15-Dec-2022: Forest cover and cleaner environment

The Forest Survey of India (FSI), 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 information is not available separately for rural and urban areas. The FSI has published a study on the decadal change in forest cover in seven major mega cities between ISFR 2011 and ISFR 2021.

The Ministry is implementing Nagar Van Yojana (NVY) since the year 2020 which envisages developing 400 Nagar Vans and 200 Nagar Vatika in the country during the period of 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an objective to significantly enhance the tree outside forests and green cover, enhancement of biodiversity and ecological benefits to the urban and peri-urban areas apart from improving quality of life of city dwellers with the funds under the National Fund of the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

The Ministry has approved 270 projects under Nagar Van Yojana with the total cost of Rs.238.64 Crore till date, which includes an amount of Rs. 57.14 Crore for creation of 97 Nagar Van/Vatika during 2022-23.

National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), an attached office of Ministry of Earth Sciences is collecting the real-time information on coastal water quality by deploying water quality buoys at 10m water depth in coastal waters. NCCR is also undertaking research activities in quantifying litter (mainly meso, macro and microplastics) in the beach, in the water column and sediment on the sea floor. An increase in the abundance of microplastics   is observed along the east coast during the monsoon. The stations nearer to the river mouth had higher numbers of microplastics concentrations. The Beach litter survey revealed that the maximum accumulation occurs in the backshore than in the intertidal zone. Moreover, Urban beaches have higher accumulation rates than rural beaches. Under Beach Clean-up program/activity, it was found that the majority of the waste composition was contributed by single use plastics.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has notified Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, and its amendments, which provide the statutory framework for plastic waste management in the country. The Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2016, prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of carry bags and plastic sheets less than fifty microns in thickness in the country. There is complete ban on sachets using plastic material used for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala. MoEF&CC had also issued Gazette notification on “Guidelines on Extended producer responsibility for Plastic Packaging” and Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) rules, 2022 on 16th February, 2022 to all States/UTs and Ministries. Further, the Government of India has initiated several programmes such as “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”, National Mission for Clean Ganga and Smart Cities Mission” in order to develop clean and sustainable environment which contribute towards the reduction in marine pollution.

Under the Central Sector scheme Environment Education, Awareness and Training (EEAT) implemented till year 2021-22, more than 1 lakh Eco-clubs have been formed in schools and colleges to educate students and to spread awareness on environmental issues. Activities undertaken by Eco-clubs include plantation drives, cleanliness drives, celebration of important environmental days, awareness and capacity building on solid waste management through waste segregation, green pledges, etc.

Further, clean coast campaigns are taken up regularly to create awareness among the public and stakeholders to keep the beaches and coastal areas clean.

18-Jul-2022: Forest Cover in India

Forest Survey of India (FSI), 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. As per the latest ISFR-2021, the total forest cover of the country is 7,13,78,903 hectare which is 21.71% of the geographical area of the country.

Various schemes are being implemented by the Central and State Government/Union Territory   Administration for increase in forest and tree cover in the country. These includes the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and Green India Mission (GIM) being implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. National Afforestation Programme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for regeneration of degraded forest and adjoining areas in the country. The scheme has been implemented through 3 tier institutional setup 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 level. Now NAP scheme has been merged with Green India Mission.  National Mission for a Green India (GIM) is one of the eight Missions outlined under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. It aims at protecting, restoring, and enhancing India’s forest cover and responding to Climate Change by means of plantation activities in the forest and non-forest areas.

Afforestation activities are also taken up under various programmes/funding sources such as Compensatory Afforestation Funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), afforestation activities under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), National Agro-forestry Policy and Sub-mission on Agro-forestry (SMAF), National Bamboo Mission and National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture. In addition to above, State and UT Governments have their own afforestation and reforestation programmes. Almost every State has activities under social forestry, which largely focuses on tree planting in the areas outside forests.

