(a) whether the Government has made any assessment of Forest Land Area and tree resource of the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof along with the details of last assessment carried out in this regard;
(c) the details of the land with recently increase or decrease of area assessed during recent assessment, State/UT-wise; and
(d) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to preserve and increase the tree plantation and forest land area in the country?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)
(a) Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, a subordinate organization under Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR) since 1987. The 15th report in this series, i.e. ISFR-2017 was released recently.
Forest Survey of India regularly conducts inventory of trees in forests and outside forests in a cycle of two years since 2002 under its National Forest inventory Programme by selecting 60 districts randomly falling across different physiographic zones.
(b) As per the latest report i.e. ISFR- 2017, the total forest and tree cover of the country is 8,02,088 square kilometers which is 24.39% of the total geographical area of the country. It shows an increase of 8021 square kilometers over that of the India State of Forest Report 2015 (updated) out of which, there is a net increase of 6,778 square kilometer in forest cover and 1,243 square kilometer in tree cover.
(c) The State/UTs wise detail of forest and tree cover including increase/decrease in forest and tree cover as per ISFR-2017 are given in Annexure I and II.
(d) To increase the tree plantation and forest cover in the country, 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 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 (MGNREGS), Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) and under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
National Afforestation Programme (NAP) of the Ministry of Environment & Forests is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for afforestation and eco-restoration of degraded forests and adjoining areas through people’s participation in the country. An amount of Rs. 3778.65 crores has been released to the states to treat an area of 21.78 lakh hectares since inception of this programme.
National Mission for a Green India (GIM) is one of the eight Missions outlined under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. So far funds amounting to Rs. 157.64 crore has been released under GIM to nine States for carrying out various activities under the mission, during 2015-16 to 2017-18.
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