The increasing repercussions of current development in terms of environmental degradation and resource depletion and the issue of distributing these costs between the current and future generations are the growing concerns in recent years. Due to dependency of mankind on the finite land and water resources for its basic needs, the sustainable development of these resources avoiding irreversible consequences, assumes paramount importance Though high level of operationalisation has been attained in a number of application areas, the gains achieved have to be consolidated and has to be integrated with conventional methods to make it self-sustaining and enable micro-level resource planning.

Assessment and systematic observations are essential components of long term planning, for evaluating effects, quantitatively and for rectifying inadequacies.This mechanism, however, is one of the often neglected aspects of the forest resources management, conservation adn developmetn. In many cases, even the basic information related to the area and type of forests, existing potential and volume of harvest is lacking.

There is an urgent need to rectify this situation for a better understanding of the role and importance of forests and to realistically plan for their effective management, regeneration, conservation and sustainable development. Conscious planning, consistent with other roles and functions of forest is required to promote sustainable forest resourse utilization.