Forests to cover almost one-fourth of India

Forests to cover almost one-fourth of India

AgenciesUpdated: Tuesday, December 31, 2019, 12:59 AM IST
article-image

New Delhi: India's forest and tree cover is continuously rising to cross one-fourth of the country's geographical area as seen from the present pace. It rose by 5188 sq km in the last two years to reach 80.73 million hectares, which is 24.56 per cent of the geographical area of country.

Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar announced this here on Monday while releasing the 16TH biennial "India State of Forest Report" of the Forest Survey of India (FSI). 

He said India is among few countries where the forest cover is consistently going up that puts India on track to achieve its goal of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes under the Paris agreement.

The forests cover has increased by 3976 sq km (0.56 per cent) while the tree cover rose by 1212 sq km (1.29 per cent) to give a total of 5188 sq km compared to 2017.  Tree cover is outside the forests and its increase is attributed to tree plantation. Javadekar said the total carbon stock in India's forests is estimated at 7,124.6 million tonnes.

"There is an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of the country as compared to the last assessment of 2017. The annual increase is 21.3 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 78.1 million tonnes of CO2," the report said.

Top three states showing an increase in the forest cover are Karnataka (1,025 sq km), followed by Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km, Javadekar said. He said areawise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.

Five northeastern states have the highest forest cover in terms of percentage of total geographical area. They are Mizoram (85.41%, Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and Nagaland (75.31%). The Northeast, however, saw decrease of forest cover to the extent of 765 sq. km (0.45 per cent), the decrease recorded in all states except Assam and Tripura.

Mangrove cover has been separately reported as 4975 sq km, which is an increase of 54 sq km over the previous assessment of 2017. Top three states showing the mangrove cover increase are Gujarat (37 sq km), Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km).

The bamboo bearing area is estimated at 16 million hectares, which is an increase of 0.32 million hectares over 2017.

The FSI has also carried out an exercise of identifying the wetlands of more than one hectare within the forest areas as they form important ecosystems and add richness to the biodiversity in forest areas. There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.8% of the forests.

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.

Dependence of fuelwood on forests was the highest in Maharashtra, whereas, for fodder, small timber and bamboo, the dependence was the highest in Madhya Pradesh. The report has assessed that the annual removal of small timber by the people living in forest fringe villages is nearly seven per cent of the average annual yield of the forests in the country.

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 produces 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.

The report also gives information on the fire-prone forest areas of different severity classes, based on the frequency of forest fires in the last 14 years that will help in controlling such fires effectively in the respective states.

It also contains five major invasive species that pose serious threat to the sustainable management of forests. The report identifies these species in each state and UT and an estimate of the area affected by them.

RECENT STORIES

Patna-Ahmedabad Flight Diverted To Indore Due To Medical Emergency, Netizens Hails Pilot's Decision

Patna-Ahmedabad Flight Diverted To Indore Due To Medical Emergency, Netizens Hails Pilot's Decision

'Vasooli Titans': Woman Cricketer Pooja Vastrakar Shares Post Mocking PM Modi, Amit Shah, Deletes It...

'Vasooli Titans': Woman Cricketer Pooja Vastrakar Shares Post Mocking PM Modi, Amit Shah, Deletes It...

Chhattisgarh Murder: Minor Girl Strangulates Boyfriend To Death After He Forces Her To Establish...

Chhattisgarh Murder: Minor Girl Strangulates Boyfriend To Death After He Forces Her To Establish...

Manaskhand Express: All You Need To Know About Special Tourist Train From Pune To Tanakpur,...

Manaskhand Express: All You Need To Know About Special Tourist Train From Pune To Tanakpur,...

Gujarat: Security Beefed Up For Union Minister Parshottam Rupala Amidst Kshatriya Community Protests

Gujarat: Security Beefed Up For Union Minister Parshottam Rupala Amidst Kshatriya Community Protests