Source : Based on Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, 2003.

Plantation forestry had its initiation in India from the subsistence farmer who started planting few seedlings of tree species (initially non-forest species) of socio-economic and cultural significance, e.g., planting of timber species like Toona ciliata, fodder species like Grewia optiva; multipurpose species like Acacia nilotica, Madhuca indica, Prosopis cineraria and religious species like Prunus cerasoides, Ficus religiosa, etc. The plantation focus gradually widened to planting of forest species (like Bauhinia retusa, B. vahlii, Pinus roxburghii, Quercus leucotrichophora, Shorea robusta, Tectona grandis and Zizyphus nummularia) in privately-owned grasslands (grass beeds and ghasnis) and barren and forest lands. In Indian forestry, planting tree species was practised conventionally under scientific forestry to facilitate natural regeneration in different working circles. The activity of Van Mahotsav was started as a regular feature from 1950 in order to appreciate the values of forests and need of tree planting. Plantation used to be one of the components of regularly planned forestry programmes. But the real boost for establishing planted forests in India came into practice in seventies due to firewood crisis.

The planted forests had been promoted under various forestry programmes, viz., social forestry, agroforestry, commercial farm-forestry and non-commercial community forestry and urban forestry, initially by the State Forest Department, followed by commercial houses like ITC Bhadradchalum Ltd., South India Viscose Ltd., WIMCO, AMCO, JK Straw Products Ltd., West Coast Paper mill, etc. and under Joint Forest Management (JFM). According to an estimate, cumulative area put under planted forests during 1951 to 1999 by all agencies is more than 30 m ha (Rajput, 2005). The tree species largely used for planted forests under social, farm and agroforests are: Abies pindrow, Acacia auriculiformis, A. catechu, A. mearnsii, A. nilotica, , Albizzia amara, A. lebbek, A. procera, Bombax ceiba, Casuarina equisetifolia, Cedrus deodara, Dalbergia sissoo, Eucalyptus spp., Gmelina arborea, Hevea brasiliensis, Picea smithiana, Pinus khasiana, P. roxburghii, Populus ciliata, P. deltoides, Santalum album, Shorea robusta, Tectona grandis, and bamboo (mainly Dendrocalamus hamiltonii and D. strictus). The planted forests initiatives in India by the State Forest Department are described in Table 2.

Unlike agriculture which is largely a private commodity and state subject, tree farming is much more complex, therefore, needs cautious and precise decisions with concern for other land uses and present and future generations. Planted forests are artificially raised forest crops, either by sowing for planting. These represent truly new forests on degraded forest and non-forest lands and grasslands, or an existing forest regenerated through enrichment by seedling transplantation. Plantations of species classified as commercial agronomic crops like rubber (Hevea braziliensis) are not considered truly as forestry plantations.

Like commercial agriculture, monoculture forest farming especially for commercial objectives, also leads in reduction of species richness. From desired output and management point of view, monoculture is preferred. This in long-run if not managed scientifically, may lead to reduction of understorey diversity, nutrient drain, moisture deficit, susceptibility to insects, diseases and other parasites.

Table 2. Planted forestry initiatives of state forest department in India during 2001-02

Source: Based on Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, 2003. Data for some states/UTs are missing due to lack of response to the survey conducted.

Interest in planted forests has increased rapidly in nineties of the last century due to shortage of raw material from natural forests, fast changing timber wood utilization trends, degraded and unhealthy state of natural forests, avenue or recreation and ecotourism objectives, ecorestoration of stressed sites and urban forestry. Factors like continuing destruction of natural forests, problem of access to existing forests (especially in Himalaya), poor natural regeneration, availability of land (otherwise ill suited for agriculture), high productivity and fast growth of planted forests, environmental and rural development concerns stimulated interest for planted forests.

The planted forestry projects can broadly be classified into: (i) planting by private companies almost entirely for commercial purpose; (ii) community-based mixed species plantations and privately managed planted forests of industrial species as farm-and agro-forests; (iii) planting in specific developmental projects funded by the central and/or state government or a donor agency, e.g., afforestation in watershed management project, roadside avenue plantation for promoting ecotourism; and (iv) national afforestation programmes for non-industrial purposes through governmental funding, e.g., compensatory afforestation, green belt, shelterbelt, etc. The clientele today for planted forests varies from a farmer to government and industrial houses.

The planted forests are also pre-requisite for implementation of people-centered forestry, i.e., Joint (participatory) Forest Management (JFM) due to three situations: (i) creating a peoples’ resource (fuelwood and fodder reserve) before beginning protection of degraded forests by the village community; (ii) tree planting on lands incapable of natural regeneration; and (iii) areas where indigenous species that emerge as a result of protection are not considered of value by the village community (Saxena, 2001).

In the ecosystem perspective of planning planted forests in the country, the considerations are diverse, viz., bio-physical, technological, socio-economic and cultural and institutional. Dimensions of major significance are outlined as follows:

Setting Objective
Any activity is organized for a specific objective, so should be the case for planted forests too. Experience has indicated that except the commercial plantations, planted forests have been established largely as an activity of greening India’s wastelands or degraded lands, the end (economic) use objective was not well-defined. A vague or diffused objective itself is a barrier in deciding management and technological options for improved productivity-wise use of the end produces and sustainability of the planted forests in the unit land area. It is, therefore, imperative to decide a clear (economic) objective of each and every planted forests considering the bio-physical and socio-economic and cultural conditions of the proposed site(s). Needless to state, some value for environmental regeneration will always be attached to each planted forest. The important aspect to be considered in this regard is how to continue the environmental benefit of an economic planted (without interplanting inputs) forest considering enhanced productivity, market orientation and post harvest degradation of the site. Alternatives like planting of shade-tolerant non-commercial tree species, shrubs and bushes, selection felling or clear felling in strips and alternate strips can help in maintaining environmental value of the economic planted forests, even if a reduction in commercial yield is anticipated.

Advertising the Proposed Planted Forestry Plans
It is too often advocated that the local people need to be communicated the benefits of planting trees, conserving wildlife and forests (realising that they do not understand these values). To my opinion, it is underestimating the knowledge and experience of regionous people for indigenous species in particular. Of course, awareness of these aspects is essential for the urban effluents and the consumers of frontier economic society. The regionous people need be enlightened about the new age introductions. The planners/implementers of such projects should appreciate the experience of regionous people and the location-specific beliefs and values by visiting the rural people as per peoples’ convenience. In doing so, the regionous people should be informed and educated about the future forestry planning. This will also provide feedback for modification, if needed, in the proposed forestry planning. The media and material for publicity campaign need careful consideration for easy acceptability by the regionous people. Even for successful management of forests by the state forest department, involvement of local people while developing a ‘Working Plan’ seems to be a necessity. This will provide societal acceptance to the forest management, minimize the hazards of fire, illicit felling and overgrazing in forest areas and finally reduce the requirement of funds for forest management.

