Deforestation in great Aravalli Mountain Region of India
DR. Narpat Singh Rathore
Associate Professor in Geography
College of Social Sciences & Humanities
M. L. Sukhadia
Udaipur - 313001 (Raj.) India
Fax : + 91 294 2415200
E-mail: rathorens @ yahoo.com
Phone: +91 294 2426548 (R), +91 294 2414707 (O)
Abstract
This paper deals with deforestation, its causes and related environmental problems in the Great Aravalli
Mountain region of north-west sector of the Indian sub-continent forming part of the state of Delhi, Haryana,
Rajasthan and Gujarat. The deforestation trend from 1957 to 1998-2001 is assessed by means of Indian
topographical sheets and satellite images. It is reported that the natural vegetation cover has decreased
from 30% in 1982 to 15% in 1998-2001. This region was once famous for its greenery between Himalaya
and Vindhyan mountain regions. A number of factors are involved in the deforestation. This study attempts
to highlight the deforestation trend, and its associated causes and effects, so that this grave problem can
be properly understood. It is also observed that the tribes of Great Aravalli followed unique type of tree
mortgage system. Nearly 20 thousand year ago for the first time due to climatic changes the well civilised
people of Great Aravalli migrated towards the north direction, which was inspired by migratory birds.
Introduction
Deforestation has become a matter of serious concern through out the developing countries of the world,
which have large population to support. According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO, 2000),
35% of the world's forests have disappeared since 1950. It is claimed that nearly 30% of the total forest
area in Bangladesh has been destroyed in the past 25 years. The forest cover in India decreased from 25%
in 1970 to 30% in 1998. Deforestation is caused not only by development activities, but also by the new
land reforms.
Study Area
The study area cover nearly 32550 km sq or 70% of the entire Great Aravalli mountain region of north-west
India (Fig.1). This part of the Great Aravalli Mountain region constitutes 11% of the total geographical area
of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat States. The entire forest area (70 %) of this region falls in the
main Great Aravalli region, which is characterised by high hill ranges, valleys, plains, and plateau. The
vegetation consists mainly moist deciduous, dry deciduous, montane, tropical thorn, mixed deciduous and
dry teak species (Fig.1).
Data Source and Analysis
The principal source of data for this study are the Survey of Indian topographical sheets published on scales
of
1: 63360 and 1: 253440, revised topographical sheets on 1: 50,000 and 1: 250,000 scale published in 1957,
1974 to 1976, Landsat images for 1975 at 1: 250,000 and 1982 on 1: 250,000. The colour composite
satellite. IRS-WiFS, IRS ID LISS III data for year 1998-2001 on 1: 250,000 scale have been used. Forest
areas are demarcated in all the topographical sheets of Great Aravalli Mountain region. The revised
topographical sheets and satellite imagery have provided information on actual forest cover. The 1973 and
1982 Landsat images and 1998-2001 IRS WiFS satellite data have thoroughly scanned to delineate the
natural vegetation. The maps resulting from the interpretation of the toposheets, Landsat and IRS WiFS
data were reduced to a scale of 1: 10, 00,000 and superimposed; the final map (Figure 2) shows two
zones: (1) The actual forest cover as in 1975; (ii) The depleted area, within the period of re-survey (1982),
landsat 1975, 1982 and Indian satellite data IRS WIF 1998-2001. The validity of the information generated.by the above analysis was confirmed by a detailed field survey of a respective area covering about 15% of
the total forest in the Great Aravalli mountain region.
Results
It can be seen that the area under forest cover in the Great Aravalli, Mountain region had been reduced to
around 9% by 1975, although the official figure for area under forest was a little over 21%. It is evident that
at the opening of 20th century, 80% of total geographical area of Great Aravalli mountain region was under
natural vegetation cover. Between the first phases of the survey, i.e. within 20 to 22 years, the vegetation
cover was reduced to about 40%. In other words, a depletion rate of around 30% is recorded for this period,
indicating an annual rate of depletion of 1.5 sq.km. The latest data so far available from the IRS WiFS
images for 1998-2001 suggest that the vegetative cover is, confined to around 7% of the total geographical
area of Great Aravalli region. Hence, depletion in the second phase i.e. 1982 to 1998-2001, in a span of 15-17
years is a little over 15%. Comparing the actual vegetative cover (6116 sq km) under government control,
it is observed that around 60% of legal forestland have been lost. Deforestation is caused by number of
factors, and if the present trend continues, the obvious environmental problems will be multiplied, upsetting
the entire economic structure and eco-system of the Great Aravalli mountain region. The causes and
possible problems are discussed briefly in the following sections.
