
prevailing conditions in the
state/UT. Proper implementation of the micro plan by each JFMC
should be reviewed at least
once in two years by the Forest Development Agency (FDA).
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3.
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4.
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5.
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National Working Plan Code– 2014
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CHAPTER II
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OBJECTIVES AND OTHER ESSENTIALS OF
FOREST MANAGEMENT PLANNING
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OBJECTIVES OF FOREST MANAGEMENT PLANNING
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6.
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Forest Management Planning must
provide for sustainable management of forests and its
biodiversity as enshrined in
the National Forest Policy, encompassing the ecological
(environmental), economic (production)
and social (including cultural) dimensions. The
objectives for attaining this
goal include conservation of forests and reducing forest
degradation, maintenance and
enhancement of ecosystem services including ecotourism,
enhancement of forest productivity
together with establishment of regeneration to improve
forest health and vitality as
per ecological and silvicultural requirements of the species,
progressively increasing the
growing stock and carbon sequestration potential, maintenance of
biological diversity, sustainable
yield of forest produce, prevention of soil erosion and
stabilization of the terrain;
improvement and regulation of hydrological regime; people’s
involvement in planning and
management of forests fulfilling socio-economic and livelihood
needs of the people, albeit
with simultaneous implementation of Indian Forest Act, Wildlife
(Protection)Act, Forest Conservation
Act, Biological Diversity Act, PESA Act and Forest Rights
Act. All these entail that the
specific composition and the structure of forests must harmonise
with the environment of the
locality.
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BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
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7.
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Forests provide habitat for
many plant and faunal species. The contribution of individual species
to the overall diversity within
a community or ecosystem varies to a great extent. The
coexistence of organisms that
differ widely from each other contributes more to overall
diversity than the co-existence
of very similar species. Functional diversity is considered to be
one of the main factors determining
the long-term stability of an ecosystem and its ability to
recover from major disturbances.
Assessment of status of plant and faunal species and their
periodic monitoring can be helpful
in formulating strategies for conservation, maintenance and
enhancement of overall biodiversity
through sustainable management and use practices.
Assessment of biodiversity especially
the lower forms of life (algae, fungi, lichens, epiphytes,
parasites, etc.) of a forest
division must be made an on-going programme with the support
from State Biodiversity Board
as it may be difficult for the working plan officer (WPO) to do it
within two years, the normal
time allotted for writing the plan. All these assessments will help
in updating and enriching the
People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) as provided in Biodiversity
Act, 2002.
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JOINT FOREST MANAGEMENT
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8.
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Joint Forest Management is sharing
of responsibilities, authority and usufructs between the
village community or the forest
user group and the forest department on the basis of a
memorandum of understanding
(MoU) between the two. The management of the jointly
managed forests is done through
the provisions of a micro-plan prepared by the community on
participatory rural appraisal
(PRA) basis with the technical help of the officials of the forest
department. Micro-planning should
be done in conformity with the overall working plan
prescriptions of the forest
division and may be reviewed by working plan wing of the state
forest department. Approval
of JFM micro-plan from MoEF is not necessary as they are covered
by the macro level prescriptions
of working plan of the forest division. Any deviation from the
macro level prescriptions will
require prior approval of the Regional Office (MoEF).The latest
directives issued by the MoEF
/State Government for preparation of micro plans should be
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National Working Plan Code– 2014
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incorporated in the JFM overlapping
working circle. The compartments falling within any JFM
may have to be realigned/ subdivided
to keep them within the respective JFM/village
boundary. Analysis of implementation
of JFM programme, grading of JFMC, award winning
JFMC, women's participation,
etc. should be provided in the working plans. It should be made
necessary to assess the dependence
of villagers on the forests for their livelihood needs. Field
works like socio-economic survey
including NTFP survey, problems of grazing and firewood
needs should be analysed carefully
before making prescriptions for JFM. The activities related
to JFM during the past working
plan period along with results and comments over the results
should be included in the preliminary
working plan report (PWPR) along with supporting data.
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COMMUNITY FOREST MANAGEMENT
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9.
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Forest community rights related
to use of community forest resources like minor forest
produce, grazing grounds, water
bodies, etc. recognized under the provisions of the Forest
Rights Act 2006 or any other
State Act/Rule (e.g. Van Panchayats in Uttarakhand), can be
exercised within the frame of
sustainable management. The term “sustainable use” given in
section 2(n) of the Forest Rights
Act, shall have the same meaning as defined under section 2(o)
of the Bio-Diversity Act, 2002.
