Forest

North Eastern Region (NER) was very rich in respect of forest resources. Forests once covered about 65.17 per cent of the total geographical area of the NER. Total area covered by forest in 2001 was 1.224 Lakh sq. Km. being reduced to 46% of the total area. Among the eight States of NER, the concentration of forest is highest in Arunachal Pradesh, with area under forest cover being 5154 thousand hectare, which accounts for about 61 per cent of the reporting area. In Assam , the area under forest is nearly 19.30 lakh hectare which is about 25 per cent of the total area of the State. In the other six states, the proportions of areas under forest are quite high with 52 per cent in Nagaland, 89 per cent in Mizoram, 27 per cent in Manipur, 42 per cent in Meghalaya, 36 per cent in Sikkim and 58 per cent in Tripura. Out of the total forest area of the NER, reserve forests cover only one-third. Various valuable trees like Sal, Teak, Bansom, Simul, Sishu, Gamari, Sarol, Halokh, bamboo, cane, valuable medicinal plants, If birds and animals are available in plenty in the forests of NER. As per the available statistics of the recent years, the forests of this region, on an average, provide 8 lakh cubic meter of ordinary timber, 70.5 lakh tonne bamboo, soft wood for the production of 1.6 lakh cubic meter plywood, lilakh cubic meter industrial hard wood, 5.6 lakh cubic meter pulp wood, 12.5 thousand cubic meter of soft wood for the production of match sticks and 2.5 lakh cubic meter of fire wood annually. On the basis of the forest resources of the NER, various types of forest based industries such as ply wood mills, paper mills, saw-mills etc. have been established.

About 54% of the total geographical area of the North Eastern Region is covered by forests although there are inter-state variations. The percentage of forest area is highest in Mizoram (75.59%) and lowest in Assam (39.15%). The percentage of forest area in other North Eastern State are: Arunachal Pradesh(61.55%), Manipur(67.87%) Tripura(60.00%) Nagaland(52.02%) and in Meghalaya(42.34%).

In the interior tribal areas, timber and minor forest produce are the principal source of livelihood. Selling firewood to those requiring the same for cooking purpose augments their meager incomes from other sources. On the other hand, immigrants and denudation of shifting or jhum cultivation have encroached upon forests in many tribal areas. Due to increasing population the jhum cycle has declined. This shows that there has been a net depletion rather than net addition to the area under forests.

The ownership pattern of forests also differs in the different states of the region. In the hilly regions, the ownership rests with the local communities and, therefore, the proportion of reserved forests in those hill states is quite small. In view of the alarming rate of extraction of timber and resulting deforestation in the forests in the North East of India, there has been a blanket ban on logging and non-forest activities in forest land by the Supreme Court of India.

Regeneration of forests in specific areas and planned extension would be needed in states of the North East in order to maintain ecological balance.

Forest Cover of North Eastern Region:

(Area in km²)

Source: Forest Survey of India 2005