Forestry Principles arms ruvewauong 540 Y? ” WHAT IS SOCIAL FORESTR' os son forth pole!” Social forestry is defined as ee ett yy Beard Evatt ins wi te pur the management and protection of forests afforest as against tional of helping in the environmental, social and rural development, as aga! objective of securing revenue (Negi 1986). SCOPE OF SOCIAL FORESTRY + Creation of woodlots in the village commonlands, panchayat lands (Estimated at least 12 million ha). * Planting of trees on the sides of roads, canals an planting on wastelands is known as ‘extension’ forestry, of forests (Estimated at nearly 1 million ha). - 4 imity to villages, which © Afforestation of degraded government forests in close Proxim have experienced the unauthorised harvesting ‘of biomass (Estimated at over 10 million ha). Planting of trees on and around agricultural boundaries and on marginal, private Jands, constituting farm forestry, or agroforestry, in combination with agricultural crops (Agricultural land covers about 143 million ha) (Prabhakar 1998). government wastelands and d railways. This, along with increasing the boundaries ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF SOCIAL FORESTRY 1. Employment Potential: It has a great advantage in providing job to local people. The poorest section gets more benefit as the labour component is unskilled or semi- skilled which includes works such as nursery works, preparation of beds, sowing, planting, hoeing, watering, etc. Social forestry also provides benefits indirectly by providing raw materials to the cottage industries such as furniture, walking sticks, making sports goods etc. 2. Capital Gain: Besides providing benefit in the form of employment, plantations through social forestry also help to create economic capital to the rural poor. 3. Increased Production of Food and Fodder: When a forest is it it increases food and fodder production. Proper mainstay 4. Cottage Industries: Social forestry plantations open up a big sto : rage and supply of raw materials for cottage industries which may be used in beuse held rides EE building, sports goods and industrial goods. a 5. Forest Industries: It also provides forest based raw materials such as resift pwood, match indi and eset a lustry and minor forest products such as gums, resins, honey, 6. Regulation of Water Cycle: It acts as an interce i y ption which rect itt of raindrops on the ground. Forests present near the canal ee 3 maintain the water regime. Trees al ° rainy season. er also traps rain water and prevent floods duringSocial Forestry sal 7. Carbon Sequestration: It sarbon, It is an important way of sequestering atmospheric c 5 : thereby mitigating greenhouse effect and ees change. ve . ae Life of Dams and Reservoirs: Planting of trees through social forestry Benes near the catchment areas protects the reservoir from being silted up. Fosion is prevented, reducing the flow of silt into the reservoirs. 9. Flood Control: Both human life and property are damaged by floods. Increased silt in the river causes river to overflow. So planting of trees along the river bed reduce Surface runoff and control the rise of river bed. 10. Energy Requirements: Villagers collect fuel wood from forest for their daily use which results into depletion of forest. Apart from these villagers, even industries also need fuel wood. Thus planting more trees helps to reduce depletion and Provides required amount of fuel wood both to villagers as well as industries. It will also reduce pressure on forest and solving the energy problems. Social Forestry plantations are important to combat the environmental problems as well as meeting the daily needs of the People especially those residing in rural areas or near the forest which are totally dependent on forest. For example, Barodiya Panchayat in Jaipur district collaborated with the Forest Department and decided to plant trees such as Acacia tortilis, Eucalyptus spp and Dalbergia sissoo. This plantation provides the community with fuel wood, fodder and timber benefits. It also improves the soil moisture and groundwater situation. After the rotation period, trees are harvested and the Forest Department equally divides the benefits with local community. This creates a large benefit to the whole community (Negi 1986). MISSION OF SOCIAL FORESTRY 1. To carry out a need based and time bound programme of afforestation with special emphasis on fuel wood and fodder development on all degraded and denuded lands/forests. 2. Afforestation of abandoned jhum lands and mined areas. 3. Linear strip plantation of fast growing species on sides of public roads, rivers, streams and irrigation canals. 4. Afforestation on unutilized lands under State, corporate, institutional or private ownership. 5. Green belts in urban and industrial areas. 6. Shelter belt (generally more extensive than the wind breaks) for the purpose of shelter from wind and sun covering areas larger than a single farm on a planned pattern. 7. Farm forestry in the form of raising rows of trees on bund or boundaries of fields and individual trees in private agricultural land as well as creation of wind breaks around a farm or orchard by raising one or two lines of trees. 