Question : Forest Land

(a) the aims and objectives of the Green IndiaMission and the funds allocated to the States under thisscheme including Andhra Pradesh;
(b) the total forest cover/forest land in the countryduring the last four years and the current year,State-wise;
(c) whether any special scheme is being implementedby the Government to bring the States with less forestcoverage at par with the national average, if so, thedetails and the outcome thereof;
(d) the estimated amount likely to be spent in thisregard; and
(e) the steps taken by the Government to launchany new initiatives for increasing the forest cover andnecessary provisions for funding are made for protection,development and promotion of forests across thecountry?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

(a) National Mission for a Green India (GIM) is one of the eight Missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. It aims at responding to Climate Change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation measures. The objectives of GIM are:
i) Increase forest/tree cover on 5 m ha of forest/ non-forest lands and improve quality of forest cover on another 5 m ha (a total of 10 m ha).
ii) Improved ecosystem services including biodiversity, hydrological services and carbon sequestration as a result of treatment of 10 m ha.
iii) Increase forest-based livelihood income of about 3 million households living in and around the forests;
iv) Enhanced annual CO2 sequestration by 50 to 60 million tonnes in the year 2020.

GIM activities started in the Financial Year 2015-16. A sum of Rs 343.08 Crores has been released to 13 states for carrying out the GIM activities from 2015-16 to 2019-20. The State wise details of the funds allocated under GIM including Andhra Pradesh is placed at Annexure-1.

(b) As per India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2015, 2017 & 2019, the total forest cover in the country are 701,673 sq. km, 708,273 sq. km and 712, 249 sq. km respectively.The detail of state-wise forest coveras per ISFR 2015, 2017 & 2019 is placed at Annexure-2.
(c) to (e)The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is implementing two major afforestation schemes namely National Mission for a Green India (GIM) for plantation on landscape basis and National Afforestation Programme (NAP) for tree plantation in degraded forests including the States with less forest coverage.The State governments submit their Annual Plan of Operations (APOs) every year and funds are released as per approved APOs and availability of funds.

Tree Plantation/Afforestation is also taken up under various other schemes of Government of India such as National Bamboo Mission, Sub-Mission on Agro-forestry under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana(PMKSY), etc. In addition, tree plantation is also taken up under State Plan/Non-plan schemes, and by various Departments, NGOs, Civil Societies, Corporate bodies etc.

Implementation of various afforestation measures and concerted efforts of various agencies have resulted in maintaining an increasing trend in forest and tree cover which is evident from the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2019.
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