Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology

ISSN No:-2456-2165

Forest Resource Management Using

Geo-Spatial Technologies
Dr. Jayachandra Kannemadugu1, Kamya Sharma2 and Kainat Aziz3
1
GIS Consultant, Regional Director at Centre for Environment and Development
Vice President at Pure Earth Foundation, Hyderabad
2
MSc Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands
3
PhD Scholar, Central University of Gujarat, India

Abstract:- Natural resources are key for the I. INTRODUCTION

development of a country, and this stands true in any
part of the globe. Planet earth has several natural  Management of Forests
resources on its surface and subsurface like land (soil), Forest management primarily aims to maintain the
air, sun light, water, agriculture, forests, aquaculture, environmental values of all types of forests in order to meet
sand, coal, natural oils &gases, rock/stone formations the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs
along with bio life and more. To sustain ecological of present and future generations. Forests supply water,
diversity, preserve resources for future generations, and mitigate climate change and provide habitats for bio life,
to maintain living amenities for people, these natural which is essential for sustainable food production, among
resources must be utilized in an optimal and sustainable other things. Successfully achieving sustainable forest
way. Sustainable use of natural resources will contribute management will provide integrated benefits to all, ranging
to a balanced ecosystem with a constructive environment from safeguarding livelihoods of locals (forest dwellers) to
for a longer future of all living things. This is possible protect biodiversity, healthy ecosystems provided by forests
with an efficient and sustainable management of and to mitigate some of the effects of climate change. Forest
resources which may be achieved through conservation conservation is essential to stop global warming and climate
of air, soil and water, micro-watershed management, change. The major stake holders of forests include the local
irrigation water management, community forestry, government which owns the forest land, forest dwellers who
community-based coastal zone fisheries management, live around or nearby forest areas and depend on what they
conservation of the biodiversity, requisite use of can forage from it, industries who use forest products for
renewable resources etc. various industrial purposes and the enthusiasts for
conservation of wildlife and nature.
Finding the location and knowing the potential of any
natural resource on earth is very essential in the process II. FOREST STATUS IN INDIA
of its management. The geo-spatial technologies such as
satellite sensing, aerial sensing, radar, Lidar & drone According to the India state of forest report 2021 by
based sensing, GIS (Geographical Information Forest Survey of India (FSI), there is an increment of forest
Systems)and GPS (Global Positioning Systems) are cover in India by 1540 sqkm. This was by considering any
known as the most reliable and proven technologies in land of 1 or more hectare with tree patches and canopy
finding the correct location of natural resources along density of more than 10%. This covers all lands irrespective
with the extent/potential on the surface and subsurface of legal ownership and land use. Total forest cover is
of earth very precisely. The advancements in sensing 713789 sqkm which is 21.71% of the total geographical area
technologies resulting in very high-resolution images and of the country. The target area under forest is 33% of the
the software tools for spatial data analysis have made total geographical area. This reveals that India is not adding
significant developments in the field of natural resource to its dense forest, rather it is losing significant areas of
management. When compared with past centuries or natural forests with moderate tree cover. The major category
decades, most of the natural resources are under of the Indian forests is the open forest with 40%. FSI has
continuous exploitation by some form of human activity categorised the Indian forests in to four major types, namely,
in the name of development. The present paper will very dense forest with more than 70% tree canopy density,
enlighten few persistent issues related to one of the moderately dense forests with tree canopy density between
significant natural resources namely forests and would 40-70%, open forests with tree canopy density between 10-
expedite the scientific processes through the geo-spatial 40% and the scrub forest tree canopy with less than 10%
technologies in producing appropriate recommended density.
action plans that are required in forest management.

