As per Section 32 of the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act (NFTPA) of 2003 encroachment is the entry of people with their activities into forest reserves without permission. The entry can be deliberate or unknowingly for the purpose of grazing cattle, cultivation, settlement, construction or any other human activities(National Forestry Authority http://www.nfa.org.ug). At present forest encroachment is the major threat to biodiversity because it not only causes the habitat loss of species but also results in the more devastating effects through fragmentation.The encroachment of forest land for agricultural purposes is mainly because of relatively rich and virgin forest soils. However leaching in forest soils is much faster when exposed to the high temperatures and heavy rainfall of the tropical region and gets exhausted much faster. These factors force the encroachers to open new land annually.Forest encroachment will result in several ecological and economic effects. The ecological effects of forest encroachment will include;  reduction in the forest cover,  forest fragmentation,  reduction in forest biodiversity, changes in vegetation type (composition and abundance), curtailment of natural regeneration of the forest, spread of invasive alien species, destruction of ecosystems/habitats, species extinction, etc. The economic effects of forest encroachment will include reduction in the quality and quantity of products from forests,  reduction in the Total Economic Value (TEV) of the forests, increases the cost of forest management

Forest vegetation decreased from 43.83% (1973) to 22.33% (2012). The results highlight conversion of forests to agriculture, industrial and cascaded developmental activities acted as major driving forces of degradation.Forest fragmentation analysis indicated that domination of forests receded during post 90’s  with the formation of patch and edge forest in all three divisions. Land use changes from forests to non-forests with intensified human interference had been very high especially in Bhadravathi division. Interior forest decreased by 12% during 4 decades. The extent of interior forests ranges from 12.91 (Shimoga) followed by 4.76 (Sagar) and 3.79 % (Bhadravathi). During the last four decades the interior forest declined from 22.9 (1973) to 13 % (2012) in Shimoga, and 15.90 (1973) to 4.76% (2012) in Sagar, and 4.10 (1973) to 3.79 % (2012) in Bhadravathi divisions. Encroachment of forest land (36105 hectares) and conversion to agricultural land is the principal cause of degradation at local levels apart from land releases for major developmental activities. Table 1 lists talukwise encroachment of forest land in Shimoga. Bhadravathitalukhas highest number of encroachments (26.36%), followed by Shikaripur (18.77), Shimoga (15.42), Sagar (13.92), Sorab (11.66%), Hosanagar (8.35%), and Teerthahalli (5.51%). Figure 1 depicts the locations of encroachment in the district (talukwise) while Figure 2 provides the spatial distribution of divisionwise encroachment.

	Total Encroachment
Taluk	Acres	Hectares
Teerthahalli	4917.15	1990.75
Hosanagar	7448.09	3015.42
Sorab	10399.12	4210.17
Shimoga	13751.08	5567.24
Shikaripur	16738.40	6776.68
Sagar	12416.79	5027.04
Bhadravathi	23508.72	9517.7
Total	89179.35	36105.00

Figure 1: Spatial distribution of forest encroachments in Shimoga

Sagara division RF Encroachment Area : 18445.5 Hectares Reserve Forest Area : 134134.89 Hectares	Shimoga division RF Encroachment Area : 6687Hectares Reserve Forest Area : 47020.16 Hectares
Bhadravathi division RF Encroachment Area : 14472 Hectares } Reserve Forest Area : 87439.88 Hectares	Bhadravathi taluk Reserve Forest Shimoga District Encroachment area  : 10973 Hectares Reserve Forest Area : 60640.14 Hectares
Total Encroachment of Reserve forest in the 3 divisions of Shimoga district boundary: 36105.5 Hectares