Capacity-Building of Planted Forestry Personnel
The massive programme of planted forests, both commercial/industrial and social, came into existence in 1985 by setting target for afforesting 5.0 m ha of India’s wastelands annually. The social forestry was viewed as a means to release social pressures from industrial forestry. It was, thus, imperative to exploit fast grown planted forests for wood, especially from farm forests and agroforests. But sustainability of these human-engineered forests from ecosystem health and improved yield point of view is more complex and expensive than the conventional forestry. Also, the wood produced from these forests, need special processing technology. The sustainable production of wood from these forests therefore, need wise and timely attention like an agronomic field crop and warrants for ever-widening range of technological skills which even if researched, need practical training skills of the field staff for implementation. Similarly, plantation of new wood species, viz., Acacia mangium, Hevea brasiliensis (in non-coastal regions), Robinia pseudoacacia (in changed environment), etc., and tree species exotic to a state/site need technical experience of raising nursery, planting, post-planting operations and marketing.

Where to Raise the Planted Forests?
Both the object of planting and ground conditions play significant role in the decision of where to plant. As the objective of commercial planted forests would always be the raw material, trees may be raised in shelterbelts, windbreaks, blocks, silvopasture and agrisilviculture. The plantation organization (industries) may face problem in obtaining land primarily. Attempts should be made to involve local people in planted forestry on private lands under farm and agroforestry. The land obtained from the government, may be used primarily for raising woodland blocks. However, community-industry interrelationships will play major role in case of growing trees on private lands.

The land provided by the government would be either the degraded forest land or wastelands of various categories. Such land would require major ground treatment for optimising biomass production. Tree farming on such sites would become more expensive if the enterprise has to invest for protection from open grazing, burning, poor site conditions and post plantation care. This will also be true for the community-owned lands but the investment on planting may be minimized through peoples’ involvement. Whatever, the case may be, the land capability, topographic conditions, specific problems like salinity and alkalinity need be given due considerations.

Distance and accessibility of the plantation sites are other critical factors, more particularly in mountain terrain, as the product is bulky in relation to its energy output. Where planted forests are raised by the local people for the commercial needs, the cost of transformation of the products and transportation must be subsidized by the government to encourage the village community. Apart from economic constraint, the planted forests also involve questions of competition for land use for wood energy and fodder vis-à-vis food and fibre crops. Therefore, particularly for highly populated areas, wood for fuel is secondary or by-product from the point of view of investment. For instance, the firewood species can be combined with industrial wood species in planted forests or agricultural crop cultivation so that some investment on inputs is absorbed by the primary products.

Socio-economic and Cultural Dimensions
These aspects become very important when planted forests are developed on community lands. In remote areas or in tribal-inhabited eco-regions, respect for traditions, customs and beliefs about landscape (religious landscape in Sikkim), land, such as sacred groves (e.g. in Meghalaya and North Kanara district of Karnataka) or grounds claimed to be inhabited by spirits or deoban or forest of God (e.g. Cedrus deodara forest of Jageshwar in Almora, Uttarakhand), need be considered. Many time, the problem is because of communication gaps. The developer or planted forestry personnel rarely recognise the local culture more than superficially. The local people on the other side, are unable to understand themselves the changes that may occur due to introduced species as they have not seen the results of species change. Evans (1984) cited such a case for Bihar where Forest Development Corporation faced great opposition from tribals while planting Tectona grandis on loggedover land, previously dominated by Shorea robusta. These people considered the latter species valuable for food and fodder and worshipped the trees, while the former species was valueless culturally for the local people. In case of tropical pine plantation in Baster region of the state Chhatisgarh, the plantation forestry programme failed to seek peoples’ acceptance as the tropical pine plantations could not meet the socio-economic analogy according to reginous people, which is, otherwise, met by a mixed or pure sal forest. The Eucalyptus plantation also faced similar fate largely on socio-economic use point of view besides the environmental considerations. Evidences of regionous peoples’ apathy for planted forests is also evident in Himalaya where people dishonoured the large-scale planting of chir-pine (Pinus roxburghii), compared to oak (Quercus leucotrichophora) in the late seventees onwards in the last century. Fortunately, the current focus has shifted to broadleaf woody species.

Availability of Improved Planting Material
The yield and quality of the end produce from a planted forest (besides management) will depend on the standard of the planting material used. Of course, few plantations can depend on either direct seedings or wildings gathered from under existing forests. For large-scale planted forests, a steady and continuous timely supply of planting materials (seed, seedlings, clones and provenances) of site-specific species of right size is essential. This should be supported by networks for distribution of the planting material and its availability in desired quantity well in time in a healthy condition at the planting site(s). This has been one of the major constraints in plantation forestry in remote areas and Himalayan hills due to terrain conditions. The establishment of extension nurseries at different sites by involving the local people through financial incentives or share in the end products, can overcome this limitation but till date it is a minor function of a forest nursery in the region. Species grown need not be only one like Pinus roxhurghii or Eucalyptus tereticornis which produce commercial timber and industrial raw material; also the species that meet other rural and environmental needs of soil and water conservation, agricultural implements, fodder, firewood, food, etc., should be included. In case of new introductions, the capacity of local people should be build about why to plant a new introduction, what to plant, when to plant, where to plant and how to plant, before planting, not only through lectures and/or audio-video devices rather through practical demonstrations and learning while doing. The situation now calls for the role of extension workers also from a nursery forester and should initiate interest in tree planting by visiting schools, colleges and talking to villages/village leaders and by advertising the availability of seedlings. But this must include monitoring of seedlings after planting to ensure the growth.

Recent advances in non-conventional methods of species improvement like interspecific gene transfer, protoplast fusion, tissue culture-based materials have enhanced availability of planting materials in short time even for hardwood species like teak, eucalypts, etc.

In bamboo, choise of propagation techniques may be influenced by the objective of plantation. For afforestation/reforestation (A/R) projects, where vast areas need be planted, rapid propagation technique-vegetative, is desirable. Where objective is to harvest the shoots for quick income generation, e.g., community A/R projects, the planting material could be generated from mature clumps that produce propagules with a short "waiting period" where from harvestable culms can be obtained. For establishing plantation of superior or elite bamboo, only mature clumps need be utilized for propagation.

Choice of Species
Compared to agronomic crops, trees and woodlands have multiple impacts. The decision of what do plant is, therefore, immensely important. Deciding what to plant has two main aspects. Many species are not interchangeable. Therefore, knowing the purpose the trees are intended for-timber, fuel wood and softwood, etc., influences the choice because each species has specific blend of attributes to bring. And, if there are several aims for the new woodland, examining these species’ characteristics allows the right one or right combination of several to be planted. The second aspect of species choice is -knowing what will grow well on the site in question. For this purpose, recommendations of the research trials specific to site types can be used. It is to be noted that the performance of the chosen species is influenced by the location from which its seed material is collected.

The growth of the plants/trees is the result of the interactions of genetic make-up and environment (Phenotype = Genotype × Environment). While, the environment provides resources for growth, gene (heredity) controls the plant growth, quality, productivity, resilience and tolerance. Consequently, the genotype-environment interactions are distinctly different for each provenance and biotype. Even a single critical environmental variable below the minimum need level will adversely influence the plant growth. Species-site interaction is, thus, pre-requisite for planted forests. The selection of species should, therefore, base on the site conditions and the users needs. (Kumar, 1999; Melkania, 1987, 1990, 1991).

