Question : Forest Area

(a) the total forest area/cover in hectares and as a percentage of the total area of the country, State/UT-wise;
(b) the national coverage of forest area in terms of hectares and percentage;
(c) the details of funds provided by the Government for conservation, development and expansion of forests in various States during the last four years and the current year along with the success achieved as a result thereof, State/UT-wise including Chhattisgarh;
(d) whether the area under the forest cover has reduced during the last five years in the country if so, the State/UT-wise details thereof along with the reasons therefor; and
(e) the details of steps taken by the Government for further expansion of forest area and maintaining the existing forest cover in the country?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)
(a) & (b) Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially and 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 8,02,08,800 hectares (forest cover 7,08,27,300 hectares, tree cover 93,81,500 hectares) which is 24.39% of the geographical area of the country. There is an increase of 8,02,100 hectares (forest cover 6,77,800 hectares, tree cover 1,24,300 hectares) of total forest and tree cover compared to that of ISFR-2015.

State/UT wise details of forest and tree cover along with percentage as per ISFR-2017 is given in Annexure-I.

(c) Details of fund released by the Ministry for conservation, development and expansion of forests under National Afforestation Programme (NAP), Compensatory Afforestation Funds (CAF) and Green India Mission (GIM) during the last four years and the current year to States/UT including Chhattisgarh are given in Annexure-II, III and IV respectively.

(d) No, Sir. As per ISFR-2017, there is an increase of 8,021 square kilometre in the forest and tree cover of the country compared to that of ISFR-2015. The State/UTs wise details of change in forest cover are given in Annexure-V. The main reason for increase in forest cover in some States can be attributed to plantation and conservation activities both within and outside the Recorded Forest areas. The decrease in forest cover in some States is mainly due to rotational felling, shifting cultivation etc.

(e) For further expansion of forest area and maintaining the existing forest cover of the country, afforestation programmes are being taken up under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as NAP and GIM being implemented by the 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, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, CAF and under concerned State/UT schemes/plans.

GIM aims at protecting, restoring and enhancing India’s forest cover and responding to Climate Change. NAP is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for afforestation and eco-restoration of degraded forests and adjoining areas through people’s participation. To compensate the loss of forest for development works, compensatory afforestation is undertaken on non-forest land and degraded forest land from the funds collected from the user agencies and deposited in the CAF. In addition net present value of the forest land diverted is also deposited in CAF and utilized for additional afforestation and allied forestry activities for eco-restoration of the loss due to forest diversion.

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