Increase in Forest Cover

 Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Increase in Forest Cover

Posted On: 12 DEC 2022 5:47PM by PIB Delhi

Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). The forest cover assessment is a wall-to- wall mapping exercise based on remote sensing supported by intensive ground verification and field data from National Forest Inventory. As per latest ISFR 2021, the total forest cover of the country is 7,13,789 square kilometer which is 21.71% of the geographical area of the country. The current assessment shows that the total forest cover of the country has increased by 1540 square kilometre, tree cover has increased by 721 square kilometer and total forest and tree cover has increased by 2261 square kilometre at the national level as compared to the previous assessment i.e. ISFR 2019.The details of State and Union Territory wise forest cover are given at Annexure I. The details of increase in forest cover during the last three years are given at Annexure II.

To increase the forest cover in the country, afforestation programmes are taken up under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes of the Ministry such as National Mission for a Green India (GIM). GIM is one of the eight Missions outlined under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. It aims at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s forest cover and responding to Climate Change by undertaking plantation activities in the forest and non- forest areas. GIM activities were started in the FY 2015-16. So, far a sum of Rs. 681.92 Crores have been released to fifteen States and one union territory for creation of plantation over an area of 128383 hectares. The State-wise detail of funds released during the year 2022-23 till date under GIM are given at Annexure III.

The Ministry is implementing Nagar Van Yojana (NVY) since the year 2020 which envisages developing 400 Nagar Vans and 200 Nagar Vatika in the country during the period of 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an objective to significantly enhance the tree outside forests and green cover, enhancement of biodiversity and ecological benefits to the urban and peri-urban areas apart from improving quality of life of city dwellers with the funds under the National Fund of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).The Ministry has approved 270 projects under Nagar Van Yojana with the total cost of Rs.238.64 Crore till date, which includes an amount of Rs. 57.14 Crore for creation of 97 Nagar Van/Vatika during 2022-23. The State wise-details of fund released under Nagar Van Yojana are enclosed at Annexure-IV

Afforestation activities are also taken up under various programmes/funding sources such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Compensatory Afforestation Funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA). Afforestation activities are also taken up under various schemes of State Government /UT Administration. In addition, plantations are also done by various departments, Non-Government Organizations, Civil Society, Corporate bodies etc.

The multi departmental efforts have yielded good results in conserving environment by addressing the problem of deforestation, besides keeping the pace of development, which is evident from the fact that the forest cover has stabilized and has been constantly increasing over the years. As per the latest ISFR 2021, the total forest cover of the country has increased by 12,294 square kilometres in the last seven years (ISFR 2015 to ISFR 2021).

Annexure-I                                                                                                         

State and Union Territory wise details of forest cover as per ISFR 2021

(Area in square Kilometer)

S. No.	State/UT	Geo- graphical Area (GA)	Total Forest Cover	Percentage of Geographical area
1	Andhra Pradesh	1,62,968	29,784	18.28
2	Arunachal Pradesh	83,743	66,431	79.33
3	Assam	78,438	28,312	36.09
4	Bihar	94,163	7,381	7.84
5	Chhattisgarh	1,35,192	55,717	41.21
6	Delhi	1,483	195.00	13.15
7	Goa	3,702	2,244	60.62
8	Gujarat	1,96,244	14,926	7.61
9	Haryana	44,212	1,603	3.63
10	Himachal Pradesh	55,673	15,443	27.73
11	Jharkhand	79,716	23,721	29.76
12	Karnataka	1,91,791	38,730	20.19
13	Kerala	38,852	21,253	54.70
14	Madhya Pradesh	3,08,252	77,493	25.14
15	Maharashtra	3,07,713	50,798	16.51
16	Manipur	22,327	16,598	74.34
17	Meghalaya	22,429	17,046	76.00
18	Mizoram	21,081	17,820	84.53
19	Nagaland	16,579	12,251	73.90
20	Odisha	1,55,707	52,156	33.50
21	Punjab	50,362	1,847	3.67
22	Rajasthan	3,42,239	16,655	4.87
23	Sikkim	7,096	3,341	47.08
24	Tamil Nadu	1,30,060	26,419	20.31
25	Telangana	1,12,077	21,214	18.93
26	Tripura	10,486	7,722	73.64
27	Uttar Pradesh	2,40,928	14,818	6.15
28	Uttarakhand	53,483	24,305	45.44
29	West Bengal	88,752	16,832	18.96
30	A & N Islands	8,249	6,744	81.75
31	Chandigarh	114	22.88	20.07
32	Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu	602	227.75	37.83
33	Jammu & Kashmir	54,624	21,387	39.15
34	Ladakh	1,68,055	2,272	1.35
35	Lakshadweep	30	27.10	90.33
36	Puducherry	490	53.30	10.88
Total		32,87,469	7,13,789	21.71