Silviculture of Planted Forests
The planted forests need attention on removal of post-planting barriers of tree growth, i.e., weeds, pests and diseases, unfavourable soil and climatic conditions and lack of symbiotic mycorrhizal associations. In areas where ecological restoration through protection has facilitated emergence of coppice shoots and undesirable shrubs, the deformed or unhealthy coppice and undesirable shrubs need be removed.

Nearly all production-oriented planted forests are managed silviculturally through clear felling, followed by regeneration from stump shoots (coppicing) or replanting. Two-storey high forest has also been used, e.g., for sal forests in bhabar region of Uttarakhand. The enrichment planting is yet another method for management of degraded forests either by state forest department or village forest committees under JFM. Silviculure for mixed planted forests and agroforests infect is yet to be researched considering the ecosystem health and end-products harvesting. However, improvement felling and protection, clear strip and alternate strip systems, coppice with two rotations and selection coppice system would be desirable. The harvested material need be transported with care of regenerating stems and environmentally-valuable ground flora. The slash need be collected and used judiciously rather than burning openly to release carbon load in the environment.

How to Plant?
Planting trees per agronomic practices, such as pit size, spacing, soil treatment, irrigation, pest management, etc., would provide optimum raw material. Experiences indicate that many time, planting is done as per convenience (of the planter) rather than following the desired practices. This also happens because of lack of knowledge and skills. Consequently, survival rate and productivity of such plantations is low.

Moisture Economy
The rate of growth of any species is broadly proportional to the amount of moisture it uses. Therefore, in case of fast growing tree species where the aim is to produce a large volume of wood at the shortest gestation period, it must be borne in mind that these species will consume large amount of moisture. Hence, planting fast growing species in rainfed regimes, especially on hill slopes, would not provide the estimated quantity of raw material. If once the soil is dried to ‘wilting point’, the plant species cannot extract any more moisture. But, if they have roots which reach the water table, they will transpire vigorously, even though the surface soil is far too dry to support plant growth. It would, therefore, be appropriate to raise both tree and bushy species on gravel beds of dry streams in arid and semi-arid regions and also in drying valleys in mountainous zone.

Nutrient Management
In any ecosystem, the nutrients circulate in cyclic manner. Minerals are taken up by the roots from the soil. A small amount of the minerals is, however, absorbed by the foliages from rain water (and also from aerosols) but this is generally more than out weighted by nutrients washed out of the leaves and reaching the soil dissolved in rain water. Plant parts, viz., bark, dry twigs, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds fall on the ground and get mineralized by decomposers. The minerals, thus, made available are absorbed once more by the plant roots. The organic matter determines the amount of base elements in the soil that are available for plant growth. These are the essential features of the bank minerals within any ecosystem like planted forests and of the circulation of minerals between the biomass and the body of the soil. Minerals, e.g., phosphorus and iron, that remain immobilized in the soil, are not available for plant growth. This together with difficulty of measuring the rate of mineral released by the weathering of rooks, make difficult to assess the exact amount of mineral elements available or potentially available at any time to contribute to plant growth. In case of nitrogen, the input from atmosphere as gases and biologically fixed nitrogen by root nodules, add additional complication in the nutrient study.

It is, thus, obvious that the woody species accumulate nutrients as biomass in organic form largely in trunk. The complete removal of the total biomass from a planted forest would disturb the nutrient cycling more so in case of fast growing species and short rotation cycles. If the same species is continued for a long period in the same unit area without balancing artificially the nutrients utilized by tree population, it may lead to ‘nutrient drain’ loss of ecosystem sustainability and finally the hunger for potential land for planted forests. Therefore, suitable package of nutrient inputs including both the inorganic fertilizers and organic manures should be used to maintain productivity of site. Regular monitoring of the site productivity is necessary.

Early harvest and close planting without fertilizer package are undesirable methods of managing planted forests as these support nutrient deficiency in the site by continuous uptake of nutrients and soil moisture in the lag and exponential growth phases of the tree populations. Further, wood density and calorific contents of the young wood are too low, compared to the wood of mature age. A dense wood is strong and tensile, and gives better conversion ratio than the lighter wood if used for charcoal production. Also, economically, the former gives more return that the latter. Chaturvedi (1989) recorded market value of dense wood (beyond 15 years) Rs. 1,200 per m3, compared to Rs. 700 per m3 for light wood (blow 5 years) of Eucalyptus. The reduced growth in case of long duration planted forests is, thus, compensated by the increase in price. Therefore, optimal long rotation planted forests are more viable ecologically and economically than the short rotation planted forests. On less productive sites and rainfed conditions, close planting will lead, respectively, to soil deterioration and poor biomass potential, if appropriate input packages are not applied.

Influence of Planted Forests
The inputs used for raising planted forests, such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides and biological material-species, would definitely have some influence on the ground conditions and understorey vegetation. In temperate part of the world where the fertilizers and pesticides are used extensively, residual toxicity results in soil sickness and loss of biological forms. Fortunately, the use of such chemicals in India is still at its embryonic stage. Use of integrated input package, including cultural, chemical and biological or organic packages would be appropriate, compared to chemical fertilisation.

The plant species grown under captivity (like planted forests) will also influence the habitat and organisms both indirectly (through shade, nutrients and moisture availability) and directly (through allelochemicals). While the former can be minimized by agronomic practices and manipulation of tree architecture, the latter, which will be experienced at a longer duration, may need heavy investment for recovery. Therefore, before planting any overstorey (exotic) species, the allelopathic potential of the (exotic) species need be understood under field conditions and ecofriendly management packages be utilised.

Wood-Based Industries
In India, these include over 25,000 saw mills and 1,000 plywood, veneer, block board and other wood panel mills in addition to a large number of secondary processing units in various sectors like furniture, handicraft, etc. The national demand of wood for various industries has been projected to be about 153 m cum for 2020 against supply of 43 m cum (National Forestry Action Plan, 1988) from natural and planted forests, leaving a gap of 91 m cum of round wood. The strategic actions planned for meeting this gap include: enrichment of natural forests, raising human-controlled planted forests of valuable species, reducing use of wood in infrastructure through replacement by steel and plastic, reusing the wooden materials innovatively, recycling of wooden wastes through value addition and searching a menu of diverse biomass-based alternatives (rather than wood alone) from agricultural (rice husk, bagasse and cotton stick), horticultural (coffee seed husk, rubber wood and palm wood) and forest-based (leaf of Pinus roxburghii, Casuarina equisetifolia and Lantana camara) residues.

Among the wood-based large scale industries, paper industries have unique position in the economic growth as the paper is the very basic need of the civilization. Production of paper rose from 3.5 lakh tonnes in 1960-61 to 29 lakh tonnes in 2001-02. The production of newsprint rose from 0.4 lakh tonnes to 6.5 lakh tonnes during the same period (RBI Report on Currency and Finance, 1997-98 Vol. I and Economic Survey, 2002-03). The production of paper and paper products during 2003-04 is presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Wood and non-wood based paper and paper products (in lakh tonnes) during 2003-04

Parentheses values denote per cent of total. Adapted from Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, 2003; Original source: Indian Agro-and Recycled Paper Mills Association, New Delhi.

