Total forest and tree cover increased by 2261 square kilometre in India as per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021

 

Total forest and tree cover increased by 2261 square kilometre in India as per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021

Posted On: 13 MAR 2023 4:16PM by PIB Delhi

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today informed that the 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). As per latest ISFR 2021, the total forest cover of the country is 7,13,789 square kilometre which is 21.72% 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 kilometre, 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 State/UTs wise details of forest cover as per ISFR 2021is given in Annexure I.

In the written reply it was stated that in order to restore ecosystems and increase the forest cover in the country, afforestation and tree plantation activities are undertaken by States/UTs. The Ministry provides financial assistance to States/UTs under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes namely Green India Mission to support and supplement the efforts of States and Union Territories. National Mission for a Green India (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 started in the Financial Year 2015-16. So far, a sum of Rs. 728.21 Crores have been released to sixteen States and one union territory for afforestation activities, over an area of 1,36,808 hectare. The State-wise details of funds released during the last five years and current year is given in Annexure-II.

It was stated that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is implementing Nagar Van Yojana (NVY) since the year 2020 which envisages creation of 400 Nagar Vans and 200 Nagar Vatika in the country during the period 2020-21 to 2024-25 under the funds available under National Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA). The Nagar Van Yojana aims to enhance the green cover in the urban and peri-urban areas including biological diversity, provide ecological benefits and improve the quality of life of city dwellers. So far, the Ministry has approved 270 projects under Nagar Van Yojana with the total cost of Rs.238.64 Crore.

It was stated that the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA fund) are being utilized by States/UTs for taking up compensatory afforestation as per approved Annual Plan of Operations for compensating the loss of forest & tree cover due to diversion of forest land for developmental projects as per provisions of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 (CAF Act) and CAF Rules, 2018. In addition to this, area specific provisions such as preparation of Catchment Area Treatment Plan, Wildlife Conservation Plan, Soil and Moisture Conservation Plan, etc. are also stipulated to mitigate the impacts of diversion of forest lands. The details of CAMPA funds released to the States/UTs during 2018-19 to 2022-23 are enclosed at Annexure-III.

Afforestation activities are also taken up under various programs and schemes of line Ministry such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, National Bamboo Mission, Sub-Mission on Agroforestry etc. and under schemes of State Government /UT Administration through different departments, Non-Government Organizations, Civil Society, Corporate bodies etc. The multi departmental efforts have yielded good results in conserving and enhancing forest cover in the country.

Annexure-I

 

 

 

State/UTs details of Forest Cover as per ISFR 2021

 

(Area in square kilometre)
S. No	State/UT	Geo-graphical Area (GA)	Total Forest Cover	Percentage of Geographical area	Change in Forest Cover w.r.t ISFR 2019	Change Percentage w.r.t. 2019 assessment	Scrub
1	Andhra Pradesh	1,62,968	29,784	18.28	647	2.22	8,276
2	Arunachal Pradesh	83,743	66,431	79.33	-257	-0.39	797
3	Assam	78,438	28,312	36.09	-15	-0.05	228
4	Bihar	94,163	7,381	7.84	75	1.03	236
5	Chhattisgarh	1,35,192	55,717	41.21	106	0.19	615
6	Delhi	1,483	195.00	13.15	-0.44	-0.23	0.38
7	Goa	3,702	2,244	60.62	7	0.31	0
8	Gujarat	1,96,244	14,926	7.61	69	0.46	2,828
9	Haryana	44,212	1,603	3.63	1	0.06	159
10	Himachal  Pradesh	55,673	15,443	27.73	9	0.06	322
11	Jharkhand	79,716	23,721	29.76	110	0.47	584
12	Karnataka	1,91,791	38,730	20.19	155	0.40	4,611
13	Kerala	38,852	21,253	54.70	109	0.52	30
14	Madhya Pradesh	3,08,252	77,493	25.14	11	0.01	5,457
15	Maharashtra	3,07,713	50,798	16.51	20	0.04	4,247
16	Manipur	22,327	16,598	74.34	-249	-1.48	1,215
17	Meghalaya	22,429	17,046	76.00	-73	-0.43	663
18	Mizoram	21,081	17,820	84.53	-186	-1.03	1
19	Nagaland	16,579	12,251	73.90	-235	-1.88	824
20	Odisha	1,55,707	52,156	33.50	537	1.04	4,924
21	Punjab	50,362	1,847	3.67	-2	-0.11	34
22	Rajasthan	3,42,239	16,655	4.87	25	0.15	4,809
23	Sikkim	7,096	3,341	47.08	-1	-0.03	296
24	Tamil Nadu	1,30,060	26,419	20.31	55	0.21	758
25	Telangana	1,12,077	21,214	18.93	632	3.07	2,911
26	Tripura	10,486	7,722	73.64	-4	-0.05	33
27	Uttar Pradesh	2,40,928	14,818	6.15	12	0.08	563
28	Uttarakhand	53,483	24,305	45.44	2	0.01	392
29	West Bengal	88,752	16,832	18.96	-70	-0.41	156
30	A & N Islands	8,249	6,744	81.75	1	0.01	1
31	Chandigarh	114	22.88	20.07	0.85	3.86	0.38
32	Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu	602	227.75	37.83	0.10	0.04	4.85
33	Jammu & Kashmir	2,22,236	21,387	39.15	29	0.14	284
34	Ladakh		2,272	1.35	18	0.80	279
35	Lakshadweep	30	27.10	90.33	0.00	0.00	0.00
36	Puducherry	490	53.30	10.88	0.89	1.70	0.00
Total		32,87,469	7,13,789	21.71	1,540	0.22	46,539

 

 

 

Annexure-II

 

