MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)
(a) & (b)The India State of forest Report (ISFR) 2019 was released on 30th December, 2019 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The total forest and tree cover of the country, as per the ISFR 2019is 8, 07,276 square kilometre (km2), which is 24.56% of the total geographical area of the country. It comprises of 7, 12,249 km2of Forest Cover, and 95,027 km2of Tree Cover. The ISFR 2019 shows an increase of 5,188km2(forest cover 3,976 km2 and tree cover 1,212 km2) over that of ISFR 2017.
As per ISFR 2019, forest cover has increased in most of the States and UTs due to plantation and conservation activities. However, some decline in forest cover has been observed in a few States/UTs due to various reasons such as shifting cultivation, mining, construction of dams, road and railway network, etc.
(c) The top five States in ISFR 2019 that showed most increase in forest cover over ISFR 2017 are Andhra Pradesh (3.52%), Karnataka (2.73%), Kerala (4.05%), Jammu and Kashmir (1.60%) and Himachal Pradesh (2.21%).
The top five States in term of percentage of the total geographical area under forest are Mizoram (85.41%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and Nagaland (75.31%).
(d) The responsibility of forest protection lies primarily with the respective State/UT Governments. Accordingly, the State/ UT Governments take necessary action under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and various State Acts & Rules to check deforestation and large-scale felling.
The Ministry provides funds to States/UTs for protection and conservation of forests under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes. These include Forest Fire Prevention and Management (FPM)Scheme, National Afforestation Programme (NAP), National Mission for a Green India (GIM)and Development of Wildlife Habitats (DWH). The recently promulgated Compensatory Afforestation Fund Rules, 2018 also contain provisions for taking up assisted natural regeneration, artificial regeneration and silvicultural operations in forests which contribute to increase in forest cover. The Ministry also supports school nursery and urban forestry programmes through people’s participation.
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 and under the schemes/plans of State/UT governments.
Details of fund released by the Ministry to the States/UTs for protection, development and promotion of forests under FPM, NAP, GIM and DWH during the last three years are given in Annexure I, II, III, IV respectively. Details of funds released to States/UTs under Compensatory Afforestation Fund during the last three years by the Ad-hoc Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority are given in Annexure V.
(e) Forest Survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry, carries out biennial mapping and assessment of forest cover using satellite based remote sensing data and intensive ground truthing. The findings are published in the India State of Forest Reports. So far, 16 assessments and mapping of forest cover have been carried out. The reports and the forest cover maps give information on total forest cover in various density classes at national, state and district levels.
Keeping in pace with the technology, methodology to access forest cover is periodically refined by FSI. Presently, mapping is carried out at a scale of 1:50,000 with a minimum mappable area of 1 hectare using LISS-III sensor data of Indian Remote Sensing Satellite.
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