Question : Increase in Forest Cover

(a) the details of the increase in forest or tree cover required to achieve the National Determined Contribution;
(b) whether the forest cover in the country has increased by about 1 percent according to the Indian State of forest Report (ISFR) 2017, if so, the details thereof;
(c) the details of the area where massive deforestation and forest denudation has taken place during the last three years and the reasons therefor along with the steps taken to check further forest denudation;
(d) the progress in implementation of afforestation schemes and the funds released for the purpose during the last three years;
(e) the action plan of the Government to take up community tree plantation, dry land afforestation and avenue plantation along with the measures taken to popularise afforestation programmes with the objective of maintaining the ecosystem and increasing the forest area in the country; and
(f) the details of reserved forests, protected forest areas, village forests and unclassified forests?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

(a) India is committed to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030 as per Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under Paris Agreement. India is on track to meet Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets under Paris Agreement. The Forest Survey of India estimates carbon stock of forest by using National Forest Inventory data collected during forest inventory and forest cover area following the guidelines given by United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The carbon stock for 2017 has been estimated to be 7083 million tones. There is an increase of 39 million tonnes of carbon stock as compared to the estimates of previous assessment.

The average annual increase of carbon stock is worked out to be around 35 million tonnes. At this rate India would reach around 1.9 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030. The shortfall of about 0.6 to 1.1 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent can also be achieved by (a) improving the density of natural forests and (b) raising plantation in available non-forest lands and on available wasteland.

(b) Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, a subordinate organization under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). As per the latest report i.e. ISFR- 2017, the total forest and tree cover in the country is 8,02,088 square kilometers (forest cover 708273 square kilometer, tree cover 93815 square kilometer) which is 24.39% of the geographical area of the country. There is an increase of 8021 square kilometer (forest cover 6778 square kilometer, tree cover 1243 square kilometer) of total forest and tree cover compared to that of ISFR-2015 which is about 1% of total forest and tree cover in the country.

(c) For various developmental activities in the country, permission for diversion of the forest is granted by the Central Government under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. The forest land diverted under Forest Conservation Act, 1980 during the period from 01.01.2015 to 11.12.2018 is 52338.75 hectares. The State/UTs wise details are given in Annexure-I. To compensate for the loss of forest cover, compensatory afforestation on equal area of non-forest land and degraded forest land is taken up by the State Government.

(d) & (e) To further increase the forest cover in the country, afforestation programmes are being taken up under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and Green India Mission (GIM) being implemented by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Afforestation activities are also taken up under various programmes/funding sources such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) and Compensatory Afforestation Fund. 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. GIM activities were started in the Financial Year 2015-16.
National Afforestation Programme (NAP) of the Ministry of Environment & Forests is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for afforestation and eco-restoration of degraded forests and adjoining areas through people’s participation. The State/UTs-wise details of funds released under Compensatory Afforestation Funds, Green India Mission and National Afforestation Programme for the last three years and current year are given in Annexure-II, III and IV respectively.

(f) As per India State of Forest Report-2017 published by Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, the State/UT wise details of reserved forests, protected forests areas and unclassified forests are given in Annexure-V. The Ministry does not maintain the information of village forests.


***********