IJISRT22APR1138 www.ijisrt.com 1564

Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Table 1 Forest Dense City in India
Forest Category % to the total forest cover Increment Decrement
Very dense forest 3.04% 501 sq km
Moderately dense forest 9.34% 1582sq km
Open forest 9.33% 2612sq km
Scrub forest 0.0013%

5 states namely Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, combined information, providing the concerned decision
Karnataka, Odisha and Jharkhand have reported total making management with an authoritative scientific base to
increment while 11 states shown decrement in forest cover. handle their day-to-day ground based activities. Particularly
The increment in the 5 states is the result of local plantation the geo-reference of cadastral maps, forest areas and
programs and agro-forestry. topographical features with the respective High Resolution
Satellite (HRS) imagery could resolve the basic
 Advancements of Geospatial Technologies identification and fixation of the boundaries of natural
While the Geo-spatial technologies have been evolving resources like forests, water bodies, government lands,
along with the introduction of computers to the world since private lands. The archived satellite imagery products along
1960s, the effective way of their functioning only began with the geo-spatial thematic layers will help in easily
during 1990s. The major reason behind this was lack of identification of encroachments, damages to resources etc.
suitable input & output hardware devices, storage media and Thus providing legally valid scientific inputs in resolving
lower configurations of computers. The geographical inputs the issues within or with the neighboring features and
for any resource based application or project were available thereby helps in protecting natural resources from
in non-digital formats i.e., paper or cloth and digital encroachments.
conversion was the major challenge during the initial
evolution of this technology. Digitizer boards were in use  Major Issues in Forest Management
for converting analog/paper map to digital format Often, in the name of development or industrialisation
information till the introduction of large sized scanners to or socio-economic improvement or due to natural disasters,
the world during the end of 20th century. Even the processes the forests are disturbed causing reduction in green cover
were limited to vector data due the availability of only DOS which consequently is changing the global environmental
based operating system. Under such circumstances it was conditions. The following are major issues in the
very difficult to create spatial database for larger project management of forest resources in India.
areas.
 Boundary disputes between Forest & Revenue lands
However, there were consistent advancements in the leading to encroachment of forest areas
hardware and software, such as introduction of window  Cultivation inside Forest ( RoFR Act)
based OS, increase of disc space, high resolution graphic  Wild life protection
card and processing speed, large size (A0) scanners etc.,  Infrastructure intervention
these have simplified many difficulties. During the end  Compensatory afforestation
years of 1990s, geospatial technologies have gained the  Mining activity
momentum in a big way across the globe and stabilized as a  Disaster - Forest Fire
technical industry with many stakeholders. Huge database of
 Biodiversity loss
base and thematic information was created in GIS formats
by many states and countries. Another significant
Boundary disputes between forest and revenue land has
achievement in this segment was the sensing and producing
been a persisting issue for many years particularly in India.
of high-resolution imagery of earth features through
This is mainly due to the fact that the fixation of the
satellites, drones, Lidars and Radars suitable to various new
boundary was based on non technical procedures which
application domains.
have ignored the earth’s curvature/spherical surface. Also
the survey and fixation of boundaries of forests and revenue
With volumes of reliable spatial datasets, Geospatial
lands were done separately at different time periods by
technologies are now being applied in diverse areas to assist
different organisations. The method of measuring of
indigenous people, communities, research institutions,
bearings and distances during the survey and fixation of
environmental & natural resource scientific organizations,
forest boundaries by using tapes and compass has significant
businesses and government agencies at all levels. They have
magnetic declination which affect the accuracy of survey.
transformed the way spatial/geographic data is created,
Almost a century ago these forest gazettes were prepared
processed, analyzed and displayed for an increasingly large
with such boundaries, and it is very difficult to match with
range of users, for a multitude of purposes. Thus emerged as
present ground conditions. The below pictures is an example
a powerful and integrated geo-information source for
to understand the boundary issues between forest and
management of any natural resource, these technologies are
revenue lands.
capable of managing the large amounts of spatially

IJISRT22APR1138 www.ijisrt.com 1565

Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165

Fig 1&2 Boundary Differences Between Forest Gazette (Above) & Revenue Map (Below)

Other dispute between forest and revenue lands was Below fig-3 shows the expansions of built-up under
that a few revenue land areas nearer to the forest boundaries Yellandu municipality into Yellandu forest block,
were un-cultivated over long periods and covered with compartment 27 area. Further, cultivable lands are found
natural vegetation growth bearing a resemblance of forest inside the forest blocks (for example, inside Singareni forest
area which could be very difficult to resolve between the block in fig4) and also, huge chunks of natural vegetation
respective forest and revenue departments and remain as were observed outside the forest blocks (marked in red
court cases. There are many villages within the forest areas colour).
which were created originally as forest settlements, but now
have grown up as major urban areas; also few urban centres/
municipalities close to forest area have encroached into
forests.