8. Raising flowering trees and shrubs mainly to serve as recreation forests for the urban and rural population.Fr Forestry Principles and Applications 542 9. Toelicit people's participation involving women and young, people in conservation ; ldlife and environment. of forests, wildlife and ¢ as hn 10. Environmental awareness generation and ce environment day, wildlife week etc. OBJECTIVES OF SOCIAL FORESTRY tarted all over the country have made a Social forestry schemes that have been s' a 0 4 considerable difference in overall forest cover in a short time, Afforestations are a ces the conventional forest area for the benefit of rural and urban communities. ‘in objectives are: ¢ Improy «Increases the supply of wood fuel for domestic use, small timbe fodder for livestock and minor forest produce for local industries © Increases the natural beauty of the landscape and creates recreational benefit of rural and urban population © — Provides jobs for unskilled workers Land rehabilitation and increase in forest cover © Enhances the standard of living and quality of life of the rural and the urban people ves the environment for protecting agriculture from adverse climatic factors .r for rural housing, forests for the PEOPLE'S PARTICIPATION Social forestry also aims at raising plantations by the common man so as to meet the growing demand for timber, fuel wood, fodder, etc., thereby reducing the pressure on the traditional forest area. This concept of village forests to meet the needs of the rural people is not new. It has existed through the centuries all over the country but it was now given a new character. With the introduction of this scheme, the Government formally recognized the local communities’ rights to forest resources, and is now encouraging rural Participation in the management of natural resources. Through the social forestry scheme, the government has involved community participation, as part of a drive towards afforestation and rehabilitati Rpedegraded forest and common lands. ay CLASSIFICATION OF SOCIAL FORESTRY National Commission on Agriculture (1952) has classified social forestry to include " three broad classes, viz, farm forestry, rural forestry and urban forestry. FARM FORESTRY Farm forestry is defined as the practice of fore: i i r : stry in all its aspects i lands, generally integrated with other farm operations (BCFT 1933), Presena aeSocial Forestry 543 _ Commercial farm forestry: Commercial farm forestry is defined as the process under which farmers grow trees on commercial basis on farm lands (Negi 1986). It is usually w 1 in areas where there is a ready market of wood or other forest based products. FAO describes this as turning peasants into entrepreneurs and producers. Non-Commercial Farm Forestry: Non-commercial farm forestry is defined as increasing the number of trees raised by individual farmers for their own family uses (Negi 1986). Individual farmers are being encouraged to plant trees on their own farmland to meet the domestic needs of the family. In many areas, this tradition of growing trees on the farmland already exists. Non-commercial farm forestry is the main thrust of most of the social forestry Projects in the country today. It is not always necessary that the farmer grows trees for fuel wood, but very often they are interested in growing trees without any economic motive. They may want it to provide shade for the agricultural crops as wind shelters and soil conservation or to effectively utilize wasteland. RURAL FORESTRY (COMMUNITY FORESTRY) Community forestry is defined as raising of trees on public or community land rather than on privately owned lands as in case of farm forestry (Negi 1986). The common feature of this programme is to provide benefits or services to the community as a whole. This form of forestry is one of the approaches for tackling the problem of deforestation of village common lands brought about by the local people through mutual cooperation. The government has the responsibility of providing seedlings, fertilizer but the community has to take responsibility of protecting the trees. Some communities manage the plantations sensibly and in a sustainable manner so that the village continues to benefit. Some others take advantage and sell the timber for a short-term individual profit. Common land being everyone’s land is very easy to exploit. Over the last 20 years, large-scale planting of Eucalyptus, as a fast growing exotic, has occurred in India, making it a part of the drive to reforest the sub-continent and create an adequate supply of timber for rural communities under the augur of social forestry. URBAN FORESTRY It is the practice of growing trees on non-forest land in urban areas for recreational purposes and aesthetic value. EXTENSION FORESTRY Planting of trees on the sides of roads, canals and railways, along with planting on wastelands is known as extension forestry for increasing the boundaries of forests. Under this programme, there has been creation of wood lots in the village common lands, government erastelands and Panchayat lands. Schemes for afforesting the degraded government forests that are close to villages are being carried out all over the country. SOCIAL FORESTRY PLANT. ‘ATIONS IN SPECIFIC AREAS Social forestry plantations are usually taken up in non-forest areas which are not suited for agriculture or where agriculture is not practiced e.g., denuded wastelands, erosion prone s, road side strips, canal bank strips, bunds, etc (Negi 2005).544 Forestry Principles and Applications CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF SUITABLE TREES FOR SOCIAL FORESTRY © — Greater photo synthetic efficiency: mainly for production of more biomass Improved capability of fixing biological nitrogen © — Inbuilt system for genetic improvement © More resistance towards biological and environment stresses © — Better capability for nutrient and water uptake, reduced losses of nitrogen fertilizer from the process of nitrification and denitrification. © Relatively fast growth * Multiple uses