A Brief Overview of Forestry Scenario UT of DNH & DD

There are broadly two major groups of forest types in UT of DNH & DD, one belonging to DNH forest and other to Daman & Diu forest. These can be further classified as per the Champion & Seth Classification of Forest Types (1968) given as follows: The forests in Dadra & Nagar Haveli belong to two Type Groups i.e. Tropical Moist Deciduous Forests and Tropical Dry Deciduous Forests. The tribal population of the union territory mainly depends on forests for their requirements of fuel wood, fodder, small timber and livelihood. The main tribes are Dhodia, Kokna and Varli with small groups of Koli, Kathodi, Naika and Dubla scattered over the territory. The forests in Daman & Diu belong to the Type Group 'Littoral & Swamp Forests’. Daman & Diu are important tourist destinations on the west coast of India. The mangroves in the 'Fudam Bird Sanctuary' of Diu forms the spawning ground for fishes and acts as feeding ground for several species of avifauna. Apart from sanctuary area, both Daman & Diu has shelterbelt plantations of Casuarina species which protects hinterland from monsoon winds. The recorded Forest Area (RFA) in the Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu is 212.47 sq. kms which includes Wildlife Sanctuaries (94.4 sq. kms), Reserved Forests (113.07 sq. kms) and Protected Forest (5 sq. kms). Forest Cover in the UT is 207.16 sq. km which is 42.19% of the UT's geographical area. In terms of forest canopy density classes, the UT has 79.93 sq. km under Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) and 127.23 sq. km under Open Forest (OF).