India’s Forest & Tree Cover Grows, But Mangrove Area Shrinks Mainly In Gujarat
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Forest Survey of India also found a loss of 58.22 km2 of forest cover in the Western Ghats Eco-Sensitive Areas (WGESA) in six southern states over the last ten years
With an additional 1.12 lakh km2 of tree cover (3.41%), the total forest and tree cover of the country together spans 8.27 lakh km2, which is 25.17% of the geographical area of the country. (Representational image/Getty)
India’s total forest cover has increased by 156.41 km2 since the previous assessment done in 2021, according to the India State of the Forest Report 2023 released on Saturday. The total forest cover now spans nearly 7.15 lakh km2, covering 21.76% of the total geographical area.
With an additional 1.12 lakh km2 of tree cover (3.41%), the total forest and tree cover of the country together spans 8.27 lakh km2, which is 25.17% of the geographical area of the country. This aligns with India’s long-term target to bring 33% of the geographical area under forest cover.
The country has mapped its forest and tree cover every two years since 1987. The 18th edition of the report was released on Saturday, covering 751 districts as against 636 districts in the previous assessment.
Chhattisgarh (683.62 km2) showed the maximum increase in forest and tree cover, followed by Uttar Pradesh (559.19 km2), Odisha (558.57 km2), and Rajasthan (394.46 km2). However, the maximum losses in forest and tree cover were witnessed in Madhya Pradesh (612.41 km2), Karnataka (459.36 km2), Ladakh (159.26 km2), and Nagaland (125.22 km2).
The forest cover includes all lands over one hectare with a tree canopy density of at least 10%, regardless of ownership, legal status, and land use, and thus includes orchards, bamboo, and palm. Tree cover, on the other hand, consists of smaller tree patches outside the forest areas, usually less than one hectare, including all scattered trees found in rural and urban settings. For the first time, trees between 5 and 10 cm in diameter have been included in the analysis for tree cover, along with bamboo cover.
Mangrove area shrinks in Gujarat
The report also highlighted a net decrease of 7.43 km2 in the country’s mangrove coverage, with Gujarat showing a notable loss of 36.39 km2. The total mangrove cover in India is 4,991.68 km2, making up 0.15% of the country’s total geographical area.
The Forest Survey of India (FSI) has carried out a decadal change analysis of forest cover of Western Ghats Eco-Sensitive Areas (WGESA) spanning six states and 45 districts from Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu and found an overall loss of 58.22 km2 in forest cover during the last 10 years. The current assessment also showed a decrease in forest cover of 327.30 km2 in the Northeast region as well, a prominent biodiversity hotspot. The loss is being attributed to increasing conversion of forest land into agricultural land.
Step closer to NDCs
The increasing trend in forest and tree cover and sequestered carbon is also in line with India’s commitment to meet the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). India had pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030, as well as bring in 26 million hectares of degraded land under restoration by 2030.
“The current assessment shows that India has reached 30.43 billion tonnes of CO2 eq, which indicates that, compared to the base year of 2005, we have already reached 2.29 billion tonnes of additional carbon sink. At the current rate of increase in forest cover, we will not take much time to reach 31.71 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030,” said Anoop Singh, director general, FSI.
Meanwhile, the total tree green cover under agroforestry, which was also assessed at the national level, has been estimated at 1,27,590.05 km2 in 2023. There is a total increase of 21,286.57 km2 (20.02%) in the total tree green cover under agroforestry compared to the previous report.
The Forest Survey of India carried out the mapping using medium-resolution indigenous satellite data from October to December 2021, with a spatial resolution of 23.5 m sourced from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s indigenous LISS-III sensor, part of the IRS Resourcesat satellite series, at a scale of 1: 50,000.