Currently, 515 registered paper mills are producing paper and paper board in the private sector with installed capacity of 51 lakh tonnes. The small sector accounts for 50 per cent installed capacity and production of paper in the country. The availability of raw material is now one of the major basic problems of paper industries as the large paper mills are mainly based on conventional raw material, i.e., bamboo and hardwood. The shortage of raw material was recorded 4.94 m tonnes in 2000 (Poddar, 1987). It was with the view to conserve the national forests and also to maintain the ecological balance, the Government of India encouraged setting-up of small units using non-conventional raw materials, viz., agricultural waste, waste paper and rags. The raw material-wise use pattern of Indian paper mills is: agricultural residues (36%) > hardwood (30%) > waste paper (26%) > bamboo (8%). Of 28 forest raw material-based paper mills, 10-12 paper and board mills (IPMA members) are using bamboo and reed as raw material. In all, 1.4 m tonnes bamboo is used alongwith 4.0 m tonnes hardwood to produce 1.3 m tonnes of pulp annually. Company-wise, bamboo consumption is maximal (0.4 m tonnes) for Ballarpur Paper mill and least (0.01 m tonnes) for West Coast Paper mill (Kulkarni and Rao, 2002). Thus, bamboo continues to be the mainstay. Raising planted forests of hardwood species and bamboos, therefore, is the key for the survival of paper industries.

Bamboo, Industries and Handicrafts
Naturally, bamboo (not a tree but a grass) in India is grown everywhere except saline soil and Kashmir valley. Most bamboos are found on sandy loam to loamy clay soil. Sizeable bamboo plantations are found on homestead land, village and common lands and farmlands, predominantly in North eastern states. Bamboo forests account 11.7 per cent of the recorded forest area and 14.0 per cent of forest cover (Rai and Chauhan, 1998). Of the 1,250 species of bamboo in world, India accounts for 125 species (23 genera), of which 30 are known to be commercially important. North eastern region alone accounts for 28 per cent bamboo area with 66 per cent growing stock (Rai and Chauhan, 1998) and 50 per cent species (63) and 87 per cent genera (20) (Melkania, 2002) of the country. Arunchal Pradesh alone harbours 88 per cent generic and 59 per cent species richness of bamboo. Out of 34 species, indigenous people cultivate 24 species in this State (Haridasan et al., 1987).

Besides more than 1,500 recorded socio-economic-cultural and ecological uses, bamboos serve as potential source of wood for pulp and paper industries and handicrafts. The paper produced out of bamboo wood is rated as one of the best quality paper. The current mix of raw materials in the paper and pulp industries is: bamboo and hardwood (53%) > bagasse and straw (23%) > waste paper (15%). Bamboo alone contributes one million tonnes raw material for Indian paper and pulp industries. The value-added bamboo industries in India are expected to grow (Rs. 26,000 crores by 2015) very close to the likely size of the bamboo industry in China (NMBT, 2003).

The wood requirement of bamboo for new generation products, viz., laminated wood, flooring material, panels, particle board, roofing, quake resistant structure, embankment and slope protection, truck bodies, activated carbon, furniture, agarbatti and safety match, etc., has increased tremendously besides for handicrafts. The estimated market of bamboo products is enumerated in Table 4.

Handicrafts, a cultural heritage cottage industry of India, have been using hardwood and bamboo and ratten as raw material for a range of utilities and decoratives for indigenous and export requirements. India has been the leader supplier of these products worldover and in recent time, the export of wood-based handicrafts has attained a remarkable upward trend. This has added in the national economy through foreign exchange earnings and generating employment for the rural craftperson. The prospects for increasing export appears considerably bright if raw material is supplied sustainably and technological advancements are continued for value addition.

Table 4. Market potential (Rs. in crores) of bamboo products in India

Source: India. Planning Commission. National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development, 2003.

Planning and managing planted forests in crowded urban and peri-urban environ and inhospitable sites pose new challenges for technology development. Compared to public lands, planted forestry in rural community land will meet conflict from local people for interest of use services. The conflict (and cost) could be minimized if the local people are involved as stackholder since inception. In what form they are to be involved, need be decided location-wise. But the progress of business will depend on its transparency and benefit-sharing mechanism.

At places, barren lands may have little soil to support tree species, especially in rainfed barren slopy terrain in Himalayan hills and arid and semi-arid regions where tree growth of even most potential genotype(s) of the fast growing species will also be uneconomical. In such derelict lands, the economically (undervalued) non-profitable species of shrubs, bushes and grasses may be valued for site enrichment. Integration of these species with tree species for planted forests on derelict lands need be studied, standardized and tested under long-term coordinated research.

Except for commercial farm-and agro-forests, planted forests have to be generated on public and community lands and wastelands experiencing a range of degradation characteristics. Also, raising planted forests in government-owned lands with < 10 per cent and 10-40 per cent tree cover may require heavy investment, particularly for commercial forests. It would be appropriate if fund is generated in line of "local biodiversity fund" for planted forests for environmental services and gene conservation in particular.

Fortunately, on the recommendations of the National Commission on Agriculture (1976), forestry education in India has been established in state agricultural (and general) universities, besides at Forest Research Institute, Dehradun. The professionalization of forestry education needs attention on two broad aspects. Firstly, more closer professional interaction among faculty, industry and forestry and service sectors are needed for faculty and facilities exchange and development of curriculum suited to clientele’s needs. Secondly, most of the universities lack forest land for long-term experimentation and technology development under actual field conditions. Therefore, research is organized in a highly ad hoc mode and macro recommendations are made on micro observations. It would be appropriate if some forest land is provided by the state forest department under specified Memorandum of Understanding to such universities for long-term research that can provide technology and baseline information for forestry planning and management. The maintenance of these research site(s) may be shared by the concerned university and state forest department who will take the lead is yet another important issue.

In regard to raw material needs of the industries, the companies need be encouraged for raising industrial commercial forests through formal or informal partnerships with the local communities including farmers, local individuals as well as community-level units of social organizations, such as farmers’ groups, product user groups and cooperatives. Interestingly, significant progress in this direction has been achieved by JK paper Ltd., Orient Paper mill and ITC Bhadrachalum for Eucalyptus agroforests, WIMCO for Populus agroforests and AMCO for Kadamb (Anthocephalus cadamba) forests. JK paper Ltd. is the first paper mill in the country to obtained ISO-9001, 2000 and 2001-ISO-14001 certification and winner of "Green paper mill Award" for community based Eucalyptus agroforestry. Raising short-term quick growing species may lead to adverse bio-physical indirect (nutrient drain and moisture loss) and direct (allelopathy) consequences. Deciding a balance between improved short-term productivity gain and long-term sustainability of such monoculture need research to develop cost-effective package of practices for site management. The other researchable issues are as follows:

• Genetic engineering for development of engineer tree types such that they would accept certain symbiotic microbes that can fix nitrogen from air, use of mycorrhizae in management of planted forests and pest management as an alternative to chemical control.

• Standardization of production technology and value addition in respect of new wood and bamboo species.

• Development of genotypes of bamboo suitable for cultivation in saline and coastal areas and barren rainfed uplands in the Himalayan region.

• Silviculture of planted forests.

• Weed management through selective grazing by livestock.

• Conservation of biodiversity in planted forests.