3-Feb-2022: Definition under State of Forest Report

As per decision 19/Conference of Parties (CP) 9-Kyoto Protocol, the forest can be defined by any country depending upon the capacities and capabilities of the country as follows:-

Forest- Forest is defined structurally on the basis of

• Crown cover percentage: Tree crown cover- 10 to 30% (India 10%)
• Minimum area of stand: area between 0.05 and 1 hectare (India 1.0 hectare) and
• Minimum height of trees: Potential to reach a minimum height at maturity in situ of 2 to 5 m (India 2m).

India’s definition of forest has been taken on the basis of above three criteria only and very well accepted by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for their reporting/communications. The forest cover is defined as ‘all land, more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status. Such land may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm’. The definition of forest cover has clearly been defined in all the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) and in all the International communications of India.

In ISFR 2021 recently published by the Ministry on 13th January, 2022, the forest cover figures are divided as ‘Inside Recorded Forest Area’ and ‘Outside Recorded Forest Area’. Those ‘Inside Recorded Forest Area’ are basically natural forests and plantations of Forest Department. The Forest cover ‘Outside Recorded Forest Area’ are mango orchards, coconut plantations, block plantations of agroforestry. Thus data of mango plantations etc. is automatically getting separated out as Forest Survey of India is reporting the figures of ‘Outside Recorded Forest Area’ separately.

The Interpretation of satellite data for classifying Very Dense Forest (VDF) is also supported by the ancillary data like field inventory data of FSI, ground truthing data and high resolution satellite imagery wherever required.

At present, there is no plan to change the definition of forest cover and very dense forest. The definition of forest cover in ISFR represents true picture as described.

All India State of Forest Reports having state wise forest cover maps and district wise forest cover figure are available at FSI website.

3-Feb-2022: Status of forest cover in the Country

Forest Survey of India (FSI), 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. As per the latest ISFR 2021, the total forest cover of the country has increased by 12,294 square kilometres in the last seven years (ISFR 2015 to ISFR 2021).

The details of forest cover of the country in the last seven years (ISFR 2015 to ISFR 2021) and change in forest cover w.r.t. previous assessments are given in the table below:-

(Area in square kilometres)

13-Jan-2022: Forest Survey report 2021 released

Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav, today released the ‘India State of Forest Report 2021’ prepared by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) which has been mandated to assess the forest and tree resources of the country.

Sharing the findings, the Minister informed that the total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 million hectare which is 24.62 percent of the geographical area of the country. As compared to the assessment of 2019, there is an increase of 2,261 sq km in the total forest and tree cover of the country.

The Minister expressed happiness over the fact that the present assessment reveals that 17 states/UT’s have above 33 percent of the geographical area under forest cover and stated that the focus of the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is not just to conserve the forests quantitatively but to enrich it qualitatively.

The ISFR-2021 provides information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover, growing stock, carbon stock in India’s forests, forest fire monitoring, forest cover in tiger reserve areas, above ground estimates of biomass using SAR data & climate change hotspots in Indian forests.

Major findings

• The total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.9 million hectare which is 24.62 percent of the geographical area of the country. As compared to the assessment of 2019, there is an increase of 2,261 sq km in the total forest and tree cover of the country. Out of this, the increase in the forest cover has been observed as 1,540 sq km and that in tree cover is 721 sq km.
• Increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very dense forest. Top three states showing increase in forest cover are Andhra Pradesh (647 sq km) followed by Telangana (632 sq km) and Odisha (537 sq km).
• Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram (84.53%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.33%), Meghalaya (76.00%), Manipur (74.34%) and Nagaland (73.90%).
• 17 states/UT’s have above 33 percent of the geographical area under forest cover. Out of these states and UT’s, five states/UTs namely Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have more than 75 percent forest cover while 12 states/UTs namely Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Goa, Kerala, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Assam, Odisha, have forest cover between 33 percent to 75 percent.
• Total mangrove cover in the country is 4,992 sq km. An increase of 17 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2019. Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Odisha (8 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (4 sq km) and Karnataka (3 sq km).
• Total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated to be 7,204 million tonnes and there an increase of 79.4 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2019. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 39.7 million tonnes.