 

Annexure-II                                                                                                        

States/UTs details of increase in Forest Cover between ISFR 2019 and ISFR 2021

(Area in square kilometer)

S. No.	States/UTs	Geographical area	ISFR	ISFR	Increase in Forest Cover between ISFR 2021 & ISFR 2019 (b-a)
			2019   (a)	2021   (b)
1	Andhra Pradesh	1,62,968	29,137	29,784	647
2	Telangana	1,12,077	20,582	21,214	632
3	Odisha	1,55,707	51,619	52,156	537
4	Karnataka	1,91,791	38,575	38,730	155
5	Jharkhand	79,716	23,611	23,721	110
6	Kerala	38,852	21,144	21,253	109
7	Chhattisgarh	1,35,192	55,611	55,717	106
8	Bihar	94,163	7,306	7,381	75
9	Gujarat	1,96,244	14,857	14,926	69
10	Tamil Nadu	1,30,060	26,364	26,419	55
11	Rajasthan	3,42,239	16,630	16,655	25
12	Jammu & Kashmir*	2,22,236	21,358	21,387	29
13	Ladakh		2,254	2,272	18
14	Maharashtra	3,07,713	50,778	50,798	20
15	Uttar Pradesh	2,40,928	14,806	14,818	12
16	Madhya Pradesh	3,08,252	77,482	77,493	11
17	Himachal Pradesh	55,673	15,434	15,443	9
18	Goa	3,702	2,237	2,244	7
19	Uttarakhand	53,483	24,303	24,305	2
20	Haryana	44,212	1,602	1,603	1
21	A&N Islands	8,249	6,743	6,744	1
22	Puducherry	490	52.41	53.3	0.89
23	Chandigarh	114	22.03	22.88	0.85
24	Dadra & Nagar Haveli#	491	207.16	227.75	0.10
25	Daman & Diu #	111	20.49
26	Lakshadweep	30	27.1	27.1	0

* From ISFR 2019 onwards Jammu & Kashmir was divided into two UTs viz. Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

# From ISFR 2021 onwards Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu have been combined into one UT.

 

Annexure-III

Details of funds released and utilized during 2022-23 under the scheme National Mission for a Green India

Sl. No.	State	Funds Released (Rupees in Crore)	Funds utilized
1.	Madhya Pradesh	17.93	NIL
2.	Manipur	5.45
3.	Mizoram	36.27
4.	Punjab	2.7393
5.	Sikkim	6.57
6.	West Bengal	0.76
	Total	69.72

 

Annexure-IV

State wise fund release under Nagar Van Yojana for the year 2022-23)

(Rupees in Lakhs)

S. No.	State	Number of Proposals	Total Cost	First Installment
1	Andhra Pradesh	3	512.3	358.61
2	Arunachal Pradesh	1	80	56
3	Bihar	4	196.6	137.62
4	Himachal Pradesh	4	456.28	319.396
5	Jammu & Kashmir	2	160	112
6	Jharkhand	2	221.61	155.127
7	Madhya Pradesh	16	1678.72	1175.104
8	Maharashtra	3	276.95	193.865
9	Meghalaya	1	200	140
10	Rajasthan	1	200	140
11	Sikkim	1	140	98
12	Tamil Nadu	5	900	630
13	Telangana	47	436.6	305.62
14	Uttar Pradesh	1	8	5.6
15	Uttarakhand	2	123.88	86.716
16	West Bengal	3	104	72.8
17	Chandigarh	1	19.16	13.412
Total		97	5714.1	3999.87

This information was given by the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav in a reply in Lok Sabha today.

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