• Reorganization of institutional mechanisms (laws and acts) for progressive plantation forestry.

Establishment of an apex body at central, state and district level for planning, monitoring and management of planted forests is, therefore, vital. This should be supported by expertise from the forestry sector and leading forest-based industries, state agricultural universities, research and development institutes concerning forestry, agroforestry and rangeland and watershed management, and non-governmental organizations having proven track record of success under JFM and rural development. Besides, a well-informed and skillful human resource is essential for implementation of the planted forestry programmes. Therefore, need-based continuing education programmes for managers, planners, specialists and developers of the planted forests need be organized at leading professional institutions.

• Chaturvedi, A.N. 1989. Management of fuelwood rotations. In: Bioenergy Society V Convention and Symposium, New Delhi, 1988. Proceedings; edited by R.N. Sharma; O.P. Vimal; H.L. Sharma and K.S. Rao. New Delhi, India. Department of Non-Conventional Energy Sources. pp. 293-294.

• Evans, J. 1982. Plantation Forestry in the Tropics. Oxford, Clarendon Press. p. 96.

• Forest Survey of India. 2003. State of forest report-2003. Dehradun, Forest Survey of India.

• Haridasan, K.; Singh, N.B.; Deori, M.L. 1987. Bamboo in Arunachal Pradesh-The present status. Journal of Tropical Forests, 3: 298-310.

• India. Ministry of Environment and Forests. 1988. National Forestry Action Plan. The author.

• India. Planning Commission. National Mission on Bamboo Technology and Trade Development. 2003. Report. The author.

• Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. 2003. Forest statistics India-2003. Dehradun, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education.

• Kulkarni, H.D.; Rao, J.S. 2002. Gregarious bamboo flowering in north eastern zone of India-strategies for sustainable utilization of bamboo resources. In: Expert Consultation on Strategies for Utilization of Bamboo Resources Subsequent to Gregarious Flowering in the North East, Jorhat, 2002. Proceedings edited by S. Pattanaik; A.N. Singh; M. Kundu; S. Trivedi; Y.C. Tripathi; K.G. Prasad. Jorhat, Rain Forest Research Institute. pp. 42-46.

• Kumar, V. 1999. Nursery and plantation practices in forestry. Jodhpur, Scientific Publishers India.

• Melkania, N.P. 1987. Firewood farming and rejuvenation of degraded land ecosystems in Himalaya. In: Dhar, T.N. and Sharma, P.N. Eds. Himalayan Energy Systems. Nainital, Gyanodaya Prakashan. pp. 66-87.

• Melkania, N.P. 1990. Resource potential, plantation, utilization and management of multipurpose woody fodder species in the Himalayan region. In: Rajwar, G.S. Ed. Recent researches in ecology, environment and pollution, Vol. 6: Advances in Himalayan ecology. New Delhi, Today and Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers. pp. 223-246.

• Melkania, N.P. 1991. Woody fodder species in Indian hill ecosystems. Range Management and Agroforestry, 12 (2): 179-194.

• Melkania, N.P. 2002. Bamboo resource in the north eastern India: status, research and management issues. In: Expert Consultation on Strategies for Utilization of Bamboo Resources subsequent to Gregarious Flowering in the North East, Jorhat, 2002. Proceedings edited by S. Pattanaik; A.N. Singh; M. Kundu; S. Trivedi; Y.C. Tripathi and K.G. Prasad. Jorhat, Rain Forest Research Institute. pp. 114-126.

• Poddar, N.B. 1987. Small paper mills. EconomicTimes, April 30, 1987.

• Rai, S.N.; Chauhan, K.V.S. 1998. Distribution and growing stock of bamboo in India. Indian Forester, 124(2): 89-98.
• Rajput, S.S. 2005. Plantation wood based cottage industry for sustainable development in rural India. ENVIS Forstry Bulletin, 5: 1-2.

• Saxena, N.C. 2001. The new forest policy and joint forest management in India. In: Evans, J. Ed. The forests handbook, Vol. 2: Applying forest science for sustainable management. Oxford, Blackwell. pp. 233-259.

• Segreiya, K. P. 2000. Forests and forestry; rev by S.S. Negi. New Delhi, National Book Trust.

Making a strong case for forest and environment conservation, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India mooted the concept of ‘Forest Credit’ on the lines of carbon credit in a bid to increase the forest cover in the country.

The union government is planning to work out a new farmer-friendly agroforestry policy to ensure direct economic benefits to farmers and the wood-based industry, while ensuring that agroforestry develops as a priority sector.

To prevent further destruction of the country’s tropical forests, the Indonesian government says it will ban the use of natural forest trees by the pulp and paper industry by 2009 and by entire wood industry by 2014. Timber processing industries will have to establish new timber plantations to ensure supply logs by 2014.

Haryana has unveiled its first Forest Policy which aims at enhancing the area under forest and tree cover from 6.6 per cent to 10 per cent by 2010 and eventually to 20 per cent through massive forestation and social forestry programmes. The new policy is geared towards conserving biodiversity in natural forests. The conservation, protection and development of habitats in protected areas and water resources in the forests will also be taken care of. Conservation and development of medicinal plants would also receive due importance.

Bird watchers can now look forward to better facilities that are being developed at the Asan Wetland Conservation Reserve in Uttarakhand that boasts of an amazing variety of winged visitors between October and March every year.

The Supreme Court has issued notice to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to frame specific guidelines on construction of roads in hilly areas. This is necessary to prevent massive soil erosion, siltation in river basins and damage to forests, pastures and agricultural lands, caused by disposal of excavated rock mass of road construction by pushing it down the hill.

Northern Railway has begun a massive plantation drive along its tracks in New Delhi for adding to the green cover of the national capital before start of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The Haryana Forest Department has chalked out a plan for having a rescue centre for domesticated tuskers.

The Government of India has offered support to Uttarakhand governement. for taking specific measures for effective conservation of snow leopard.

The Uttar Pradesh government has taken the initiative to broad-base tiger conservation work by constituting a Tiger Protection Society, described as the first of its kind in the country.

The NTPC, SAIL, Tata, BHEL and ACC are set to participate in Public –Private Sector green projects under a six nation Asia –Pacific Partnership (APP) for clean development and climate.

Commodity traders and consumers groups are beginning to seek timber, soy products and beef produced in environmentally conscious ways. After a campaign by the environmental group ‘Greenpeace’ which targeted European McDonald’s outlets for using Amazon soy to fatten chickens, the large business alliance that purchases Amazon soy beans declared a moratorium for one year on buying soy grown on recently cleared forest land. Consumers are not willing to eat Amazon beef if they think that it is killing the rainforest.

Forest Research Institute, Dehradun completed 100 years of its existence during 2006 and celebrated the centenary in a big way. Several seminars, conferences, workshops, etc. were organized throughout the year and souvenirs were brought out to mark the occasion. The country’s first van vigyan kendra was also opened in the heart of Dehradun.

The World Meteorological Organization and United National Environmental Program said that the ozone layer, which filters dangerous solar radiation, was recovering but slowly.

A team of 10 scientists at the University of Rajasthan have found the cancer fighting properties in tulsi and mint.

‘Blooming Highway’, the eco-tourism project has resulted in an endless rows of plants on all highways covering the entire landscape of the Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh.