As per section 2(o) of Biodiversity Act, “sustainable use means
the use of components of biological
diversity in such a manner and at such a rate that does not
lead to the long term decline
of the biological diversity thereby maintaining its potential to
meet the needs and aspirations
of present and future generations”. Details of existing rights are
to be provided so as to assess
their sustainability, reasoning for their continuity and
enhancement of productivity.
Therefore, special efforts in the form of good practice guidance,
capacity building, orientation,
provision of incentives for the exercise of rights would need to be
provided not only for preparation
of working plans of such community forests but also for
creation of various working
circles as per the prevailing conditions of the division to maintain
the sustainability of these
forests. This will also facilitate Gram Sabha to monitor the working of
the committee constituted under
clause 4 (e) of Forest Rights Rules 2012, which shall prepare a
conservation and management
plan for community forest resources in order to sustainably and
equitably manage such community
forest resources for the benefit of forest dwelling scheduled
tribes and other traditional
forest dwellers and integrate such conservation and management
plan with the micro plans or
management plans of the forests.
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FRINGE FOREST MANAGEMENT
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10. In general, the forest fringe
area is conspicuously different from the inner forest due to close
contact with local communities. Although the
dependence of forest fringe villages and their
interaction with forest is almost same, but
the kind of interaction and its severity may vary from
one type of forest fringe to another. The
communities living in the forest fringes depend heavily
on the forest for their fuel wood and fodder
needs. In rural households, fuel wood is used for
cooking as well as for heating water and household
heating, more so in the hilly regions. The
dependence of villagers’ is heavy because
commercial sources of energy are not easily available
due to varied reasons. Non-timber forest products
(NTFPs), referred to, in the system of
national income accounts, as minor forest
products are source of livelihood and food security
for a large number of rural communities living
in and around forests. They are important to
rural households in terms of their contribution
to health, food, energy and other aspects of
rural welfare. The importance of management
of the fringe forest lies in the fact that if properly
managed, it can arrest people's entry into
the forest by catering to their needs at the fringe
only, thereby sparing the forest from the
biotic pressure that has the potential to cause
irreparable damage to the forest biodiversity
and eco-system services. Forest fringe villages
have been a major cause of forest fires due
to increased dependency of people on forests as
stated above, thus causing the forest more
vulnerable in terms of fire. Alternatives may be
discovered to reduce the dependency of people
on forests residing in fringe forests.
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National Working Plan Code– 2014
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WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
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11. The forests are also sources
of water (surface, sub-surface and ground water). Over exploitation
of the ground water resources results in declining
ground water levels; there is an urgent need
to augment the ground water resources through
suitable management interventions. It is
desirable to have forest management practices
dovetailed with the principles of watershed
based development approach especially in the
source areas of water. Such areas should have
restrictions on tree felling but there should
be operations to improve the water regimes and
natural regeneration. As such, special provisions
should be made in the working plan to sustain
water resources and livelihood issues of the
people living in and around natural inland water
sources.
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SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION
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12. Heavy rains and rapid run-off
severely affect not only the top fertile soil but leads to formation
of gullies within forest areas. Suitable management
imperatives need to be formulated to stop
forest degradation due to natural causes and
calamities. Apart from silvicultural operations, it is
also
necessary to make appropriate prescriptions for conservation of soil and water
in the
forest areas. Areas susceptible to soil erosion
such as steep slopes and areas in the vicinity of
perennial streams, etc. should be focussed
for soil and water conservation interventions with
the provision of an overlapping working circle.
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FOREST HEALTH AND DISEASES
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13. The pests significant to
the Indian forests in the recent past are the sal borer, leaf gall of
Eucalyptus, shisham mortality, etc. Interestingly, these pest phenomena cover
both natural
forests as well as plantations. Based on generalized
symptoms (spots, wilt, etc.) and signs
(mushroom like fruiting bodies); nature of
pathogen- whether fungi, bacteria, nematode, plant
parasite, etc.; pathogen survival especially
in relation to weeds; photographic documentation
of the problem and their confirmation through
internet sources and expert advice; mapping of
disease distribution may be done. Such details
are very vital for timely diagnosis and effective
management of the problem. Role of silvicultural
practices that can reduce the pest problem;
knowledge of species phenology to collect
healthy seeds from the trees before they fall off on
forest floor; scientific felling to reduce
the standing tree damage as injury serves as an infection
court for many heart rots, etc.; nutrient
status of the soil governing the susceptibility/resistance
of the host in many cases; identification
and selection of superior individuals also as a source
for resistance against the disease; identification
and evaluation of lesser known species (and
weeds) of an area for their biochemical profiling
including bio-pesticide properties, etc. can be
an effective, eco-friendly, economical and
easily available source for pest/disease management.