IJISRT22APR1138 www.ijisrt.com 1566

Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165

Fig 3 (Right) Yellandu Municipality & Forest Block Fig 4(Left Below) Singareni Block;

Fig 5 (right below) Ponnal & Keshavapur blocks

 Cultivation in side Forest Under Rofr Act  Implementation of Rofr Act

The Recognition of Forest Rights Act (RoFR), 2006 A multi-layered system has been set up by the
was passed for the marginal and tribal communities of India. government to ensure proper implementation and
The RoFR Act recognizes and vest rights of the forest land governance of the RoFR Act. The Forest Rights Committee
to the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers as elected by Gram Sabha calls for claims and verifies
on which they were traditionally dependent. The intention of claims as per the rules set under the RoFR Act. The Sub-
the RoFR Act was to support the true tribal farmers who are divisional Level Committee (SDLC formed by the State
making their livelihood through cultivation in forest areas Government) provides forest, revenue maps and electoral
while protecting the natural forest and bio-life without rolls to Gram Sabha and the Forest Rights Committee, who
causing damage due to human activity. This Act reaches in turn prepares a list of claims. The SDLC consolidates
millions of tribal people and other traditional forest dwellers maps and claims lists as provided by the Gram Sabha/ Forest
in different parts of India, and provides restitution to Rights Committee.
deprived forest rights across India. This includes ‘individual
rights’ to cultivated land in forest land as well as The SDLC is involved in conflict resolution between
‘community rights’ over common property resources. Gram Sabha and claimants. It is also responsible to
communicate the responsibility to conserve forestland,
This Act is aimed to improve livelihood, alleviate biodiversity and maintain ecological balance to the holders
poverty and encourage growth within the poorest millions of of forest rights. The District Level Committee (DLC formed
India. The Act is significant as it provides scope and historic by the State Government) approves and examines all claims
opportunity of integrating conservation and livelihood rights submitted by SDLC and resolves petitions from aggrieved
of the people. This Act also dictates the right to protect, persons. The State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC) is
regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest responsible to oversee the whole process, including, monitor
resource which the communities have been traditionally resettlement, the process of recognition, verification and
conserving for sustainable use. vesting of forest rights of the state.

IJISRT22APR1138 www.ijisrt.com 1567

Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
RoFR Act by employing effective methodologies/ tools to
monitor and evaluate the usage of allotted forest land. This
paper undertook a scientific study by utilizing geospatial
technologies on the changes in vegetation growth over a
period of 20 years in a pilot project area i.e., Mahabubabad
district (above fig.6) of newly formed Telangana state and
addressed the impact of the RoFR Act. Change detection of
vegetation before and after implementation of RoFR Act is
examined by utilizing satellite imagery and mapping
technologies such as GIS. The extent of forest cover,
location of land allotted under the RoFR Act as per the
published information by the Telangana Forest department
have become crucial in the analysis.