An endangered medicinal plant, believed to be extinct now, has been rediscovered after 115 years in Arunachal Pradesh’s upper Subansiri district. Begonia tessaricarpa, last seen in 1890, was found growing in the wild in upper Subansiri and Namdapha National Park. The plants is known to local tribes as "buckuchurbu" on "reb" and is used to treat stomach-ache and dehydration.

The sighting of nests of an endangered bird – ‘the Great Indian Bustard’ in Kutch region has given a hope for its conservation.

The Community Led Environment Action Network – India (CLEAN – India) in an effort to make possible Diwali celebrations without adding to pollution has conducted workshops in 350 schools across the country to inform students about the harmful effects of using firecrackers.

Brazilian government is planning for a global fund to help contain rainforest destruction and slash carbon emissions. Under the plan, rich nations would offer financial incentives to developing countries that combat deforestation.

Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India has released grants to the northeastern states to deal with gregarious flowering of muli bamboo.

Scientists at the Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (Lancones) have come up with a DNA finger-printing methodology for a tiger census based upon the animal’s faeces. The method claims 99 per cent accuracy which is much higher than the traditional pugmark count as well as the camera-trap method.

In the wake of rapid vulture deaths, leading to the scavengers’ near extinction in the Indian subcontinent, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India has decided to launch vulture breeding programmes in various zoos across the country.

So, the current UN conference on climate change is putting unprecedented pressure on the US to join the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Developing countries like India and China, which earlier refused to cap emissions on the ground that they were just starting up the development path, are under pressure to accept commitments too. I have always been a qualified sceptic.

Global warming is a plausible hypothesis. But it is not a proved scientific fact, as claimed by greens. The history of science is replete with plausible hypothesis that proved to be wrong. Yes, the globe has warmed up in the last 30 years. But the world cooled down in the preceding 30 years (1945-75).

Newsweek ran a cover story in 1975 declaring that the next ice age was coming. There can be no more salient warning of how dangerous it is to project 30-year trends forward for another 100 years. Climatologists today declare that there will be droughts and agricultural calamities if the world warms up.

Funnily enough, exactly the same warnings were issued in the 1970s about global cooling. Can it really be true that we will have an agricultural disaster whether the world cools or warms up? Or are worst-case scenarios parading as immutable truths? We are told that the majority of climate scientists are of the opinion that global warming will reach catastrophic proportions by 2100. But science is not, and never has been, about collecting the opinion of scientists. That would be an opinion poll, not science.

Scientific method is very clear about the procedure to move from hypothesis to theory or fact. An experiment has to be devised which will conclusively prove or disprove the hypothesis. Only after passing such a test can a hypothesis rise to the status of a theory. And if the theory remains intact against rival theories for long enough, it will become a scientific law (like Newton’s Laws of Motion).

However, this standard scientific methodology is not being followed in the case of global warming. Sundry computer projections on warming are being publicised by climatologists as scientific facts. Layfolk may think that computer modelling is high-tech proof. In fact, computer modelling is rubbish-in and rubbish-out: by changing a model’s specifications you can produce almost any result you want.

Wassily Leontief, who won the Nobel Prize for statistical modelling, gave an immortal description of the process, "We move from more or less plausible but really arbitrary assumptions, to elegantly demonstrated but irrelevant conclusions." Neither Al Gore nor any green wants to follow standard scientific method to move from hypothesis to proof. Why? Because if we tested various global warming models for a century to see whether they worked, the predicted disaster would already have happened, or not happened.

So, many experts want us to take a decision without concrete proof. If we wait decades for conclusive proof, they say, it may be too late to take preventive action. This is altogether a more respectable argument than the claim that global warming is a scientific fact. There is a case for viewing emission curbs as an insurance premium worth paying just in case the disaster hypothesis, though unproven, is correct. Rational people buy insurance against events that may never happen. Homeowners in Delhi buy earthquake insurance, although no major earthquake may ever hit the city.

Is the Kyoto insurance premium commensurate with the insurance benefits promised? Only if it is small (as in the Delhi earthquake example). Experts now estimate that checking emissions to safe levels will cost around 1 per cent of GDP. That may not sound excessive. However, it translates into a whopping $500 billion a year at today’s global GDP level.

I would strongly oppose India paying anything like 1 per cent of its GDP as a premium, given the many uncertainties about global warming. The US refuses to join Kyoto, saying it has to pay an unacceptably high premium. It also insists that it will not join until India and China, whose emissions are small but rising fast, make some commitments.

What position should India take? Traditionally, it has argued that its emissions are very low on a per capita basis, and so it should be exempted from Kyoto. The argument is a good one. Yet if the Goldman Sachs BRIC report is right in projecting India as having the third largest economy in the world by 2050, India can hardly insist that all premiums should be paid by today’s OECD economies, almost all of which will be smaller than India’s by 2050. India — may be in conjunction with other developing countries — could offer some limited commitments. These countries cannot be asked to cut their emissions to 5 per cent below 1990 levels, the Kyoto target for rich countries. But India could offer to cap its greenhouse gas emissions at say the 1960 or 1970 per capita level of France or Germany.

That level will not be reached for a long time, and may not be reached at all if new energy sources like solar electricity become viable. Yet it will be a reasonable commitment. The main aim of such a strategy will be to persuade the US to join Kyoto. By committing itself to pay a small premium many years hence, India may get the US to pay a large premium immediately. That will not quite be a free ride, but it will be a very low-cost one. What if the US refuses to join anyway? In that case India should refuse too.

Without US participation, no serious emission control is possible. The benefits of the insurance policy will not be commensurate with the premium. Will such non-action be grossly irresponsible? No. Disaster is by no means certain. One scientist predicts that by 2100, science may enable us to control the world’s temperature. That, too, is a plausible hypothesis.

A. Balasubramanian*, Ashok Kumar** and K. Gurumurthi***
* Department of Tree Breeding, Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam 641 301
** Division of Genetics and Tree Propagation, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun 248 195
***Retd. Scientist F, Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore 641 002

Keeping phenotypic variations in view, selection was exercised at three locations in the costal belt of Tamil Nadu, and a total of 107 plus trees were identified. Subsequently, these trees were cloned through vegetative propagation of cladode cuttings, and established in the clone bank at the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore (Balasubramanian, 2000). Using genetic principles, these clones were tested for their genetic superiority to identify elite clones.

Selection of phenotypically superior trees was carried out adopting grid method of selection in three locations of Tamil Nadu at Chidambaram, Chengalpet and Tiruchindur. The government/private plantations at these locations were divided into different grids to minimize effect of soil heterogeneity on the performance of individual trees (Fig. 1). In each grid, trees with good height, diameter at ground level (DGL) and diameter at breast height (DBH), straight/clear main bole, self pruning capacity, fewer branches, narrow crown and no incidence of disease and pests were selected and marked/numbered as per the methodology suggested by Kumar and Gurumurthi (1996).