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FOREST FIRES AND PROTECTION
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14. Forest fires are as old
as the forests themselves. They sometime pose serious threat to the
biodiversity and ecology. Forest fires have
environmental impact in terms of tropical biomass
burning, which produce large amount of trace
gases, aerosol particles, and play a pivotal role in
troposphere chemistry and climate aberrations.
Thus, there is a need to carry out fire frequency
and burnt area mapping for fire vulnerability
on one hand and operational fire monitoring in
real time/near real time for effective response
on the other. Real time monitoring of forest fires
is being carried out by FSI using MODIS sensor
fire alerts on-board two of the satellites - Terra
and Aqua. The processed signals on forest
hot-spots are being transmitted to SFDs on regular
basis during fire season. Hence real time
monitoring of forest fires is a process now in operation
to curtail fire severity and sensitize SFDs
at operational level to prevent normal fires in getting
converted into wild fires. The online feedbacks
on forest fires which are a part of this system
could help estimate the actual loss of forest
strata as well as the loss caused to top-soil.
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National Working Plan Code– 2014
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FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
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15. Climate is an active factor
in the physical environment of all living things. Climate change and
variability are impacting forest ecosystem
processes and functioning. Response time of forest
ecosystems to disturbances ranges from a very
short duration to decades and even centuries,
depending on the condition of the system and
the type, intensity and duration of the external
stimuli. The actual state of forest ecosystem
largely depends on processes and practices of the
past. Therefore, forests are extremely complex
to understand their functioning. Climate change
further magnifies those complexities and adds
more uncertainties. Forests are linked to climate
change in three ways; i) they are source of
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; ii) they offer
mitigation opportunities to stabilize GHG
concentrations; iii) they are impacted by climate
change. Impacts of climate change on forest
ecosystem are getting manifested as species range
shifts, changing biodiversity, physiological
changes in plant life cycles, forest growth pattern of
species, changing boundaries of ecosystems
and other biotic and abiotic responses/ stresses.
There are evidences of increase in the frequency
and severity of forest fires, changing water
regimes and expanding forest insect infestation.
Since forest ecosystems operate on large
temporal scales, long observational studies
are necessary to identify the key changes.
Accordingly grid based sampling is designed
to provide relevant information to cover the
characteristic time scales.
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CARBON SEQUESTRATION AND MITIGATION
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16. Forests and wood products
can effectively reduce the process of climate change in several
ways. Growing trees absorb carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere and store the carbon so
efficiently that about half the dry weight
of a tree is carbon. This carbon remains locked up in
the form of wood and wood products. Sustainably
grown and harvested wood (and other
biomass) also provides a renewable alternative
to fossil fuels and enhance carbon storage.
Enhanced carbon sequestration through recognised
and innovative silvicultural practices, eco-
restoration of degraded/mined out forestlands,
improved biomass productivity, etc. will help in
improving forest health and vitality. Forest
soil must be kept healthy and fertile. The growth of
forest crops must be kept vigorous to attain
the most desirable level of biomass production
within an optimal time scale.
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REDD+
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17. REDD stands for reducing
emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. REDD+ (Plus)
includes forest conservation, sustainable
management of forests and enhancement of carbon
stocks, and has been adopted by the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) as a tool for climate change mitigation.
Deforestation happens when forests are
cleared and such land is put to other than
forest land use. Forest degradation implies a gradual
depletion of forests driven by demand for
biomass and disturbances like fire and soil erosion,
which, result in dwindling carbon density
and ultimately leading to complete loss of forests.
Implementation of REDD+, therefore requires
efforts/mechanisms to measure forest carbon,
interventions and payments to local people
in addition to alternative activities such as fodder
development to avoid lopping of tree branches,
efficient cooking energy devices, etc.
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APPLICATION OF MODERN TECHNOLOGIES
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18. Geomatics (Remote sensing,
GIS and GPS) has got a wide range of applications in forest
management. One can find application of geomatics
in almost every forest management
practice e.g. forest cover mapping in different
canopy density classes, change detection
(degradation as well as improvement), forest
fire detection, burnt area mapping, biodiversity
mapping, afforestation planning, wildlife
habitat suitability mapping, boundary demarcation,
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National Working Plan Code– 2014
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encroachment mapping and so
on. For many of these applications, there are no practical
alternatives to geomatics based
methods.
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19. A spatial database on forest
in GIS is a set of geo-referenced layers of spatial data of an area on
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