The study has observed huge gap in the understanding

of the recognized rights of forest land along with the
responsibility for sustainable use, conservation of
biodiversity while ensuring livelihood and food security of
the scheduled tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.
Fig 6 Mahabubabad District Mandals with forest Cover Hence much education and awareness is needed on the
subject of recognition of forest rights to the responsible
The RoFR Act has been planned almost flawlessly to authorities and to the forest dwellers. The below fig-7
provide essential benefits to marginalized communities. represents significant changes of forest depleted during the
However, monitoring and evaluation is crucial to assess the post implementation of the RoFR act under the study area.
impact of the RoFR Act. Through this paper, we present the The study intends to observe the visible impact of the RoFR
results of an extensive visible impact assessment of the act than publishing the statistical details.
RoFR Act. This will prove beneficial to determine the
efficacy of the Act and help guide the way forward. This
paper closely examines the environmental impact of the

Fig 7 Forest Cover Before and After Rofr Act Implementation in Mahabubabad District of Telangana

IJISRT22APR1138 www.ijisrt.com 1568

Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
III. RECOMMENDED MEASURES FOR
SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT

Depletion of green cover due to irresponsible farming

activity by the RoFR beneficiaries could be a dangerous
threat to the forest cover in the country as the Act is being
implemented across the country as a social development. As
a way out to balance between the implementation of RoFR
act and protecting the green cover, it is advised to conduct
country wide training and capacity building programs to
enlighten the need of preserving the green cover through
cultivation or agro plantation by adopting appropriate
irrigation methods such as drip etc. The programs should
involve the field level forest officials and the farming
community representatives/forest dwellers ( RoFR
beneficiaries) and effectively conducted by involving
recognized key resource centres and relevant scientific
societies. Geo-tagging and geo-fencing of all truly
recognized cultivable lands by integrating with respective
genuine forest dwellers across the country by using GPS or
GPS embedded instruments will help in identifying illegal or
wrong beneficiaries or unauthorized cultivation in the forest
areas. Furthermore, yearly or seasonally monitoring of
actual cultivation activity in the recognized cultivable land
parcels inside the forest area by using satellite imagery to Fig 8 Mapping of Forest Gazette Data Using COGO Tools
trace out un-irrigated lands for long periods (probably 2-3
years). Such areas could be encouraged for agro-forestry Other issues like infrastructure intervention and
activity by providing selective tree saplings to the respective compensatory afforestation areas, wildlife sanctuaries, eco-
recognized forest dwellers or taking back to the forest land
sensitive or protected areas, buffer zones etc., can be
and rising plantation by forest department with appropriate identified with location and measurement. The GPS/DGPS
notification can be looked at as a directive in the country. surveys & GIS processes combined mapping with HRS
imagery as reference will provide complete solution in
 Geo-Spatial Technologies in the Management of Forest
identification of the above mentioned areas with reliable
Resources
accuracy in positioning and fixation of permanent
Geo-spatial technologies are at their best inresolving
boundaries. Conducting studies on environmental and social
any land related issue or activity in present day conditions.
conditionals, integration of stakeholder data with respective
Particularly the advancement in producing high resolution
areas/zones, preparation of master plans suitable to local
satellite imagery (HRS) and latest software tools providing
conditions would yield effective results in management of
potential solutions in handling all the issues that are raised in these sensitive and protected areas.
the management of forest resources. HRS data which is
being produced in visible bands with very high spatial Several scientific inputs based sustainable development
resolution(below 50 cms) enables each and every stake projects such as watersheds programs; agro-plantation,
holder or individual involved in forest management to horticulture development, etc. were taken up for increasing
analyse and assess the tree canopy density, natural forest the productive land extent under the revenue land category.
cover or agro forest/plantation or crop pattern. Since 86% of Geo-spatial technology has had a crucial role in these
Indian forest cover is under moderately dense and open projects by not only producing scientific based thematic data
forest, the satellite pictures with less than 50cms of spatial but to speed up the processes in deriving the action plans for
resolution provides the desired interpretability in identifying implementations. Programs like joint forest management
natural vegetation and man grow vegetation. The technical (JFM) and Vana Samrakshana Samithi (VSS) are
processes such as geo-reference, geo-tagging, cogo and encouraging people from nearby habitats to involve and
other geo-processes of GIS software have been simplifying raise plantations in the nearby forest areas across India.
the overlay & analysis of revenue maps, forest gazette to Very limited extent of forest areas were treated under these
their respective true positions with best possible accuracy. projects and large extents of vacant/gap areas are found
Usage of HRS data products and the technical capabilities of under the largest forest category ie., moderately dense &
geo-spatial software could address the disputes between
open forest.
forest and revenue lands to a great extent.
With the advancements of geo-spatial inputs and
technological process, it is high time to take up scientific
studies on each and every forest block particularly under this
open forest category. Block wise HRS satellite products
draped over DEMs (digital elevation models) generated

