Lok Sabha Question No. 2507 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-09
Subject: Forest Cover
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: NARAMALLI SIVAPRASAD, KINJARAPU RAM MOHAN NAIDU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  2507 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.03.2018

## Forest Cover

## 2507.    DR. NARAMALLI SIVA PRASAD: SHRI RAM MOHAN NAIDU KINJARAPU:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE  be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether  there has been an increase in India's forest cover according to the latest State of Indian Forests Report and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the mangrove cover has increased in the country and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether the area under 'very dense forests' and 'mid-dense forests' has decreased and if so, details thereof;
- (d) the States with highest loss of forest cover in the country in the country; and
- (e) the steps taken by the Government to increase forest cover to 33 percent of total area in the States?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (DR. MAHESH SHARMA)

- (a) Yes, Madam. 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). 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 24.40% of the total geographical area of the country.  It shows an increase of 8021 square kilometers over the figure as per the India State of Forest Report 2015 (updated).
- (b) As per India State of Forest Report (ISFR)-2017, there has been an increase of 181 square kilometers in the mangrove cover over same figures in ISFR-2015. The States/UT-wise details of mangrove cover along with change in mangrove area are given in Annexure I.
- (c) According to the latest 'India State of Forest Report 2017', area under Very Dense Forests (VDF)  of  the  country  is  98,158  square  kilometers,  which  is  an  increase  of  9,525  square kilometers  as  compared  to  the  previous  assessment  under  ISFR  -2015  (updated).  The  area under  Moderately  Dense  Forests  (MDF)  of  the  country  is  3,08318  square  kilometer  which shows a decrease of 4,421 square  kilometer as  compared  to  the  previous  assessment  under ISFR 2015 (updated).
- (d) Nine States  and  three  UTs  have  shown  negative  changes  in  the  total  forest  and  tree  cover. There has been a decrease of 531 square kilometers and 450 square kilometers of Forest and Tree  Cover  in  the  States  of  Mizoram  and  Nagaland  respectively  as  per  the  ISFR-2017  in

comparison  to  that  of  ISFR-2015.    The  State-wise  changes  in  Forest  and  Tree  Cover  with respect to previous updated assessment (ISFR 2015) is given in Annexure II.

- (e) To further increase the 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. The  scheme is being implemented  through  a  decentralized  mechanism  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.  An amount of Rs. 3778.63 crores has been released to the states to treat an area of 21.78 lakh hectares since inception of this programme in 2000-02 till 2017-18 as on 28.02.2018.

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. GIM activities were started in the Financial Year 2015-16. So far fund amounting to Rs. 157.19 crore has been released under GIM to nine States for carrying out various activities under the mission.

*********

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2507 due for answer on 09.03.2018 regarding 'Forest Cover'

## Mangrove Cover Assessment 2017

(Area in sq km)

| S. No.   | State/UT       | Very Dense Mangrove   | Moderately Dense Mangrove   | Open Mangrove   | Total   |   Change with respect to ISFR 2015 |
|----------|----------------|-----------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------|---------|------------------------------------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh | 0                     | 213                         | 191             | 404     |                                 37 |
| 2.       | Goa            | 0                     | 20                          | 6               | 26      |                                  0 |
| 3.       | Gujarat        | 0                     | 172                         | 968             | 1140    |                                 33 |
| 4.       | Karnataka      | 0                     | 2                           | 8               | 10      |                                  7 |
| 5.       | Kerala         | 0                     | 5                           | 4               | 9       |                                  0 |
| 6.       | Maharashtra    | 0                     | 88                          | 216             | 304     |                                 82 |
| 7.       | Odisha         | 82                    | 94                          | 67              | 243     |                                 12 |
| 8.       | Tamil Nadu     | 1                     | 25                          | 23              | 49      |                                  2 |
| 9.       | West Bengal    | 999                   | 692                         | 423             | 2114    |                                  8 |
| 10.      | A&N Islands    | 399                   | 169                         | 49              | 617     |                                  0 |
| 11.      | Daman &Diu     | 0                     | 0                           | 3               | 3       |                                  0 |
| 12.      | Puducherry     | 0                     | 0                           | 2               | 2       |                                  0 |
|          | Total          | 1,481                 | 1,480                       | 1,960           | 4,921   |                                181 |