Methodology

In tune with the Government of India’s vision of digital India and the need for integration of digital data sets, FSI has adopted using the vector boundary layers of various administrative units upto districts level as provided by Survey of India along with digital open series topo sheets, in order to ensure comprehensive compatibility with the geographical areas as reported in Census, 2011.

The biennial assessment of forest cover of the country using mid-resolution Satellite data is based on interpretation of LISS-III data from Indian Remote Sensing satellite data (Resourcesat-II) with a spatial resolution of 23.5 meters with the scale of interpretation 1:50,000 to monitor forest cover and forest cover changes at District, State and National level.

This information provides inputs for various global level inventories, reports such as GHG Inventory, Growing Stock, Carbon Stock, Forest Reference Level (FRL) and international reporting to UNFCCC targets under CBD Global Forest Resource Assessment (GFRA) for planning and scientific management of forests.

Satellite data for the entire country was procured from NRSC for the period October to December 2019. The satellite data interpretation is followed by rigorous ground truthing. Information from other collateral sources are also used to improve the accuracy of the interpreted image.

The accuracy level achieved in the current assessment is the significantly high. The accuracy of forest cover classification has been assessed 92.99%. The accuracy of classification between forest and non-forest classes has been assessed 95.79% against internationally accepted accuracy of classification of more than 85%. A rigorous QC & QA exercise was also carried out.

Other significant features of ISFR 2021

In the present ISFR 2021, FSI has included a new chapter related to the assessment of forest cover in the Tiger Reserves, Corridors and Lion conservation area of India. In this context, the decadal assessment of change in forest cover within Tiger Reserves, Corridors and Lion conservation area helps in assessing the impact of conservation measures and management interventions that have been implemented over the years.

For decadal assessment, change in forest cover, during the period between ISFR 2011 (data period 2008 to 2009) and the current cycle (ISFR 2021, data period 2019-2020) within each Tiger Reserves has been analysed.

A new initiative of FSI has also been documented in the form of a chapter, where the ‘Above Ground Biomass’ has been estimated. FSI, in collaboration with Space Application Centre (SAC), ISRO, Ahmedabad, initiated a special study for estimation of Above Ground Biomass (AGB) at pan-India level, using L- band of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. The results for the States of Assam and Odisha (as well as AGB maps), were presented earlier in ISFR 2019.   The interim results for AGB estimates (and AGB maps) for the entire country are being presented as a new chapter in ISFR 2021. The detailed report will be published after completion of the study.

FSI in collaboration of with Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani, Goa Campus has performed a study based on ‘Mapping of Climate Change Hotspots in Indian Forests’. The collaborative study was carried out with the objective to map the climatic hotspots over the forest cover in India, using computer model-based projection of temperature and rainfall data, for the three future time periods i.e. year 2030, 2050 and 2085.

The report also contains information on various parameters State/UT wise. Special thematic information on forest cover such as hill, tribal districts, and north eastern region has also been given separately in the report.

It is expected that the information given in the report would provide valuable information for policy, planning and sustainable management of forest and tree resources in the country.

The full report is available at the following URL: https://fsi.nic.in/forest-report-2021-details

30-Dec-2019: India State of Forest Report (ISFR) released

The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar released the biennial “India State of Forest Report (ISFR)”, in New Delhi. The report is published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) which has been mandated to assess the forest and tree resources of the country including wall-to-wall forest cover mapping in a biennial cycle. Starting 1987, 16 assessment have been completed so far. ISFR 2019 is the 16th report in the series.

Announcing the results the Union Minister said that India is among few countries in the world where forest cover is consistently increasing. Shri Javadekar told that in the present assessment, the total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.73 million hectare which is 24.56 percent of the geographical area of the country.

