Uttar Pradesh has a geographic area of 29.44 million ha which is about
9% of the land area of the country. It lies between lat. 23º 52' and
31º 28' N and long. 77º 5' and 84º 38' E. The state can
be divided into three physiographic regions viz. the northern mountains
of Himalaya, the southern hills and plateau and the vast alluvial Gangetic
plains between the two. The state is fed by five major rivers namely the
Ganga, the Yamuna, the Ramganga, the Gomati and the Ghaghra which drain
into the Bay of Bengal. Land use pattern of the state is given in Table
3.26.a.
The state has a tropical climate except in the Himalayas which has a
temperate climate. The average annual rainfall and mean temperature ranges
between 1,000 to 1,200 mm and 22.5ºC to 25ºC respectively.
It is the most populous state supporting 16.44% of country’s population.
The total population is 139.11 million (1991 census) of which 80.16% is
rural and 19.84% is urban. Population density is 443 persons per sq.km.
The Scheduled Tribes constitute 0.21% of the total population. Total livestock
population is 64.80 million (1992 livestock census).
Table 3.26.a : Land use
| Land use |
|
|
| Total Geographical area |
29,441
|
|
| Reporting Area for land utilisation |
29,794
|
100.00
|
| Forests |
5,150
|
17.29
|
| Not available for cultivation |
3,516
|
11.80
|
| Permanent Pasture & Grazing land |
296
|
0.99
|
| Land under misc. tree crops & groves |
513
|
1.72
|
| Culturable waste land |
945
|
3.17
|
| Fallow land other than current fallows |
832
|
2.79
|
| Current fallows |
1,067
|
3.58
|
| Net area Sown |
17,475
|
58.65
|
Source : Land use statistics At a Glance 1996-97, Ministry of Agriculture,
GOI, 2000
The recorded forest area of the state is 5.17 million ha which constitutes
17.55% of its geographic area. By legal status, Reserved Forest constitute
70.51%, Protected Forest 2.90% and Unclassed Forest 26.59%.
There are seven forest types, viz. Tropical Moist Deciduous, Tropical
Dry Deciduous, Tropical Thorn, Sub-Tropical Pine, Himalayan Moist Temperate,
Himalayan Dry Temperate, and Sub-alpine and Alpine Forests. Conifers and
Sal are the important forest formations of the state. Forests are distributed
largely in the northern and partly in the southern parts of the state.
The central part is devoid of forest vegetation as it is mainly under agriculture.
There are 7 National Parks and 29 Wildlife Sanctuaries, covering an
area of 1.30 million ha which constitutes 4.42% of the geographic area.
The two famous tiger reserves; the Corbett (the oldest in the country)
and Dudhwa are located in the state. Nanda Devi is one of the 11 Biosphere
Reserves of the country. Nanda Devi National Park is also one of the five
World Heritage sites in the country.
There are 112,803 villages in the state of which 23,900 have forests
as a land use. In these villages about 3.37 million ha is classified as
forest. The total population of these villages is 23.95 million. The villages
having less than 100 ha, between 100-500 ha and more than 500 ha forest
in each village constitute 90%, 8 % and 2% of the total villages respectively.
Table 3.26.b provides a classified account on forest area and population.
Table 3.26.b: Forests as land use in villages
| Forest area | No. of villages | Total Forest area (ha) | Population |
| Less than 100 ha |
21,567
|
314,463
|
21,033,146
|
| 100 - 500 ha |
1,906
|
427,168
|
2,230,548
|
| More than 500 ha |
427
|
2,633,034
|
691,174
|
| Total |
23,900
|
3.26.5 Joint Forest Management
Local communities had been traditionally managing the forests in the
hills. The notification of Joint Forest Management was issued in 1997.
At present 197 Village Forest Committees are managing 34,589 ha forest
area under Joint Forest Management programme.
The areas to be taken up for JFM include Village and Panchayat forests.
Of the total income from the forest produce, 50% shall be distributed among
the members of the village communities and the remaining 50% shall be spent
on the community works.
Plantations started in the ravines of the Yamuna and the Chambal in
1884 which subsequently got extended to other areas. Besides plantations
for ravine reclamation and soil conservation, industrial plantations for
producing matchwood, pulpwood and timber were also undertaken. Forest Development
Corporation (FDC ) was created in 1974 to undertake plantation activity
through financial support from different financial institutions. Plantation
activity got accelerated after the launching of social forestry programme.