The phenotypic selection was followed by the construction of selection index for individual selected trees.  The main bole volume was considered as the principal trait for the construction of selection index and its correlation with tree height, DGL, DBH, frustum volume and pole value was estimated. The index for each character was calculated by multiplying the phenotypic value with the correlation coefficient of the trait with main bole volume. The selection index was calculated by adding all the six values for each selected tree. The equation can thus be written as:

SI = x1R1,6 + x2R2,6 + x3R3,6 + x4R4,6 + x5R5,6 + x6                                                

(Where, SI = Selection Index and x1, x2, x3, x4, x5 and x6 were the phenotypic values for tree height, DGL, DBH, frustum volume, pole value and main bole volume, respectively). The R1,6, R2,6, R3,6, R4,6, and R5,6 were the correlation  coefficients for tree height, DGL, DBH, frustum volume and pole value  with the main bole volume, respectively (Kumar and Gurumurthi, 1996). After calculating selection index for all the initially marked trees, final selection was carried out. In this way, 24 trees of C. equisetifolia were selected from Chengalpet, 31 from Chidambaram and 52 from Tiruchindur.

Vegetative Multiplication

In order to establish the clone bank, the cladode cuttings of selected trees were brought to the vegetative propagation complex of the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore. The transportation of the cladode cuttings was done by soaking the lower cladode ends in 10 hours pre-soaked `Jal Shakti' kept in plastic container. Jal Shakti is a synthetic biodegradable material, holds about 100 times water of its weight and improves the moisture retention in the cladodes during transportation over long distances.    

Rooting of Cuttings in Mist Chambers
 At the vegetative propagation complex, 5 to 7 cm long cladode cuttings were initially treated with 0.05 per cent mercuric chloride for 30 seconds to avoid fungal attack and dip smeared in rooting media (2000 ppm IBA). The rooting media was prepared by mixing 20 mg of IBA in 10 gm of talcum powder.  Subsequently, the treated cladodes were planted in root trainers filled with 48 hours pre-soaked vermiculite. Thereafter, the root trainers were shifted to the mist chamber. In mist chamber, misting was provided for 6 seconds after every 20 minutes during day time (09.00 to 18.00 hours) and every 60 minutes during night (18.00 to 09.00 hrs).  Humidity was maintained at 70 to 80 per cent level all the times using humidifiers (Gurumurthi and Jayachandran, 1993).

 Rooting of Cladodes in Mist-less Systems
 In addition to mist chambers, following mist-less systems were also used for rooting:

Polytunnels
In this system, cladodes were rooted without mist in polytunnels. Polytunnels of 180 x 90 x 70 cm size were used for the rooting of cladodes. The polytunnels were kept on a surface filled with sand to a depth of one foot.  The cuttings were placed in root trainers after hormonal treatment.  Later the root trainers were placed in polytunnels with the sides of the tunnel tightly tucked in sand.  Prior to placing the cuttings inside the polytunnels, the sandy area was well watered for high humidity buildup (Fig. 2). The poly tunnel is a low cost rooting device, consists of white polythene film of 150 to 400 gauge thickness covered on iron rods fabricated like tunnel. The tunnel is not only easy to fabricate but also maintains more than 90 per cent humidity, which is a pre requisite for the rooting of even hardwood cuttings of difficult species like acacias (Gurumurthi and Jeyachandran, 1993).

Polyglobules
In certain circumstances, polyglobules were used for rooting. Polythene bags of the size 55 x 40 cm were used for rooting.  The pre-soaked vermiculite was filled inside the polythene bags to the depth of 6 inches.  Cladodes selected from a single tree were treated with rooting hormone, as mentioned earlier, and planted inside the polybags.  The mouth of the bag was then closed in such a manner that air gets trapped inside. The mouth of the tied bag was then tied to one of the iron angle in the shade house, so that poly globule does not sag.

Transplanting of propagules
After rooting of the cuttings, the propagules were transplanted in polybags of the size 10 x 23 cm filled with sand, red earth and farm yard manure (3:2:1) and kept under double roof shade house conditions. At the time of transplanting, full care was taken to avoid any sudden shock to the propagules. After transplanting, one fourth strength Hoagland's solution (Hoagland and Arnon, 1938) was given for the better establishment of the propagules.

Hardening of the propagules
The hardening process started just after transplanting of the rooted cuttings in to the polybags. Immediately after transplanting, the polybags were kept in polytunnels for 2 to 3 days. The polytunnels were covered partially to maintain high humidity and reduced temperature for the hardening of the rooted cuttings.  After 2 to 3 days, the polybags were removed from the polytunnels and kept in double roof shade house. Later, the vegetative propagules were weaned out to open conditions.

Establishment of the clone bank
A group of plants propagated from a single tree through vegetative means is termed as clone (Singh, 1993). The propagules propagated from 55 selected trees were planted in rows in the Clonal Garden of the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore. Each row consisted of 10 ramets of a single clone. Plant to plant and row to row spacing was 1.5 and 2 m, respectively. After every five rows three meters space was given for silvicultural operations. Before planting, the soil was replaced with a mixture of sand, red earth and FYM (2:1:1) to ensure proper establishment of the clones.

Clonal testing
Clonal forestry will only be reliable if the clones used for planting are reliable.  The reliability of clones depends on the substantial degree of selection criteria used and also on the effectiveness of clonal testing.  Zsuffa et al. (1993) reported that some important clonal traits like rooting ability and stem form can be evaluated at the juvenile stages.  However, other significant traits such as growth rate, volume per unit area and disease resistance need longer field testing.  They suggested that fast starter clones would be better suited to short rotation forest species for biomass plantations, whereas longer rotation might require different types of clones.

Clonal testing is usually organized at several levels from the initial screening of single genotype through clonal performance trials.  Libby (1987) recommended following four levels of testing in clonal forestry:

a.       Initial screening, involves screening at nursery propagation level;

b.       candidacy testing, with large number of clones and small number of ramets per clone;

c.       clonal performance testing, more extensive testing of better candidate clones;

d.     compatibility trials, attempts to identify compatible sets of clones that can be advantageously grown in    sequenced mixture. 

                Many clones of poplars, aspens and willows have been tested for first three levels but fourth level has rarely been used (Zsuffa et al., 1993).

High yielding clones

The collected clones were tested for their genetic superiority in terms of higher yield. Among the tested clones, clones CHCE890903, CHCE892003 and TCR110202 were found to the exceptional ones based on their growth performance (Fig 3).  In fact, main bole volume of clone CHCE890903 was found to be 207 per cent better than the average performance of the clones assessed (Fig. 4), 35 per cent better than the second best clone (CHCE892003) and 1008 per cent better than the least performing clone (CHCE891002).

                Frampton and Foster (1993) suggested that interaction between clone and environment is essential for any of the clonal evaluation programme. Knowledge of the extent to which rank changes among clones across various sites is necessary to efficiently deploy the clonal material.  Further, knowledge of the site factors which are most responsible for these clonal rank changes are desirable to divide the land base into appropriate compartments.  Burdon (1971) and Burdon and Harris (1973) reported that in Montery pines of New Zealand considerable change in clonal ranks among four sites were found for height, diameter, form, branching frequency and stem straightness. Thus, it is necessary to test any of the clonal stock under varying climatic conditions over number of years.

