Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) is a forestry training institute under the Ministry of Environment and Forests of India, which was originally as Indian Forest College, established in 1938 for training senior forest officers. It is situated in the New Forest campus of Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun. IGNFA is currently functioning as a staff college for the officers of the Indian Forest Service (IFS).The primary mandate of the academy is to impart knowledge and skills to the professional foresters and help them to develop competence for managing the country's forest and wildlife resources on a sustainable basis. In the academy training is provided at different levels of seniority in the Indian Forest Service besides training the new entrants to the service..
Abstract Human–elephant conflict (HEC), because of its dynamic attributes, is a persistent problem across the distributional range of elephants in Asia and Africa, crippling elephant conservation and human development. Hence, a robust understanding of the issue became fundamental before initiating conservation initiatives. In this context, we investigated 25 retaliatory killings (by electrocution) cases of elephants (Elephas maximus) and assessed local's attitudes (209) in a shared landscape of India. Quantitative analysis was conducted to analyse electrocution trends, whereas binomial logistic regression was for local attitudes. Adults and sub-adult elephants were primarily victimised irrespective of their sex, particularly in the conflict hotspot areas during major cropping seasons. Despite the prevalence of human-elephant conflicts, most respondents (60%) had a positive attitude towards elephants. Concomitantly 54% were disappointed with forest officials, indicating that human-human conflict, rather than HEC, might play a significant role in impeding the conservation of endangered species in the shared landscape.
Forest are essential for human beings for the enormous services it gives for livelihood and subsistence in the developing countries. We estimated the consumption and extraction levels of three major forest products viz., timber, fuelwood, and fodder in 20 forest fringe villages of the Timli forest range of Uttarakhand, India. We used a questionnaire-based household-level survey to collect information on the household economy and dependence of 380 households selected through stratified random sampling. We estimated that 69% of the overall yearly timber consumption of 20 villages, which comes around 2750 cubic meters (cum), was extracted from the nearby forest. The average timber consumption was 0.52 ± 0.22 cum household-1 year-1. We estimated the total annual fuelwood and fodder consumption to be 298913.89, and 204475 Quintal (Qt). The average fuelwood and fodder consumption were estimated to be 417.6 Quintal household-1 year-1 and 49 ± 9.1 Qt. household-1 year-1. We did general linear regression analysis to assess major biophysical and socio-economic determinants of villages and households for dependency on timber, fuelwood, and fodder. We found that the population of the village, distance from forest, distance from market, and annual average income are the major determining factors for timber, fodder, and fuelwood demand of the villages. Extraction of timber and non-timber forest products was the primary cause of depletion of forest biomass and forest carbon emission. Conservation effective management strategies in collaboration with all the stakeholder departments are needed to conserve forest resources with minimum extraction pressure from forest fringe villages of the study area. Highlights Questionnaire based household level survey was done to assess extraction and consumption patter of fuelwood, fodder and timber in Shivalik range of Uttarakhand, India. Fuelwood and Timber consumption was found high compared to other studies in the low altitude areas. 69% of total timber and 62% of the total fodder requirement met from the adjacent forest areas. Population of the village, distance from the forest and nearby market place, and annual average income were the major determinants of dependency of different forest products.
The present study revealed the identity and distribution of Cynometra iripa and C. ramiflora in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India. Of these, C. iripa is often classified as true mangrove species, whereas C. ramiflora is a mangrove associate. Apex of leaflets, length of inflorescences, length of pedicels, apex of anthers and position of fruit beak are key distinguishing characters between C. iripa and C. ramiflora. In the present study both the species were recorded from the Andaman Islands, but not from the Nicobar Islands. Identification key and images of C. iripa and C. ramiflora and notes on nomenclatural ambiguity of these two species in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are provided in this paper.
The species composition in the mangrove habitats of India is reviewed and discussed. The review shows that Indian mangroves consist of 46 true mangrove species belonging to 14 families and 22 genera, which includes 42 species and 4 natural hybrids. In other words, about 57% of the world's mangrove species are represented in India. The East coast has 40 mangrove species belonging to 14 families and 22 genera. The West coast has 27 species belonging to 11 families and 16 genera and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ANI) have 38 species belonging to 13 families and 19 genera. Among the 13 States/Union Territories having mangroves, diversity is highest in the ANI. Species namely Rhizophora × lamarckii, Lumnitzera littorea, Sonneratia ovata, S. lanceolata, S. × urama and S. × gulngai are restricted to ANI in India. In terms of mangrove diversity, India is the third richest country in the world (after Indonesia and Australia). However, a majority of the Indian mangrove habitats are now threatened by various factors such as reduction in freshwater flow, marine & coastal pollution, siltation, sedimentation and excessive salinity. Periodical floristic surveys are needed to monitor and preserve the rich mangrove plant diversity in India.
Twenty eight Candidate Plus Trees of Acacia catechu were selected from within different locations of Jammu region based on their superior phenotypic characteristics. Their progeny, in the form of seeds were collected, and the seedlings were raised and planted in four replications in the year 1999 in Basanter Bela, Samba district of Jammu region. Following maintenance, these plants were analysed in the year 2011 for survival and growth characteristics of height, girth at breast height and crown area. It was observed that the differences in progeny characteristics observed between the families were highly significant. The growth parameters of height, girth at breast height and crown area were correlated to a high degree, but the degree of correlation with the parents was observed to be not significant. The maximum values of mean height, mean girth at breast height and mean crown area were 121.11%, 136.41% and 161.57% of the minimum values, respectively, as observed among the families. Based on the field observations three families i.e., 2, 11 and 14, on account of the maximum values of mean height, mean girth at breast height and mean crown area are recommended for future plantation purposes and further tree improvement work.