The important plantation programmes include industrial and pulpwood plantation,
economic plantation, rural fuelwood plantation, fuel and fodder plantation,
energy plantation etc. A total of 4.18 million ha has been planted between
1951 and 1999. Details of plantations are furnished in Tables 3.26.c and
3.26.d.
Table 3.26.c : Forest plantations by all agencies
| Period |
|
| 1951-80 |
482.56
|
| 1980-85 |
562.01
|
| 1985-90 |
1189.69
|
| 1990-91 |
217.23
|
| 1991-92 |
249.19
|
| 1992-97 |
1123.95
|
| 1997-98 |
186.94
|
| 1998-99 |
174.20
|
| Total |
4185.77
|
Source: NAEB, MoEF, 1999
Table 3.26.d : Species-wise plantations by Forest Department upto
1998
| Species |
|
|
| Eucalyptus spp. |
129.37
|
7.2
|
| Conifers |
107.42
|
6.0
|
| Bamboo |
82.80
|
4.6
|
| Tectona grandis |
80.71
|
4.5
|
| Dalbergia sissoo |
58.57
|
3.3
|
| Others |
1,334.30
|
74.4
|
| Total |
7
|
100.0
|
Source: Uttar Pradesh Forest Department
The forest cover of the state, based on satellite data of October-December
1996, is 34,016 sq.km. which constitutes 11.55% of the geographic area.
Dense and open forests account for 22,902 sq.km. and 11,114 sq.km, respectively.
The forest cover of the state is shown in Fig 3.25.
There has been a net increase of 22 sq.km. in the forest cover in the present
assessment as compared to 1997 assessment. The difference between
the data periods of the two assessments is 2 years.
The change matrix, given in Table 3.26.e, reveals that there has been
an overall decrease of 56 sq. km. of dense forest. This is the result of
degradation of 100 sq. km. of dense forest to open forest and 4 sq. km.
to non forest which is partly offset by conversion of 39 sq.km. of open
forest and 9 sq.km. of non-forest to dense forest.
The increase of 78 sq. km. of open forest is on account of conversion
of 100 sq. km. of dense forest, 3 sq. km. of scrub and 50 sq. km. of non
forest to open forest. The increase is also associated with conversion
of 39 sq.km., 21 sq.km. and 15 sq.km. of open forest to dense forest, scrub
and non-forest, respectively.
Table 3.26.e : Forest cover change matrix
(sq.km.)
| 1997 assessment (Data Oct -Dec’94) |
|
Total 1997 | |||
|
|
Open forest | Scrub |
|
||
| Dense Forest |
22,854
|
100
|
0
|
4
|
22,958
|
| Open Forest |
39
|
10,961
|
21
|
15
|
11,036
|
| Scrub |
0
|
3
|
1,148
|
19
|
1,170
|
| Non-Forest |
9
|
50
|
8
|
|
259,247
|
| Total 1999 |
22,902
|
11,114
|
1,177
|
259,218
|
294,411
|
| Net Change |
-56
|
+78
|
+7
|
-29
|
|
There are 83 districts in the state, but boundaries of only 62 districts,
excluding newly created ones are incorporated in the SOI map. The extent
of dense and open forests and scrub in respect to these districts, along
with the changes compared to 1997 assessment, are given in Table 3.26.f.
