Uttarakhand - Department of Land Resources

degradation when used beyond a sustainable limit. However what is more important is
that the local users consider them as their collective property and in real sense they are
not actually divisible. These forests though are not completely immune from misuse and
the condition of the forests varies from poor to very good.
Despite being an excellent example of state-people partnership which has been
relatively successful in managing forest resources in the region, the institutions are
facing challenges from unrealistic and target driven policies which would affect its
democratic functioning. There is a need to replicate such institutions in other areas
rather than interfering with the existing ones. Moreover Non-governmental
Organizations need to play more active role in keeping these institutions alive by
bringing the communities to the centre stage of decision making. In order to strengthen
such community oriented institutions, one needs to identify such similar institutions and
undertake comparative studies on the same so that anomalies if any can be removed.
Forests play an important role in the economy of the state. Timber and fuel form the
major produce group, while bamboo, drugs, grasses, gum and resins etc., the minor
produce group. Forests are the major source of raw materials for industries, buildings,
railways and other tertiary sectors. There is an increased pressure on forests for fuel,
fodder and timber requirements that is having an effect on the desired level of forest
density and productivity of forests. The destruction and degradation of forests are taking
a heavy toll on soil and water resources, making the land less productive and leading to
impoverishment of the rural population.
Potential for forestry and waste land development : The State has good forest cover
which needs to be protected. The State has also large scale wood based industries in
the form of paper mills, Plywood units, Katha factories and rosin factories and small
scale units mainly of saw milling, carpentry, packing cases, sports goods, furniture,
carving, toys, etc. with large scale building activities both in private and public sector,
residential and other purpose, consumption of wood in solid and processed form has
gone up. This has resulted in increased demand of forest produce specially timber and
will certainly put additional pressure on the existing forests. No systematic wood
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