(a) the total area under forest cover in the country;
(b) whether the definition of forest cover includes plantations and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether there has been a rapid decrease in forest cover in North-Eastern States because of practice of environmentally unviable agricultural practices and if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the corrective measures taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)
(a) Forest Survey of India (FSI), 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 8,02,088 square kilometre (forest cover 7,08,273 square kilometre, tree cover 93,815 square kilometre) which is 24.39% of the geographical area of the country. There is an increase of 8,021 square kilometre (forest cover 6,778 square kilometre, tree cover 1,243 square kilometre) of total forest and tree cover compared to that of ISFR-2015.
(b) The definition of the term “Forest Cover” in the ISFR is as given below, which include plantation:-
“All lands, more than 1 hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status. Such lands may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm.”
(c) As per the latest ISFR 2017, the total forest cover in the North Eastern region of the country is 1,71,306 square kilometre which is 65.34 percent of the geographical area of the region. The forest cover in the northeastern region shows a decrease of 630 square kilometre over the previous assessment. The State wise details of forest cover of the north eastern region as per ISFR-2017 is given in Annexure.
(d) For further expansion of forest area and maintaining the existing forest cover of the country including north eastern region, 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 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, Compensatory Afforestation Funds (CAF) and under concerned State/UT schemes/plans.
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