Table 3.26.f : District-wise forest cover
(sq.km)
|
H-Hill, T-Tribal |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
| Agra |
4,027
|
30
|
151
|
181
|
2
|
142
|
| Aligarh |
5,019
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
| Allahabad |
7,261
|
15
|
37
|
52
|
1
|
17
|
| AlmoraH |
5,385
|
2,071
|
466
|
2,537
|
0
|
21
|
| Azamgarh |
4,234
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
| Bahraich |
6,877
|
593
|
210
|
803
|
0
|
1
|
| Ballia |
2,982
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Banda |
7,624
|
331
|
269
|
600
|
-3
|
36
|
| Barabanki |
4,401
|
0
|
22
|
22
|
0
|
0
|
| Bareilly |
4,120
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
| Basti |
3,733
|
0
|
12
|
12
|
0
|
0
|
| Bijnore |
4,561
|
257
|
81
|
338
|
0
|
4
|
| Budaun |
5,168
|
3
|
7
|
10
|
0
|
11
|
| Bulandshahar |
4,352
|
1
|
22
|
23
|
1
|
8
|
| ChamoliH |
9,125
|
2,530
|
622
|
3,152
|
0
|
22
|
| DehradunH |
3,088
|
1,239
|
331
|
1,570
|
0
|
90
|
| Deoria |
5,445
|
6
|
2
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
| Etah |
4,446
|
1
|
5
|
6
|
-2
|
0
|
| Etawah |
4,326
|
4
|
138
|
142
|
0
|
84
|
| Faizabad |
4,511
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
| Farrukhabad |
4,274
|
1
|
6
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
| Fatehpur |
4,152
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
| Firozabad |
2,361
|
0
|
29
|
29
|
0
|
25
|
| GarhwalH |
5,440
|
2,198
|
978
|
3,176
|
0
|
115
|
| Ghaziabad |
2,590
|
4
|
7
|
11
|
0
|
0
|
| Ghazipur |
3,377
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
| Gonda |
7,352
|
495
|
107
|
602
|
0
|
1
|
| Gorakhpur |
6,272
|
351
|
119
|
470
|
1
|
0
|
| Hamirpur |
7,165
|
0
|
180
|
180
|
-1
|
36
|
| Hardoi |
5,986
|
9
|
13
|
22
|
4
|
0
|
| Hardwar |
2,360
|
265
|
320
|
585
|
0
|
0
|
| Jalaun |
4,565
|
0
|
132
|
132
|
0
|
30
|
| Jaunpur |
4,038
|
0
|
6
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
| Jhansi |
5,024
|
0
|
138
|
138
|
-5
|
69
|
| Kanpur-Nagar |
1,065
|
3
|
2
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
| Kanpur-Dehat |
5,111
|
0
|
7
|
7
|
2
|
13
|
| KheriT |
7,680
|
900
|
414
|
1314
|
4
|
0
|
| Lalitpur |
5,039
|
215
|
323
|
538
|
2
|
44
|
| Lucknow |
2,528
|
7
|
24
|
31
|
2
|
0
|
| Mainpuri |
2,760
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Mathura |
3,811
|
1
|
14
|
15
|
-1
|
0
|
| Mau |
1,713
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
| Meerut |
3,911
|
3
|
25
|
28
|
0
|
0
|
| Mirzapur |
4,522
|
52
|
681
|
733
|
-5
|
44
|
| Moradabad |
5,967
|
0
|
21
|
21
|
0
|
13
|
| Muzaffarnagar |
4,009
|
0
|
33
|
33
|
0
|
0
|
| NainitalH |
6,794
|
2,920
|
649
|
3,569
|
1
|
5
|
| Pilibhit |
3,499
|
448
|
259
|
707
|
1
|
0
|
| PithoragarhH |
8,856
|
2,188
|
824
|
3,012
|
16
|
141
|
| Pratapgarh |
3,717
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
| Raibareilly |
4,609
|
1
|
12
|
13
|
0
|
0
|
| Rampur |
2,367
|
0
|
36
|
36
|
0
|
0
|
| Saharanpur |
3,689
|
106
|
219
|
325
|
0
|
0
|
| Shahjahanpur |
4,575
|
83
|
17
|
100
|
3
|
0
|
| Siddharthnagar |
3,495
|
7
|
16
|
23
|
-1
|
0
|
| Sitapur |
5,743
|
8
|
7
|
15
|
2
|
0
|
| Sonbhadra |
6,788
|
1,078
|
1369
|
2,447
|
-3
|
29
|
| Sultanpur |
4,436
|
2
|
11
|
13
|
0
|
0
|
| Tehri GarhwalH |
4,421
|
1,807
|
753
|
2,560
|
0
|
132
|
| Uttar KashiH |
8,016
|
2,631
|
468
|
3,099
|
0
|
41
|
| Unnao |
4,558
|
2
|
12
|
14
|
0
|
1
|
| Varanasi |
5,091
|
35
|
489
|
524
|
0
|
2
|
| Total |
294,411
|
22,902
|
11,114
|
34,016
|
22
|
1,177
|
The increase in the forest cover have been recorded in the districts
of Hardoi, Kheri, Pithoragarh, Saharanpur etc. The increase is on account
of the plantations taken 4-5 years earlier and also due to effective protection
measures. The decrease in forest cover has been observed in the districts
of Banda, Jhansi, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra etc. which is largely on account
of biotic pressure.