Annexure II Annexure referred to in reply to part (d) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2507 due for answer on

## 09.03.2018 regarding 'Forest Cover'

## Forest Cover in States/UTs in India

## (area in square kilometers)

| State                | Geographic Area   | Total Forest and Tree cover as per ISFR-2017   |   Percent of Geographic area |   Change in forest cover wrt ISFR 2015 updated |   Change Percent |
|----------------------|-------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh       | 162968            | 28,147                                         |                        17.27 |                                        2141    |             1.31 |
| Arunachal Pradesh    | 83743             | 66,964                                         |                        79.96 |                                        -190    |            -0.23 |
| Assam                | 78438             | 28,105                                         |                        35.83 |                                         567    |             0.72 |
| Bihar                | 94163             | 7,299                                          |                         7.75 |                                          45    |             0.05 |
| Chhattisgarh         | 135192            | 55,547                                         |                        41.09 |                                         -12    |            -0.01 |
| Delhi                | 1483              | 192.41                                         |                        12.97 |                                           3.64 |             0.25 |
| Goa                  | 3702              | 2,229                                          |                        60.21 |                                          19    |             0.51 |
| Gujarat              | 196244            | 14,757                                         |                         7.52 |                                          47    |             0.02 |
| Haryana              | 44212             | 1,588                                          |                         3.59 |                                           8    |             0.02 |
| Himachal Pradesh     | 55673             | 15,100                                         |                        27.12 |                                         393    |             0.71 |
| Jammu & Kashmir *    | 222236            | 23,241                                         |                        10.46 |                                         253    |             0.11 |
| Jharkhand            | 79716             | 23,553                                         |                        29.55 |                                          29    |             0.04 |
| Karnataka            | 191791            | 37,550                                         |                        19.58 |                                        1101    |             0.57 |
| Kerala               | 38852             | 20,321                                         |                        52.3  |                                        1043    |             2.68 |
| Madhya Pradesh       | 308252            | 77,414                                         |                        25.11 |                                         -12    |             0    |
| Maharashtra          | 307713            | 50,682                                         |                        16.47 |                                         -17    |            -0.01 |
| Manipur              | 22327             | 17,346                                         |                        77.69 |                                         263    |             1.18 |
| Meghalaya            | 22429             | 17,146                                         |                        76.45 |                                        -116    |            -0.52 |
| Mizoram              | 21081             | 18,186                                         |                        86.27 |                                        -531    |            -2.52 |
| Nagaland             | 16579             | 12,489                                         |                        75.33 |                                        -450    |            -2.71 |
| Odisha               | 155707            | 51,345                                         |                        32.98 |                                         885    |             0.57 |
| Punjab               | 50362             | 1837                                           |                         3.65 |                                          66    |             0.13 |
| Rajasthan            | 342239            | 16,572                                         |                         4.84 |                                         466    |             0.14 |
| Sikkim               | 7096              | 3,344                                          |                        47.13 |                                          -9    |            -0.13 |
| Tamil Nadu           | 130060            | 26,281                                         |                        20.21 |                                          73    |             0.06 |
| Telangana            | 112077            | 20,419                                         |                        18.22 |                                         565    |             0.5  |
| Tripura              | 10486             | 7,726                                          |                        73.68 |                                        -164    |            -1.56 |
| Uttar Pradesh        | 240928            | 14,679                                         |                         6.09 |                                         278    |             0.12 |
| Uttarakhand          | 53483             | 24,295                                         |                        45.43 |                                          23    |             0.04 |
| West Bengal          | 88752             | 16,847                                         |                        18.98 |                                          21    |             0.02 |
| A&N Islands          | 8249              | 6,742                                          |                        81.73 |                                          -9    |            -0.11 |
| Chandigarh           | 114               | 21.56                                          |                        18.91 |                                          -0.1  |            -0.09 |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli | 491               | 207                                            |                        42.16 |                                           1    |             0.2  |
| Daman & Diu          | 111               | 20.49                                          |                        18.46 |                                           0.88 |             0.79 |
| Lakshadweep          | 30                | 27.10                                          |                        90.33 |                                           0.04 |             0.13 |
| Puducherry           | 490               | 53.67                                          |                        10.95 |                                          -3.28 |            -0.67 |
| Grand Total          | 32,87,469         | 708273                                         |                        21.54 |                                        6778    |             0.21 |