Protected forest
A protected forest is a specific term to denote forests with some amount of legal, and / or constitutional protection in certain countries, besides being a generic term to denote forests where the habitat and resident species are legally accorded protection and are protected from any further depletion.
In India, the term was first introduced in the Indian Forest Act, 1927 to denote forests with a limited amount of protection in British India. The category of protection, and the term was retained after Indian independence. See Protected forests of India for details.
Out of the total forests area in India, about 17 per cent is under unclassified forests. Forests which are not included in the categories of reserved or protected forests, are called unclassified forests.
The term is also used in Cambodia to denote forests with limited protection.
See also