Lok Sabha Question No. 1986 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-29
Subject: Scarcity of Water in Forest Areas
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Pankaj Chowdhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  1986

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.11.2019

## Scarcity of Water in Forest Areas

## 1986.    SHRIPANKAJ CHAUDHARY:

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

- (a) whether  water  sources  have  dwindled  drastically  in  the  forests  as  per  the  'State  of  India Forest Report-2018', if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether human-animal conflicts have increased due to animals entering human habitations in search of water sources and increase in incidences of wild fires, if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the efforts made by the Government to address the situation to restore water bodies/sources in the forests especially in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a) The  India  State  of  Forest  Report  (ISFR),  published  on  biennial  basis,  contains  results  of forest and tree cover assessment in the country. So far 15 such reports have been published since 1987 and the latest report is ISFR-2017. An assessment of coverage of water bodies within forest areas was carried out by Forest Survey of India, in order to indicate decadal change  (2005-2015)  in  water  bodies  within  forests.  For  the  purpose,  water  bodies  lying inside or upto an aerial distance of 1 kilometre from the forest and covering an area of more than  1  hectare  have  been  considered  and  the changes  in  their  extent  over  a  decade  have been computed. There is an increase of 2,647 square kilometre in the extent of water bodies over  the  said  decade  (2005-2015)  as  per  ISFR-2017.  The  State-wise  details  are  given  in Annexure.
- (b)  &(c)      Government  of  India  provides  financial  assistance  to  all  the  States/  UT  Governments including    Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes namely 'Development  of  Wildlife  Habitats'',  ''Project  Tiger''  and  'Project Elephant' for the

management  of  wildlife  and  its  habitats  which, inter  alia ,  helps  in  preventing  humananimal  conflicts.  The  activities  include  restoration  of  natural  water  bodies,  creation  of artificial ponds, waterholes, augmenting food/fodder sources and management of fire.

Incidences of human-animal conflicts are reported in various parts of the country from time to  time.  Since  management  of  forest  and  wildlife  is  the  responsibility  of  respective State/UT Governments, State-wise and year-wise data of such incidents are not collated in the Ministry.

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Annexure

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1986 due for answer on 29.11.2019 regarding 'Scarcity of Water in Forest Areas'

## State/UTs wise details of extent of water bodies

(Area in square kilometre)

| State/UTs           |   Extent of Water Bodies 2005 | Extent of Water Bodies 2015   |   Change |
|---------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|----------|
| Andhra Pradesh      |                        626    | 943                           |   317    |
| Arunachal Pradesh   |                        582    | 387                           |  -195    |
| Assam               |                        387    | 474                           |    87    |
| Bihar               |                         52    | 44                            |    -8    |
| Chhattisgarh        |                        850    | 927                           |    77    |
| Delhi               |                          3.77 | 4.32                          |     0.55 |
| Goa                 |                         76    | 84                            |     8    |
| Gujarat             |                       2203    | 2631                          |   428    |
| Haryana             |                         21    | 16                            |    -5    |
| Himachal Pradesh    |                        402    | 455                           |    53    |
| Jammu &Kashmir      |                        267    | 287                           |    20    |
| Jharkhand           |                        147    | 211                           |    64    |
| Karnataka           |                       1493    | 1620                          |   127    |
| Kerala              |                        302    | 373                           |    71    |
| Madhya Pradesh      |                       1930    | 2319                          |   389    |
| Maharashtra         |                       1116    | 1548                          |   432    |
| Manipur             |                         32    | 58                            |    26    |
| Meghalaya           |                        105    | 142                           |    37    |
| Mizoram             |                         72    | 124                           |    52    |
| Nagaland            |                         39.43 | 62.8                          |    23.37 |
| Odisha              |                        312    | 369                           |    57    |
| Punjab              |                         30    | 37                            |     7    |
| Rajasthan           |                        414    | 454                           |    40    |
| Sikkim              |                         10    | 12                            |     2    |
| Tamil Nadu          |                        453    | 732                           |   279    |
| Telangana           |                        871    | 1228                          |   357    |
| Tripura             |                         77    | 113                           |    36    |
| Uttar Pradesh       |                       1220    | 1018                          |  -202    |
| Uttarakhand         |                        310    | 355                           |    45    |
| West Bengal         |                         82    | 104                           |    22    |
| A&N Islands         |                          2.84 | 2.41                          |    -0.43 |
| Chandigarh          |                          1.45 | 1.49                          |     0.04 |
| Dadra &Nagar Haveli |                         17.34 | 17.44                         |     0.1  |
| Daman &Diu          |                          2.08 | 2.71                          |     0.63 |
| Lakshadweep         |                          0    | 0                             |     0    |
| Puducherry          |                          0    | 0                             |     0    |
| Total               |                      14509    | 17,156                        |  2647    |