Question : Database of Forestry Sector

(a) whether the Government has taken note of the unavailability of statistical data relating to forestry sector;
(b) if so, details thereof and the reasons therefor;
(c) whether there is any proposal to create a database of forestry wealth and if so, the details thereof;
(d) the details of revenue earned from forests during the last three years including the current year, State/UT- wise;
(e) whether there is scarcity of timber products, medicinal plants, paper, gum, rubber, raw material and fruits due to shrinkage of forests across the country; and
(f) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor along with the corrective measures taken to overcome the problem?

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 since 1987 and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). The forest cover assessment is a wall-to-wall mapping exercise based on remote sensing supported by intensive ground verification and field data from National Forest Inventory.In addition, Forest Survey of India conducts inventory of forests within and outside forests using data from 30000 sample plots spread over the entire country to generate state & national level estimates of growing stock, forest carbon and bamboo. These statistics are published in ISFR.

As per the latest report i.e. ISFR- 2019, the total forest and tree cover in the country is 8,07,276 square kilometers (forest cover 7,12,249 square kilometer, tree cover 95,027 square kilometer) which is 24.56% of the geographical area of the country. There is an increase of 5,188 square kilometer (forest cover 3,976 square kilometer, tree cover 1,212 square kilometer) of total forest and tree cover compared to that of ISFR-2017.


(c) There is no proposal to create another database to assess the forestry wealth of the country.

(d) As per the information made available from State Forest Department, the revenue earned from forest for the last three years including the current year are given in Annexure.

(e) There is no shrinkage of forest cover in the country. As per ISFR-2019, there is an increase of 5,188 square kilometer (forest cover 3,976 square kilometer, tree cover 1,212 square kilometer) of total forest and tree cover compared to that of ISFR-2017.

(f) Various schemes are being implemented by Central and State Government to increase the supply of timber, medicinal plants, paper, gum, rubber, raw materials and fruits from forests. These include National Afforestation Programme and Green India Mission 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 and under concerned State/UT schemes/plans.

************