As compared to the assessment of 2017, there is an increase of 5,188 sq. km in the total forest and tree cover of the country. Out of this, the increase in the forest cover has been observed as 3,976 sq km and that in tree cover is 1,212 sq. km; Range increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very dense forest and moderately dense forest and the top three states showing increase in forest cover are Karnataka (1,025 sq. km) followed by Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km).

Some Major Findings:

Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram (85.41%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and Nagaland (75.31%).

The Mangrove ecosystems are unique & rich in biodiversity and they provide numerous ecological services. Mangrove cover has been separately reported in the ISFR 2019 and the total mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km. An increase of 54 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2017. Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km).

The total growing stock of India’s forest and TOF is estimated 5,915.76 million cum of which 4,273.47 million cum is inside the forests and 1,642.29 million cum outside. There is an increase of 93.38 million cum of total growing stock, as compared to the previous assessment. Out of this the increase in growing stock, there is an increase of 55.08 million cum inside the forests and 38.30 million cum outside the forest areas.

The extent of bamboo bearing area of the country has been estimated 16.00 million hectare. There is an increase of 0.32 million hectare in bamboo bearing area as compared to the last assessment of ISFR 2017. The total estimated green weight of bamboo culms is 278 million tonnes, slowly an increase of 88 million tonnes as compared to ISFR 2017.

Under the current assessment the total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated 7,124.6 million tonnes and there an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2017. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 21.3 million tonnes, which is 78.2 million tonnes CO2 eq.

Wetlands within forest areas form important ecosystems and add richness to the biodiversity in forest areas, both of faunal and floral species. Due to importance of wetlands, FSI has carried out an exercise at the national level to identify wetlands of more than 1 ha within RFA.  There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.8% of the area within the RFA/GW of the country.

Methodology:

ISFR 2019 is the 16th report in the series. In tune with the Government of India’s vision of Digital India, FSI’s assessment is largely based on digital data whether it is satellite data, vector boundaries of districts or data processing of field measurements.

The report provides information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover, growing stock inside and outside the forest areas, carbon stock in India’s forests, Forest Types and Biodiversity, Forest Fire monitoring and forest cover in different slopes & altitudes. Special thematic information on forest cover such as hill, tribal districts, and north eastern region has also been given separately in the report.

The biennial assessment of forest cover of the country using mid-resolution Satellite data is based on interpretation of LISS-III data from Indian Remote Sensing satellite data (Resources at-II) with a spatial resolution of 23.5 meters with the scale of interpretation 1:50,000 to monitor forest cover and forest cover changes at District, State and National level.  This information provides inputs for various global level inventories, reports such as GHG Inventory, Growing Stock, Carbon Stock, Forest Reference Level (FRL) and international reporting to UNFCCC, targets under CCD, Global Forest Resource Assessment (GFRA) done by FAO for planning and scientific management of forests.

Satellite data for the entire country was procured from NRSC for the period October, 2017 – February, 2018. The satellite data interpretation is followed by rigorous ground truthing. Information from other collateral sources are also used to improve the accuracy of the interpreted image.

For the first time, Ortho-rectified satellite data has been used for forest cover mapping due to its better positional accuracy as it removes effects of image perspective (tilt) and relief (terrain) and scale distortions in the image to represent features in its true positions for accurate measurement of distances, angels and areas.

FSI, in a first ever attempt has carried out a rapid assessment of biodiversity for all the States and UTs (except two) and for all the sixteen Forest Type Groups as per Champion & Seth Classification (1968).  Apart from the number of tree, shrub and herb species as observed in the survey, Shanon Wienner Index which gives species richness along with the relative abundance, has also been calculated for each forest type groups in each State & UT.

FSI has carried out mapping of forest types of India as per the Champion & Seth Classification (1968), for the first time in the year 2011 based on the base line forest cover data of 2005. A new exercise for refining and updating the forest type maps as per the latest baseline forest cover was initiated in the year 2016 and has been completed in 2019.

