This document provides information on the different types of forests found in India. It discusses 6 main types of forests - tropical evergreen forests, deciduous monsoon forests, tropical grasslands, mangrove forests, desert forests, and alpine forests of the Himalayas. Each forest type is described in terms of location, climate, and dominant plant species. The document also discusses the importance of forests, methods of forest conservation, wildlife found in India, and protected areas like wild sanctuaries and national parks that help conserve forests and wildlife.

1. Geography
Chapter 5
FORESTS
OF
INDIA

2. INTRODUCTION
• The total plant life growing naturally in an
area is called forest or natural vegetation.
• This is influenced by various ecological factors
like temperature, rain, land forms, soil etc..
• According to 2009 survey there is 6.9 lakh
sq.km of forest forming 21.2%of the total
geographical area.

3. The natural vegetation
of India can be divided
into 6 main types.

4. hp

5. Tropical evergreen forest
This type of vegetation is found in areas which
are not more than 900 mts above the sea level
and receive the rainfall more than 250 cm and
the temperature ranges between 250c and 270c.

9. In India, most of these forests are found on the
western side of the Western Ghats, in the
North-Eastern states and the Andaman Nicobar
Islands.
They occupy 2.6 lakh hectares.

10. Ebony, Mahogany & Rose Wood trees

11. Rubber Tree

12. Bamboo Bushes

13. Deciduous Monsoon Forests
• They cover a greater part of India.
• They found in regions where the rainfall is between
75 cm and 250 cm.
• It forms 65.5% of the total area of forests.
• Since India is having monsoon climate, this type of
forest is distributed widely.
• They shed their leaves during dry winter.
• They are also called tropical deciduous forests.

15. Teak, sal

16. sandal wood trees

18. Tropical Grassland
This type of vegetation is found in the
central parts of the Peninsular Plateau,
border areas of Thar desert to the west of
Aravalli hills where the annual rainfall is
between 60 cm and 75 cm.
These forests have trees with short trunks
Babool, Seesum and Sabhai types of grass
are seen here.

23. Mangrove Forests
These forests are formed due to tides. They
are found along the deltas and estuaries of
rivers that are subjected tides. The deltas of
river Ganges, Godavari, Mahanadi and
Krishna have these forests. In Ganges delta,
there are plenty of Sundari trees and hence
the forests are known as ‘Sundarbans’
The total area of mangrove forest is 4.4
thousand km2

26. Desert Forests
This type of vegetation is found in regions
where the annual rainfall is less than 50 cm,
Rajasthan’s Thar Desert, and the adjacent parts
of Punjab, Haryana and Gujarath have this type
of vegetation. The trees which grow here are
short, have deep roots, thick leaves and thorns.
Date palms are common near the oasis. Babul,
palms and cactus are the important trees.

33. Alpine forests of Himalayan
Different types of forests are found here.
As height increases the tropical type of climate
changes in to the polar type of climate.
According to the changes in climate, various
types of plants are found.
The important types of trees growing in this
type of forest are sal, byra, toon, silver spruce,
laurel etc.
These trees have pointed leaves.

36. Importance of Forests
• Forests are a very essential natural
resources. They provide raw
materials to industries such as –
• Timber, bamboo, cane, gum,
medicinal plants, shrubs etc.
• They provide fodder to animals.

37. • Forests provide moisture in the atmosphere
and lower the temperature.
• They obstruct the rain-bearing winds and
cause rainfall.
• Prevent soil erosion and preserve the fertility.
• Forests provide a home for many animals and
birds.
• Forests help to preserve the ecological
balance.
• They provide animal sanctuaries which
attract tourists.

38. Distribution of forests
• Scientists opine that for good environment an
area should have 33% of its land are under
forests.
• In India it is only 21.2%, which is very less.
• Madhya Pradesh has largest area as forest.
• Haryana is in the last position.
• Karnataka state is in the 13th position.

39. Conservation of Forests
• Protection of forests from human beings,
animals, and natural disasters is called
Conservation of forests.
• Indian forests areas are gradually decreasing,
because of expansion of agriculture, animal-
grazing, construction of road and rail routes,
irrigation projects, forest fires, mining forest,
fires etc are the main causes for the
destruction of forests.

40. Methods of Conservation
• Cutting down dried-up and abrasing trees
which causes forest fires.
• Protecting against diseases.
• Planting saplings
• Sowing seeds
• Guarding against illegal cutting of trees.
• Avoid domestic animals to graze in the forest
• Creating awareness among people.
• Social forestry projects.

41. • Social forestry aims at not only providing
enough firewood, fodder and other forest other
forest products but also to meet the
requirement of ecological balance through large-
scale afforestation on community land and
wasteland by planting fast growing varieties of
trees.
• ‘Vanamahothsava’ which was started in 1950,
aims at planting thousand of seedlings during
July and August. In order to create awareness
among the people about the environment, 5th
June is celebrated as Environment Day every
year.

42. WILD LIFE
• India has a variety of wild life because of its
varied relief features, climate and natural
vegetation. There are about 80,000 species of
wild animals, birds and fishes. India has some
animals which are not found in any part of
the world, e.g. swamp deer, Chausinga (four
horns antelope). Kashmir stag, black buck
and Neelgai. The spotted deer of India is very
beautiful. One horned rhinoceros is found
only in India and Nepal.

43. Swamp Deer

44. Chausinga (four horned antelope)

45. Kashmir Stag

46. Black Buck

47. Neelgai

48. Spotted Deer

49. One horned Rhinoceros

55. • The Himalayas are the home
of several unique animals like
the wild sheep, yak, the
mountain goats, the ibex, the
shrew, the tapu, the panda
and snow leopard, monkeys
and languar.

56. Himalayan Wild Sheep

57. Yak

58. Mountain Goat

59. Ibex

60. Shrew

61. Tapu

62. Panda

63. Snow leopard

64. India has a variety of bird life.
The falcon (hawk), geese,
mynahs, parrots, pigeons,
cranes , hornbills, sunbirds and
kingfishers are found in forests
and marshy lands. The Peacock
is our national bird.

65. Falcon (Hawk)

66. Geese

67. Mynahs

68. Parrot

69. Pigeon

70. Cranes

71. Hornbills

72. Sunbirds

73. Kingfisher

74. Peacock (Our National Bird)

75. Save
Wild Life . .
Save
Future.. .

76. Wild Sanctuaries
• Wild-life sanctuaries have been set up to protect animals
in their natural habitat.
• There are around 523 wild-life sanctuaries in India today.
• Tamil Nadu: Annamalai Wild-life Sanctuary, Coimbatore,
Nilgiri.
• West Bengal: Madarihaat, Jaldapara
• Rajasthan: Bhartpur, Kivola Divo Bird Sancury
• Haryana: Sultanpura, Gorgaon
• Punjab: Birmotibagh, Patiala
• Andhra Pradesh: Guntur, Nagarjun Sagar

77. National Parks
• Jim Corbett National Park
• Kaziranga National Park, Sibsagar, Assam
• Sunderbans, 24 Paraganas district
• Hazaribagh National Park, Bihar
• Gir National Park Junagad, Gujarat
• Kanha National Park, Maandya and Balaghat,
MP
• Tandova National Park, Chandrapur,
Maharashtra.

83. In India there are
99 National Parks,
70 botanical gardens
275 zoos
523 Wild Life Sanctuaries
and
17 Tiger Reserves.
The Bandipur, Nagarahole and
Bannerghatta National Parks are in
Karnataka.

84. ©
Vijaya School Presentation
(2014)