Assessment of tree resources outside forest based on Remote Sensing Satellite Data  Dr. J.K. Rawat IFS, Director, Forest Survey of India, Dehradun Tel: 0135 2756139, Fax: 0135 2759104 Email: fsidir@vsn.com  Sh. Saibal Dasgupta IFS, Director, Forest Survey of India, Dehradun Tel: 0135 2754507, Fax: 0135 2754507 Email: saibaldasgupta@hotmail.com  Sh. Rajesh Kumar ISS, Director, Forest Survey of India, Dehradun Tel: 0135 2755042, Fax: 0135 2754507 Email: rajsus1@rediffmail.com Forest Survey of India, Kaulagarh Road, P.O.:IPE, Dehradun – 248 195 Introduction Forests have gained an important place in international political scenario mainly because of the realization of its role in combating green house gases, carbon storage sink, biodiversity conservation, global warming etc. However, modernization, advancements and developmental activities undertaken by mankind has taken a toll from forests and damaged it severely. In a country like India, beset with problems of population explosion, poverty and divisive social trends, conflicts for resource use will arise. The root cause of environmental problems is poverty and to overcome poverty, two things are essential. First, development must continue which means judicious and equitable exploitation of natural resources. Secondly, there must be a check in human and cattle population in order to prevent a collapse of life support system. Both require pragmatic approaches in thinking and calls for sustainable consumption so that exploitation by the present generation does not jeopardize the future of generations yet unborn. Wisdom demands, that resource should be handed over to the next generation, in an enhanced and improved manner, taking advantage of modern scientific technology and resorting to sound resource management principles. One of the management practices would be extensive tree growth outside forest areas for providing fuel, fodder and timber to the local people, which will also help in maintaining the ecological balance. The world has billions of trees that are not included in the FRA 2000 definitions of “forests” and “other wooded land”. Trees outside forests - i.e. trees available on agricultural land, along road, railways, canals, ponds, orchards, parks, gardens and homestead plays many role like forests. They make a critical contribution to sustainable agriculture, food security and rural household economies. They supply many products and services similar to forests. They protect crops and the soil against water and wind erosion, thus combating drought and desertification and protecting water resources. Trees outside forests have been defined differently by different countries and international agencies. In India, TOF is defined as all those trees, which has attained 10 cm or more diameter breast height, available on lands, which is not notified as forests. However, FAO defines TOF as trees available on lands which is not defined as ‘forests’ or ‘other wooded land’. Since there exists a large amount of wood resources outside the conventional forests, accurate information about tree resources is a pre-requisite for their proper management. Vast volumes of data, collected by means of forest survey and inventory, are required for scientific management of forests. These data are also used for policy and planning purposes at the national, regional, state or local levels. To assess TOF resources, various initiatives have been undertaken world over, following different methodology. In India, FSI has started this work in 1991 following field inventory methods (SFR 2001). For this inventory, firstly, the study area, which is to be considered for TOF inventory is decided. This may be a state or group of districts. Since this area is fairly large there is every possibility of heterogeneity of the study variable i.e. growing stock. TOF being planted along with agricultural crops, is likely to be influenced by the Agro-ecological variables. Therefore, study area is stratified according to agro-ecological zones (AEZ). Districts, in India, are the basic planning and administrative units and therefore, is considered for further stratification of AEZs. Villages are treated as sampling units. This sampling technique is stratified random sampling. The number of sample villages to be surveyed in the study area is decided by undertaking a pilot study. The number of sample villages are assigned among different AEZs proportionate to the TOF area of the same. Further in each AEZ assigned number of villages are distributed to different districts proportionate to the rural TOF area of the district. The sample villages in each district are selected by using random number table. These villages are enumerated for the purpose of TOF inventory. Complete enumeration of all the trees of 10 cm and above dbh in the randomly selected villages in each district is carried out. Data is collected and is processed following appropriate formula. (Rawat, J.K. et.al. 2003) In Costa Rica, Hidalgo, D.M. and Kleinn, C. (Hidalgo, D.M. et.al. 2002) has advocated two-stage sampling by pre-selecting sites and followed by sample plots on the ground as secondary units. In their opinion pre-stratification based on the segmentation and fusion of Landsat image with IRS image would be ideal. This methodology was tested on silvopastoral system in Costa Rica. Holmgren (Holmgren, P. et.al 1994) in Kenya and Belouard in France (Beloured, T. 2002) have used systematic two-stage sampling. In the first stage they selected systematically aerial photographs covering the study area and in the second stage they chose number of sample points at the ground to enumerate trees and other physical and technical use of the area.
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