3.9.1 Introduction
 
 

Haryana has a geographic area of 4.42 million ha. It lies between lat. 27⁰ 39¢ and 30⁰ 55¢ N and long. 74⁰ 27¢ and 77⁰ 36¢ E. The state is divided into two natural zones, the Shiwaliks and the Aravallis hills and the Indo-Gangetic plains. The Yamuna and the Ghaggar rivers are the lifeline of the state. The land use pattern of the state is given in Table 3.9.a.
 
 

The rainfall varies from 213 mm in south-west to 1,400 mm in the north-east. The annual mean temperature varies between 22.5⁰C to25⁰C.
 
 

The population of the state is 16.46 million (1991 census) of which rural population is 75.37% and the urban population 24.63%. There is no Scheduled Tribe population in the state. Population density of the state is 372 persons per sq.km. The livestock population of Haryana is 9.14 million (1992 livestock census), which is largely stall-fed.
 
 

Table 3.9.a : Land use
 
 
 

Land use	Area in ‘000 ha	Percentage
Total geographical area	4,421
Reporting area for land utilisation	4,399	100.00
Forests	115	2.61
Not available for cultivation	481	10.93
Permanent pasture and other grazing lands	24	0.55
Land under misc. tree crops & groves	4	0.10
Culturable wasteland	23	0.52
Fallow land other than current fallows	a	0
Current fallows	137	3.11
Net area sown	3,615	82.18

a : less than 500 ha

Source : Land use statistics At a Glance 1996-97, Ministry of Agriculture, GOI, 2000
 
 

3.9.2 Forest Resources
 
 

Haryana, an intensively cultivated state, is deficient in natural forests. The recorded forest area of the state is 167,300 ha which is 3.78% of the geographic area of the state. As per legal classification, Reserved Forest constitutes 14.76%, Protected Forest 65.99% and Unclassed Forest 19.25%.
 
 

Forests are mainly distributed in the north-eastern and south-eastern districts of state. There are three forest types, the Tropical Dry Deciduous in the eastern part, Tropical Moist Deciduous in the Shiwalik region and Tropical Thorn Forests in the western part of the state.
 
 

3.9.3 Protected Areas
 
 

One National Park and 9 Wildlife Sanctuaries in Haryana cover an area of 27,975 ha which constitutes 0.63% of the geographic area.
 
 

3.9.4 Forests in Villages
 
 

There are 6,759 villages in the state of which 90 have forest as a land use. In these villages, 7,967 ha is classified as forest. Population inhabiting these villages is 0.13 million. The villages having less than 100 ha, between 100-500 ha and more than 500 ha forest area in each village constitute 79%, 17% and 4% of the total villages, respectively. Table 3.9.b provides details of villages by forest area and population.
 
 

Table 3.9.b: Forests as land use in villages
 
 
 

Forest area	No. of villages	Total Forest area (ha)	Population
Less than 100 ha	71	1,388	114,413
100 - 500 ha	15	3,858	12,773
More than 500 ha	4	2,721	492
Total

 

3.9.5 Joint Forest Management
 
 

In Haryana, Joint Forest Management was started as early as 1972 though the Government notification in this regard was issued in 1990. There are, at present, 350 Hill Resource Management Societies (HRMSs), managing 60,734 ha of forest land.
 
 

JFM is to be practiced in degraded forests. The net income is to be apportioned between the Government and the HRMS as 70% and 30%. The HRMS shall contribute 30% of its share towards plough back fund for further improvement of management area and another 10% towards Kalyan Kosh (Welfare Fund).
 
 

3.9.6 Forest Plantations
 
 

The plantation activities in the state started extensively in early 1980s. Large scale plantations were carried out under Aravalli Project since 1992. Plantations have been raised mostly on panchayat lands, along the roads, canals, railway lines, water courses, on the available institutional land and on the farm lands.
 
 

Existence of large scale plantation outside forest (55 million trees) was also estimated by FSI through the inventory as reported in SFR, 1997. Details of plantation, Plan-wise and species-wise are furnished in Table(s) 3.9.c and 3.9.d.
 
 

Source: NAEB, MoEF, 1999
 
 

Source: FSI Estimate
 

3.9.7 Forest Cover
 

The forest cover of the state, based on satellite data of November-December, 1996, is 964 sq.km which constitutes 2.18% of the geographic area. Dense forest accounts for 449 sq.km and open forest 515 sq.km. The forest cover of the state is shown in Fig. 3.8. An overall increase of 360 sq.km in forest cover has been observed in the present assessment compared to the previous assessment. The difference between the data periods of the two assessment is about 3 years.
 
 

The change matrix given in Table 3.9.e reveals that there has been an overall increase of 79 sq. km of dense forest. This is the result of improvement of 18 sq.km of open forest, 17 sq .km of scrub and 61 sq. km of non forest to dense forest which is partly offset by degradation of 3 sq. km to open forest and 14 sq. km of dense forest to non forest.
 
 

The increase of 281 sq. km of open forest is on account of conversion of 3 sq. km of dense forest, 53 sq. km of scrub and 260 sq. km of non forest to open forest. The improvement is also associated with conversion of 18 sq. km of open forest to dense forest and 17 sq. km of non forest to open forest.
 
 

Table 3.9.e : Forest cover change matrix

There are 19 districts in the state but boundaries of only 12 districts, excluding newly created ones, are incorporated in the SOI maps. The extent of dense and open forests and scrub along with the change compared to 1997 assessment has been provided in Table 3.9.f.
 
 

Table 3.9.f: District wise forest cover

The table reveals that Gurgaon district has registered an increase of 212 sq.km, mostly in open forest category. In the previous assessment, the imageries used were mainly of October-November, 1994. Because of non-availability of suitable imageries of the above period for a part of Aravalli hills, imageries of October, 1992 were used. Therefore, in the current assessment, for some part, where extensive plantations were carried out, the changes reflected are for four years. Forest cover increase in Gurgaon, Mahendragarh, Faridabad and Bhiwani is mainly due to plantation raised under Aravalli project, which was started in early 1990s.
 
 

During the field visits the plantations of Prosopis juliflora, Acacia nilotica, Acacia tortilis, Ailanthus spp., Euphorbia spp., Dalbergia sissoo, Acacia catechu etc. raised during 1991-94 were observed. In Ambala, also, plantations, of Eucalyptus spp., Acacia nilotica, Dalbergia sissoo, Bombax ceiba, Syzgium cumini, etc.are raised between 1991-93, are now accounted for.