Details of funds released from 2017-18 to 2022-23 under the scheme National Mission for a Green India

(Rupees in Crore)

S. No.	States	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
1	Andhra Pradesh	0.45	2.67	Nil	Nil	2.02	Nil
2	Arunachal Pradesh	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	13.43	Nil
3	Chhattisgarh	10.95	5.36	5.04	1.66	6.12	Nil
4	Haryana	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil	9.55	Nil
5	Himachal Pradesh	Nil	Nil	Nil	17.09	Nil	Nil
6	Jammu & Kashmir	Nil	Nil	Nil	25.73	Nil	6.49
7	Karnataka	0.86	1.62	2.21	2.35	4.45	2.93
8	Kerala	Nil	Nil	16.32	Nil	Nil	Nil
9	Madhya Pradesh	Nil	24.16	30.65	Nil	18.29	17.93
10	Maharashtra	Nil	10.30		Nil	Nil	Nil
11	Manipur	6.42	4.89	4.16	6.74	9.93	5.45
12	Mizoram	20.00	22.36	17.71	2.99	29.86	36.27
13	Odisha	1.41	4.74	14.19	26.01	17.74	8.48
14	Punjab	6.22		3.19		3.32	2.7393
15	Sikkim	Nil	3.32	3.12	2.19	7.77	6.57
16	Uttarakhand	Nil	Nil	Nil	27.89	33.99	28.40
17	West Bengal	Nil	Nil	9.43	Nil	Nil	0.76
Total		46.30	79.43	106.01	112.65	156.46	116.01

 

 

 

 

 

Annexure III

 

 

Details of CAMPA fund released to State/UTs during 2018-19 to 2022-23.

Sl. No.	State/UT	Funds Released                                                                   (Amount in Rupees)
		2018-19		2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
1	Andaman & Nicobar	1,56,00,000.00		Nil	16,41,18,034.00	Nil	Nil
2	Andhra Pradesh	1,04,47,00,000.00		17,34,81,40,177.00	Nil	1,14,05,48,162.00	Nil
3	Arunachal Pradesh	3,54,15,00,000.00		15,88,71,93,258.00	Nil	6,12,94,58,249.00	Nil
4	Assam	45,84,00,000.00		5,60,80,73,954.00	Nil	-	1,48,33,97,176.00
5	Bihar	46,61,90,000.00		5,22,94,75,017.00	Nil	43,63,92,536.00	Nil
6	Chandigarh	1,27,00,000.00		11,37,92,289.00	Nil	-	Nil
7	Chhattisgarh	Nil		57,91,70,20,385.00	Nil	2,07,50,40,301.00	Nil
8	Dadar&Nagar	Nil		Nil	Nil	22,87,00,439.00	Nil
9	Daman &Diu	Nil		Nil	Nil	-	Nil
10	Delhi	Nil		Nil	Nil	1,38,17,38,583.00	Nil
11	Goa	Nil		2,38,15,66,295.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
12	Gujarat	2,12,66,00,000.00		14,84,60,03,080.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
13	Haryana	1,44,20,00,000.00		12,82,65,30,878.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
14	Himachal Pradesh	1,32,52,00,000.00		16,60,72,19,227.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
15	Jammu&Kashmir	Nil		5,10,11,54,800.00	3,56,19,88,860.00	Nil	Nil
16	Jharkhand	2,86,25,00,000.00		41,58,01,69,322.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
17	Karnataka	1,01,40,00,000.00		13,50,37,43,189.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
18	Kerala	14,61,00,000.00		81,58,66,102.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
19	Ladakh(UT)	Nil		Nil	2,49,27,14,340.00	Nil	Nil
20	Lakshdweep(UT)	Nil		Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil
21	Madhya Pradesh	2,68,76,00,000.00		51,96,69,19,315.00	Nil	9,90,82,99,200.00	Nil
22	Maharashtra	2,25,00,00,000.00		38,44,24,19,155.00	Nil	2,85,22,21,971.00	Nil
23	Manipur	24,85,00,000.00		3,09,76,18,132.00	Nil	36,43,61,620.00	Nil
24	Meghalaya	Nil		1,63,30,65,753.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
25	Mizoram	8,30,00,000.00		2,12,98,47,833.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
26	Nagaland	Nil		Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil
27	Orissa	5,54,00,00,000.00		59,33,98,06,189.00	Nil	3,47,27,30,804.00	Nil
Sl. No.	State/UT	Funds Released                                                                                             (Amount in Rupees)
		2018-19	2019-20		2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
28	Puducherry(UT)	Nil		Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil
29	Punjab	79,20,00,000.00		10,40,84,37,006.00	Nil	Nil	29,49,32,090.00
30	Rajasthan	1,82,03,00,000.00		17,48,25,94,648.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
31	Sikkim	-		3,92,36,08,568.00	Nil	Nil	10,20,08,491.00
32	Tamil Nadu	7,00,00,000.00		1,13,41,93,727.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
33	Telangana	2,37,38,00,000.00		31,10,38,02,776.00	Nil	Nil	67,76,22,192.00
34	Tripura	16,70,00,000.00		1,83,65,13,688.00	Nil	47,99,87,468.00	Nil
35	Uttar Pradesh	1,50,60,00,000.00		18,19,62,67,880.00	Nil	Nil	Nil
36	Uttarakhand	3,03,00,00,000.00		26,75,09,03,454.00	Nil	Nil	1,18,99,55,031.00
37	West Bengal	21,22,00,000.00		2,36,47,68,181.00	Nil	Nil	69,28,38,990.00
	TOTAL	35,23,58,90,000.00		4,79,57,67,14,278.00	6,21,88,21,234.00	28,46,94,79,333.00	4,44,07,53,970.00

 

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