The geographic area of Mizoram is 2.11 million ha. It is located, in the extreme southern part of North-Eastern India between lat. 21^o57' and 24^o30' N and long. 92^o15' and 93^o 29' E. bordering Myanmar in the East & South and Bangladesh in the West. The terrain is hilly and mostly undulating with average altitude ranging from 500 to 800 m and maximum reaching 2,157 m in Blue Mountains. The Chhimtuipui is the only major river. The land use pattern is shown in below (see Table)

Climate of Mizoram ranges from moist tropical to moist sub-tropical. Average annual rainfall ranges from 2,160 mm in Aizawl to 3,500 mm in Lunglei. During winter the average temperature varies from 11^o C to 24^o C and in summer from 18^o to 29^o C.

The total population of the state is 0.69 million of which 54% is rural (1991 census). The Scheduled Tribe population comprises about 94.74% of the total population (1991 Census). The livestock population is 112,000 (1992 livestock census).

Land use 

Source : Land use statistics At a Glance 1996-97, Ministry of Agriculture, GOI, 2000 

Shifting Cultivation

Shifting cultivation, also called jhum, is widely prevalent in the state. In a study undertaken by the FSI, it is estimated that during 1987-97, an area of about 0.38 million ha has been affected by shifting cultivation.  

Forest resources  

Recorded forest area of the State is 1.59 million ha constituting 75.59% of the total geographic area. The Reserved Forest constitutes 44.7%, Protected Forests 22.4% and Unclassed Forest 32.9%.

The three forest types occurring in the state are Tropical Wet Evergreen, Tropical Moist Deciduous and Sub-tropical Pine Forests.

Protected areas

Mizoram is rich in wild flora & fauna, both in variety and abundance. About 88,400 ha of the forest area constituting 4.19% of the geographic area of the state is under two National Parks and four Wildlife Sanctuaries. Dampa Tiger Reserve is located in the state.  

Joint Forest Management  

Joint forest management was initiated in 1998. A total of 103 Forest Development Committees are managing an area of 5,870 ha. JFM is to cover the degraded forest areas. The net proceeds shall be shared among the government, beneficiaries and the Village Forest Development Fund in the proportion of 50%, 30% and 20%.  

Forest Plantations  

Before 1980, an estimated 7,900 hectares of plantations was done in the State. The average annual plantation peaked to 20,500 hectares during 1985-90 the rate has declined to 6,800 ha during 1998-99. Plan-wise progress of plantations and breakup of species are given in Table(s) below.

Forest plantations by all agencies  

Source : NAEB, MoEF, 1999

Species wise Plantations by Forest Department upto 1999  

Source:Mizoram Forest Department  

Forest Cover

The forest cover, based on satellite data of Dec. 1998 is estimated as 18,338 sq.km. representing 86.99% of state’s total geographic area. The dense forest is 3,786 sq.km. and open forest is 14,552 sq.km. A decrease of 437 sq.km. in forest cover has been observed in the present assessment compared to the previous one. Dense forest registered a decrease of 562 sq.km. while the open forest increased by 125 sq.km. Forest cover of the state can be seen here . The difference between the data periods of the two assessment is about 4 years.

The change matrix given in the table below reveals that there has been an overall decrease of 562 sq. km. of dense forest. This is the result of degradation of 653 sq.km. to open forest and 453 sq.km to non forest. The decrease is also associated with conversion of 464 sq.km. of open forest, 56 sq. km. of scrub and 24 sq.km. of non forest to dense forest. The increase of 125 sq. km. of open forest is on account of conversion of 653 sq.km of dense forest, 11 sq.km of scrub and 12 sq.km of non-forest to open forest. The increase is also associated with conversion of 87 sq.km of open forest to scrub and improvement of 464 sq.km to dense forest.

Forest cover change matrix (sq. km)  

There are 8 districts in the state but boundaries of only 3 districts, excluding newly created ones are incorporated in the SOI map. The details of dense and open forests and scrub, in respect to these districts, along with the change compared to 1997 assessment, has been provided in next Table. The loss of forest cover in the state is mainly due to intense shifting cultivation practice.

District wise forest cover (sq.km)
 

Note - Assessment of forest cover in VI cycle (1997) was carried out visually on 1:250,000 scale whereas in the VII cycle (1999), it has been done digitally on 1:50,000 scale. The total forest cover has been assessed as 17,063 sq.km which comprises of 3,535 sq.km of dense forest and 13,528 sq.km of open forest. Extent of scrub has been assessed as 116 sq.km. For the purpose of change compared to 1997 assessment the above figures have been transformed to 1:250,000.

(The above data are taken from MoEF Website)