Other highlights:

The accuracy level achieved in the current assessment is the highest amongst all the previous assessments. The accuracy of forest cover classification has been assessed 93.17% .The accuracy of classification between forest and non-forest classes has been assessed 97.20%.

A study to assess the dependence of the people living in close proximity to forests for their day to day needs like fuelwood, fodder, small timber and bamboo was undertaken by FSI during September 2018 to June 2019. Findings of the study in various States/UTs has been presented in the report.

The present report also gives information on the fire prone forest areas of different severity classes, mapped in the grids of 5km x 5km based on the frequency of forest fires in the last 14 years that would enable the SFDs to manage and control forest fires effectively in the respective States.

Non Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) are important source of livelihood for many tribal communities and villagers living in the proximity of forests. A new information has been generated from the national forest inventory data about the top five NTFP species in each State & UT in terms of their availability in forests i.e. relative occurrence. The information has been presented in the respective sub-chapter of each State & UT of the country in Vol II.

Invasive species pose serious threat to the sustainable management of forests. Analysis of NFI data has been done for determining five major invasive species in each State & UT and also an estimate of area affected by them. This information has been presented in the respective sub chapter of each State & UT of the country in Vol II.

The information given in the report would provide valuable information for policy, planning and sustainable management of forest and tree resources in the country.

12-Aug-2019: India State of Forest Report (ISFR) findings

A quarter of India’s geographical area (24.49 per cent) is under forest and tree cover according to the assessments done by the Forest Survey of India, whose findings are published in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR). The last report was published in 2017.

The lowest forest and tree cover in the country is in Haryana, at 6.79 per cent of its geographical area. Punjab follows with 6.87 per cent. Rajasthan’s forest and tree cover is over 7.26 per cent of its geographical area while Madhya Pradesh’s is 27.73 per cent.

At 97 per cent, the Union Territory of Lakshadweep is on top – its geographical area is only 30 square km. Among the six states with the highest forest and tree cover, four are in the Northeast – Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Meghalaya.

Goa and Kerala are two other states with more than 50 per cent of their geographical area under forest and tree cover.

In terms of geographical area, the highest tree and forest cover is in Madhya Pradesh, with 85,487 sq km.

12-Feb-2019: 324th report on "Status of Forests in India"

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests has urged the environment ministry to take stringent steps to curb the illegal felling of trees. No action plans was prepared by the ministry to control illegal cutting of trees.

A parliamentary panel expressed concern over forest degradation in the country, especially in the north-eastern states, and urged the Environment Ministry to take stringent steps to curb the illegal felling of trees. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment and Forests, in its 324th report on "Status of Forests in India" tabled in the Rajya Sabha, said no action plan was prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for controlling the illegal cutting of trees in forests. The panel relied on the India State of Forest Report, 2017, according to which the total forest and tree cover in India was 80.20 million hectares, which was 24.39 per cent of the geographical area of the country. However, the report said, there was a reduction of 0.34 million hectares of moderately dense forests, which indicated forest degradation.

12-Feb-2018: India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2017 released by MoEFCC.

Between 2003 and 2016, the forest fires have jumped by almost 38% from 24,450 to 33,664. Strongly emphasizing the increasingly green credentials of the country, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, has said that India has shown an increasing trend in the forest and tree cover, in comparison to the global trend of decreasing forest cover during the last decade.

Releasing the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2017, Minister pointed out that India ranks among the top ten countries of the world in terms of forest area, despite the fact that none of the other 9 countries has a population density of more than 150 persons per sq. km, compared to India, which has a population density of 382 persons per sq. km. India is ranked 10th in the world, with 24.4% of land area under forest and tree cover, even though it accounts for 2.4 % of the world surface area and sustains the needs of 17 % of human and 18 % livestock population.

Despite such tremendous population and pressures of livestock on our forests, India has been able to preserve and expand its forest wealth. As per the latest FAO report, India is placed 8th in the list of Top Ten nations reporting the greatest annual net gain in forest area.