Conclusion

Using simple selection, it is indeed possible to select genetically proven high yielding clones of Casuarina. Based on the experience in other fast growing trees, it is presumed that the clonal selection helps in substantial increase in yield in casuarinas as well. In fact, selection and clonal technology has been responsible in dramatic yield increase to about 100 m3/ha/yr in Eucalyptus, as against about 40 tons/ha at Florestal Company, Brazil (Lal, 1993).

The success of Eucalyptus in Brazil and many other countries can easily be replicated in many of the fast growing tree species in India as well, to bridge the ever growing gap between demand and supply for various wood and wood products. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has projected consumption of firewood and charcoal to about 344 million m³ by 2010 compared to actual consumption of only 293 million m³. It has also projected that the consumption of industrial round wood and sawn timber would also grow to as high as 37 and 33 million m³, respectively in the same period (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1993). Hence, evolving genetically superior clones through short term tree improvement strategies would help immensely in this endeavor. Further such materials would serve as the base material for long term tree improvement programme, including advance generation breeding.

References

• Balasubramanian, A. 2000. Screening for salinity resistance in clones of Casuarina equisetifolia (Forst). Ph.D. Thesis. Forest Research Institute, Dehradun.

• Burdon, R.D. 1971. Clonal repeat-abilities and clone site interaction in Pinus radiata. Silvae Genetica, 20: 33-39.

• Burdon, R.D.; Harris, J.M. 1973.  Wood density in radiata pine clones on four different sites. New Zealand Journal of Forest  Science, 3: 286-303.

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 1993. Forest statistics today for tomorrow, 1961-1989 to 2010. Wood and wood based products. Rome, F.A.O.

• Frampton, L.J. (Jr.); Foster, G.S. 1993. Field testing of vegetative propagules. In: Ahuja, M.R.; Libby, W.J. Eds. Clonal forestry I: Genetics and biotechnology.  New York,  Springer-Verlag.  pp. 110-134.

• Gurumurthi, K.; Jeyachandran, C.K. 1993. Vegetative propagation complex. In: ICFRE/FAO/UNDP Workshop on Production of Genetically Improved Planting Material for Afforestation Programme, Coimbatore, 18-25 May 1993. Proceedings edited by K.Vivekanandan; K.N. Subramanian; N.Q. Zabala;  K Gurumurthi, Los Banos, F.A.O. pp. 37-56.

• Gurumurthi, K.; Rawat, P.S. 1992. Rooting of Casuarina equisetifolia cuttings an influenced by season and auxins. Nitrogen Fixation Association Report, 10. pp.137-140.

• Hoagland, D.R.; Arnon, D.I. 1938. The water culture method for growing plants without soil. Berkeley, University of California.

• Kondas, S. 1983. Casuarina equisetifolia - A multipurpose cash crop in India. In: 1^st International Casuarina Workshop, Melbourne, 17-21 August 1981. Casuarina: Ecology, management and utilization: Proceedings edited by S.J. Midgley; J.W. Turnbull; R.D. Johnston. Melbourne, CSIRO. pp. 66-76.

• Kumar, A.; Gurumurthi, K. 1996. Selection method for identifying superior performers of Casuarina equisetifolia. In: 3^rd International Casuarina Workshop on Recent Casuarinas Research and Development, Da Nang, 4-7 March 1996. Proceedings edited by K. Pinyopusarerk; J.W. Turnbull; S.J. Midgley. Canberra, CSIRO. pp. 133-135.

• Lal, P. 1993. Economics of clonal forestry plantations. In: ICFRE/FAO/UNDP Workshop on Production of Genetically Improved Planting Materials for Afforestation Programmes. Proceedings edited by K Vivekanandan; K. N. Subramanian; N.Q. Zabala;  K Gurumurthi. Los Banos, F.A.O. pp. 108-115.

• Libby , W.J. 1987. Potential of clonal forestry. In:19^th Meeting of Canadian Tree Improvement Association, Part 2: Symposium on Clonal Forestry: Its Impact on Tree Improvement and Our Future Forests. Proceedings edited by L. .Zsuffa; R.M.Rauter;  C.W.Yeatman , Toronto, Ontario.

• Pinyopusarerk, K.; Heuse, A. N. 1993. Casuarina: An annotated bibliography. Nairobi, ICRAF. 298 p.

• Singh, B.D. 1993. Plant breeding:  Principles and methods. New Delhi, Kalyani Publishers. 667p.

• Zsuffa, L.; Sennerby-Forsse,  L.; Heisgerber, H.; Hall, R.B. 1993. Strategies for clonal forestry with poplars, aspens and willows. In: Ahuja, M.R.; Libby, W.J. Clonal forestry II: Conservation and application New York, Springer-Verlag. pp. 91-119.

Uttarakhand, a hilly state, is bestowed with lush green forests, perennial rivers and diversified topography ranging from high alpine glaciers to low-lying plains. The flora and fauna also depict great variations, making it one of the mega reservoirs of biodiversity in the country. The total geographical area of the state is 55.66 million ha, out of which, 62.27 per cent area is covered with the forest.

Results and Discussion

The high altitude medicinal plants, as the name suggests, require cold climate for their growth and development. The gestation period of these species is generally 3-4 years, except for jambu, which can be harvested twice a year. Species wise details of maturity period, part used and uses of important species are mentioned in Table 3.

It was observed that the cultivators of this region practice a unique ‘shifting’ type of cultivation procedure, that is, during winter they migrate to lower reaches in order to protect themselves from harsh winter. Ralam, Milam and Johar valleys of Munsayari block are the "hot spots" for the cultivation of high altitude medicinal plants. These areas are situated at 4,000 to 4,500m above sea level and remain covered with snow from November to March. There are 7-12 villages in each valley having 10-15 households. These villages remain uninhabitated during the winter as almost all the villagers migrates to the lower areas like Panto, Darati, Ghorpatta, etc.

Milam and Ralam valleys are situated at a distance of 62 and 42km, respectively from Munsiyari (Fig. 1). The cultivation activities start immediately after the melting of snow i.e., in the month of April, these cultivators start moving towards their fields from their respective villages. These valleys can be scaled only through tracking and it takes nearly three days to reach these areas.

Table 3. Details of the species being cultivated in the study area

(Area in km ²)

While the forests of Tripura have been under systematic management for the past fifty year, this excellent and frangible resource has been diminishing due to various anthropogenic disturbances resulting in degradation and loss of forest cover which is directly affecting the ecological stability, biological diversity, economic viability and environmental security of the state.

 Table3. Demographic features of Asha Van villages

Incentive design

Price linked
The highly priced species as agar, mahagony, fruit species are being raised by people for selling if off to local market.  Higher price in the markets works as incentive to propagate and conserve the species.  There are traditional societies who know the process of extraction of agar oil.  They rear agar groves for economic benefits.  The traditional practices of inducing fungal infection, identification of right dimension for infection and extraction techniques, etc. are known to them and not shared with others. 

Pride linked
The list of rare, near extinct and threatened (RET) species occurring in the area is circulated amongst the JFM committee members.  They also display the boards that these RET species are available within their project areas.  The existence of tree species have been linked to the pride to work as motivator for its conservation.  It also induces competition within the JFMCs as which committees has better repository of these species.  The practice needs further refinement to scale up along with sustained motivation to protect these species. 

Value linked
The value of the species determines the priority for conservation.