Environmental Management Module V

ENVIRONMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is a powerful tool for meeting environmental objectives and promoting sustainable development. Information systems can also be used by nonprofit organizations and the government to inform the public about broad environmental issues and environmental conditions in their neighborhoods. Realising the importance of Environmental Information, the Government of India, in December, 1982, established an Environmental Information System (ENVIS). The Environmental Information System acronymed as ENVIS was implemented by the Ministry (MoEF) by end of 6th Five Year Plan as a Plan Scheme for environmental information collection, storage, retrieval and dissemination to policy planners, decision makers, scientists and environmentalists, researchers, academicians.

ContdENVIS is a decentralized computerized network database system consisting of the focal point located in the Ministry and a chain of network partners, known as ENVIS Centres located in the potential organizations/institutions throughout the country.

ENVIS NETWORK
ENVIS is a decentralized computerized network database system consisting of the focal point located in the Ministry and a chain of network partners, known as ENVIS Centres located in the potential organizations/institutions throughout the country. Since environment is a broad-ranging, multi-disciplinary subject, a comprehensive information system on environment would necessarlly involve effective participation of concerned institutions/ organisations in the country. ENVIS has, therefore, developed itself with a network of such participating institutions/organisations for the programme to be meaningful. A large number of nodes, known as ENVIS Centres, have been established in the network to cover the broad subject areas of environment with a Focal Point in the Ministry of Environment & Forests.

ENVIS India has already established Eighty One partner nodes, which include 30 government departments, 36 Institutions and 15 NGOs. These nodes are supposed to create websites on specific environment related subject areas.

OBJECTIVES OF ENVIS
The broad objectives of ENVIS are: 1. Long-term objectives :
- To build up a repository and dissemination centre in Environmental Science and Engineering; To gear up the modern technologies of acquisition, processing, storage, retrieval and dissemination of information of environmental nature; and To support and promote research, development and innovation in environmental information technology.

2.

Short-term objectives :
To provide national environmental information service relevant to present needs and capable of development to meet the future needs of the users, originators, processors and disseminators of information; To build up storage, retrieval and dissemination capabilities with the ultimate objectives of disseminating information speedily to the users; To promote, national and international cooperation and liaison for exchange of environment related information; To promote, support and assist education and personnel training programmes designed to enhance environmental information processing and utilisation capabilities; To promote exchange of information amongst developing countries.

SALIENT FEATURES
To motivate the ENVIS network partners to fulfill their charters, the Best ENVIS Centre Award has been instituted and is awarded bi-annually. In order to evaluate the functioning of the network partners, a National Workshop of all the ENVIS Centres is organized (Dehradun in 2004-05). The Regional Workshops are arranged to evaluate the performance of each Centre on regional basis by an Expert Committee to decide its continuity. Initiatives are taken to expedite the online dissemination process of all the ENVIS Centres by providing domain name and web space as well as email ID to each partner to bring them under one umbrella. The publications are issued regularly of the Ministry by ENVIS. ENVIS has built up a reasonably good information base in the form of publications, reports, reprints, bibliographies, abstracts, data bases etc., as well as numerical data i.e. statistics relating to environment

FOREST DEGRADATION AND MANAGEMENT

Forest and Forestry

The word Forest is derived from Latin foris meaning outside, the reference being to village boundary of fence, and must have included all uncultivated and uninhabited land. Today a forest is any land managed for the diverse purposes of forestry whether covered with trees, shrubs, climbers, etc. Forestry can be defined as the theory and practice of scientific management of forests, including their creation when necessary, for the continuous provision of produce and services.

Role of Forests
Forest play a very important role in the life and economy of the country. Forest vegetation and its accompanying soil organism make up as much as 90 per cent of the total biomass on land. Deforestation has led to instability and disturbance of many ecological sub-systems. Forest cover in the catchment areas of the rivers, control soil erosion and recurrence of floods. Once forest cover is damaged, severe soil erosion takes place disturbing the entire eco-system, chocking the dams and reservoirs with silt load and thereby promote recurrence of floods.

Forest Products: Demand and Supply

Basic services and economic returns from forests are a) Provide fuel and fodder for the rural masses particularly the poor landless and marginal peasants/tribals and their domestic animals free of cost or at a very low cost. b) Provide timber of average quality for rural dwellings. For rural artisans for making tools, implements, boats, etc., to support rural vocations and economy. c) Provide high quality timber and some fuel for the urban population.

d) Maintain a steady supply of raw materials needed for paper making. Plywood and other forest based industries. e) Continue to function effectively as conservator of soil, climate and environment. f) Promote wild life and bird life to maintain ecological balance.

Tribals and the Forest

In India, the life and economy of the tribal people are intimately connected with forests. A major portion of the tribal population actually live inside the forests and make a living out of the products of the forests. Some of the tribals, particularly those living in NorthEastern States, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa make their living by practicing shifting cultivation within the forest area.

 The survival of a considerable percentage of tribals is dependent on Minor Forest Produce (MFP). Mahua flowers, Sal seeds, Sal and tendu leaves, fruits, resins, lac, bamboo, etc., i.e. practically anything other than firewood and timber are categorized as MFP. Studies in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh indicated that over 80 percent of forest dwellers collect 25 to 50 percent of their food from the forests.