IJISRT22APR1138 www.ijisrt.com 1569

Volume 7, Issue 4, April – 2022 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
from free sources (earth portals) will be helpful in revealing form the scientific base to derive suitable action plans to be
the aspect or slope in such blocks. Different slope wise taken up in that block. The effective data can be produced in
integration of tree cover density, other land use & land cover GIS labs without much field works.
features, soil characteristics, water potentials, etc. would

Fig 9 3d View of Motlathimmapur Forest Block

Fig-9 is a 3D representation of a forest block under [10]. Forest Survey of India. State Forest Report 2019.
open forest category wherein the scope for plantation areas https://www.fsi.nic.in/forest-report-
are marked in yellow colour, which could be treated with 2019?pgID=forest-report-2019
appropriate green activity by considering other scientific [11]. Reflections of stakeholders on the forest resources
inputs like water potential and soil parameters. Variety of governance with power analysis in Turkey-Emin
bamboo species are available to grow even in the alkaline Zeki Başkent
soils and water logged areas. The geospatial techniques with [12]. Uncovering forest dynamics using
HRS imagery have made processes simpler and are very historical forest inventory data and Landsat time
lucrative if put into utilisation for the management of forest series Forest Ecology and Management- Viktor
resources. Myroniuk & David M. Bell
[13]. Iyyanki V. Muralikrishna, Valli Manickam (2017).
REFERENCES Environmental Management Science and
Engineering for Industry, Chapter Three - Natural
[1]. India State of Forest Report 2021 by Forest Survey of Resource Management and Biodiversity
India. https://www.fsi.nic.in › forest-report-2019 Conservation, Pages 23-35. Oxford Butterworth-
[2]. http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in Heinemann.
[3]. www.researchgate.net; [14]. Towards accurate mapping of forest in tropical
[4]. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/forest- landscapes: A comparison of datasets on
ecology-and-management how forest transition matters - Remote Sensing of
[5]. http://forests.telangana.gov.in/; Environment-Rubén Ferrer Velasco, Melvin Lippe,
http://tsfdc.telangana.gov.in/; https://fmis.telangana. Sven Günter
gov.in/ [15]. Lynch, Owen J. and Kirk Talbott (1995). Balancing
[6]. Telangana State Development Planning Society. Acts: Community-Based Forest Management and
Rainforest Integration. National Law in Asia and the Pacific. World
https://www.tsdps.telangana.gov.in/mandaldata.jsp?s Resources Institute.
1=10 [16]. Poffenberger, Mark (1990). Joint Management for
[7]. Campbell, Jeffrey Y., R.N. Chattopadhyay and Forest lands: Experiences from South Asia. A Ford
Chandreyee Das (1996). Income Generation Through Foundation Policy Statement, New Delhi.
Joint Forest management in India: A Case Study of [17]. Sonti SH (2015) Application of Geographic
the participatory Forest Management project in Information System (GIS) in Forest Management. J
Nayagram, West Bengal. Pp. 93-119 in Michael Geogr Nat Disast 5: 145. doi:10.4172/2167-
Victor (ed.). 0587.1000145.
[8]. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United [18]. Statista. The 30 largest countries in the world by total
States (FAO). The State of the World's Forests 2020. area (in square
http://www.fao.org/state-of-forests/en/ kilometers).https://www.statista.com/statistics/26295
[9]. Forest Rights Act, Act, Rules and Guidelines (2006). 5/largest-countries-in-the-world/
Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
https://tribal.nic.in/FRA/data/FRARulesBook.pdf

IJISRT22APR1138 www.ijisrt.com 1570