(a) whether the vast forest areas in Himalayan Region have been destroyed
during the last two years;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) the States which have suffered maximum loss of forest areas as per the
report prepared by the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun with the help of
remote sensing technology; and
(d) the steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) FOR ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS
(SHRIMATI JAYANTHI NATARAJAN)
(a) & (b) No, Sir. As per the physiographic zones given in India State
of Forest Report-2011, the Himalayan region can be divided broadly
into Western and Eastern Himalayas.
Western Himalayas:- These comprise of all districts of Himachal Pradesh,
Jammu & Kashmir (all districts), Uttrakhand (11 out of 13 districts),
Punjab (3 out of 17 districts)
Eastern Himalayas:-Arunachal Pradesh (10 out of 12 districts), Sikkim
(all 4 districts) and West Bengal (1 out of 17 districts)
Of these Himalayan States only Arunachal Pradesh has reported a decline
of 74 Square km. (as per the India State of Forest Report-2011) in forest
cover as compared to the last assessment i.e. India State of Forest Report-2009.
(c) The details of States showing a decline in forest cover is given
in the Annexure-I.
(d) The following initiatives have been taken by the Government to expand
forest cover in the country:-
(i) The Ministry of Environment and Forests is implementing a Centrally
Sponsored Scheme of National Afforestation Programme (NAP) for regeneration
of degraded forests and adjoining areas in the country. The Scheme is
implemented through a decentralized mechanism of State Forest Development
Agency (SFDA) at State level, Forest Development Agency (FDA) at Forest
Division level and Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) at Village
levels. As on 31-03-2012, 800 FDA projects have been approved in 28 States
in the country to treat an area of 18.86 lakh hectares since inception of
the Scheme in 2002.
(ii) The Ministry release funds under the Intensification of Forest
Management Scheme (IFMS), for strengthening of forest protection such as
infrastructure, fire protection, demarcation of forest boundaries,
construction of facilities for frontline staff and communication which
also contributed towards increase in the forest cover.
(iii) Under the National Action Plan on Climate Change announced by the
Central Government, a National Mission for a ‘Green India’ has been mooted
with major objectives to increase forests/tree cover on 5 million ha. of
forest/non-forest lands and also to improve the quality of the forest
cover on another 5 million ha.
(iv) Under the award of 13th Finance Commission, a grant of Rs.5000
crores has been allocated as “Forest Grants†to the states on the basis
of their forest cover in the State in relation to the national average.
It has been further weighted by the quality of the forests in each state
as measured by density.
(v) Afforestation activities are undertaken under various External
Aided Projects in Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh,
Tripura, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and Rajasthan.