Deforestation
Deforestation is the conversion of forested areas to non-forest land for use such as arable land, pasture, urban use, logged area, or wasteland. Generally, the removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with reduced biodiversity. In many countries, massive deforestation is ongoing and is shaping climate and geography.

DEGRADATION
Biological, chemical or physical processes which result in the loss of the productive potential of natural resources in areas covered by forests and/or used by agriculture. Degradation agriculture. may be permanent, although some forest areas may recover naturally or with human assistance Deforestation, particularly in the tropical rain forests, has become a major environmental concern, as it can destabilize the earth's temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels. levels. Efforts to control deforestation, including those at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, remain ineffective. ineffective.

Causes of deforestation
There are many causes, ranging from slow forest degradation to sudden and catastrophic Clear cutting, Slash-and-burn Urban development Acid rain Wildfires Forest Fires Grazing Forest encroachments Timber smuggling Ganja cultivation Poaching of wild animals Environmental degradation.

Impact On Environment
Generally, the removal or destruction of significant areas of forest cover has resulted in a degraded environment with : Reduced biodiversity. Changed climate and geography. Deforestation affects the amount of water in the soil and groundwater and the moisture in the atmosphere. Deforestation can destroy genetic variations irretrievably Deforestation lessens the landscape's capacity to intercept, retain and transport precipitation. Deforestation also contributes to decreased vapor transpiration, which lessens atmospheric moisture which in some cases affects precipitation levels down wind from the deforested area .

 Environmental degradation is one of the ten threats officially cautioned by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations. WRI (the World Resources Institute), UNEP (the United Nations Environment Programme), UNDP (the United Nations Development Programme) and the World Bank have made public an important report on health and the environment worldwide on May 1, 1998.

Plans and Policies by government for Regeneration

NATIONAL FOREST POLICY 1988 has the primary objective to ensure environmental stability and ecological balance. It emphasizes the need to meet the domestic demands of the tribal and rural people for forest produce and also to involve them in the protection and management of forests. Industrial requirements for raw material will not be met from the natural forests but from the farm forestry sector through tie up between farmers and industry.

BASIC OBJECTIVES
The basic objectives that govern the National Forest Policy are the following Maintenance of environmental stability through preservation and, where necessary, restoration of the ecological balance that has been adversely disturbed by serious depletion of the forests of the country. Conserving the natural heritage of the country by preserving the remaining natural forests with the vast variety of flora and fauna. Checking soil erosion in the catchment areas of rivers, lakes, reservoirs in the interest of soil and water conservation, for mitigating floods and droughts and for the retardation of siltation of reservoirs.

Contd Increasing substantially the forest/tree cover in the country through massive a forestation and social forestry programmes, especially on all degraded and unproductive lands. Increasing the productivity of forests to meet essential national needs. Encouraging efficient utilisation of forest produce and maximising substitution of wood. Creating a massive people's movement with the involvement of women, for achieving these objectives and to minimise pressure on existing forests.

Forest Management
Forest Management is defined as the practical application of the scientific, technical and economic principles to forestry. (British Common wealth Forest Terminology) According to the Society of American Foresters, Forest Management is the application of business methods and technical forestry principles to the operation of a forest property. The fundamental purpose of forestry is to secure the greatest continued value from the land allotted to forestry. Primary object of good management is the provision of the maximum benefit to the greatest number of people for all times.

Forest management involves following tasks: 1. Control of composition and structure of the growing stock. 2. Harvesting and marketing the forest produce. 3. Administration of forest property and personnel. Forest management, like any other management, cannot occur in isolation. It occurs in a given set of conditions which go to make its environment. Indias forest are almost entirely state-owned.

Social Forestry
The National Commission on Agriculture report stressed the importance of socio-economic role of forests in rural community, and in the management of forest resources of the country. It defined the social forestry to include the farm forestry, extension forestry, reforestation in degraded forests and recreation forestry.

The objectives of social forestry took into account the basic and economic needs of the community aimed at bettering the living conditions of rural people, and included 1. Fuel wood supply to the rural areas and replacement of cow dung, 2. Small timber supply, 3. Fodder supply, 4. Protection of agriculture fields from wind erosion, 5. And recreational needs. Farm Forestry aimed at growing tree as on bunds and boundaries of farmers fields and the programme taken up by farmers themselves.

 Extension forestry envisaged a mixed programme of growing trees on waste lands, panchayat lands, village commons, raising shelter belts in dry and arid regions, and raising trees of different quick growing species on lands on the sides of roads, canal banks and railway lines. Forestry for Community Development (also called as Social Forestry, Rural Forestry, Extension Forestry, Enrichment Forestry, etc) has gained momentum in India as well as in many underdeveloped countries of the World.

Community Forestry has three dimensions, viz: i. Restoration or reallocation or recognition of existing forest lands for the total development of both the land and the people. ii. Joint management of the forest and its production processes, and iii. Development of the socio-economic structure required for the realization of above two.