Lok Sabha Question No. 2910 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-12
Subject: Forest Cover
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Tirath Singh Rawat

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  2910

TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.03.2021

## Forest Cover

## 2910.    SHRI TIRATH SINGH RAWAT:

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

- (a) the total forest cover along with the percentage increase/decrease in forest cover across the country during the last ten years;
- (b) whether the forest area has decreased due to forest fires and other reasons in the Himalayan region, particularly in Uttarakhand;
- (c) whether  the  Union  Government  has  providedor  proposes  to  provide  green  bonus  to  the Himalayan States including Uttarakhand; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Forest  Survey  of  India,  Dehradun,  an  organization  under  the  Ministry  carries  out  the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially 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. ISFR-2019 is the latest report in the series. As per ISFR 2019, total forest cover of the country is 7,12,249 square kilometers which is 21.67% of the geographical area of the country. The current assessment shows an increase of 3976 square kilometer of forest cover at the national level as compared to the previous assessment i.e. ISFR 2017.

As per ISFR published by Forest Survey of India, details of change in forest cover for the last ten year are as follows:-

|   ISFR year |   Total Forest Cover (area in square kilometer) |
|-------------|-------------------------------------------------|
|        2011 |                                          692027 |
|        2013 |                                          697898 |
|        2015 |                                          701495 |
|        2017 |                                          708273 |
|        2019 |                                          712249 |

There  is  an  increase  of  20,222  square  kilometre  in  forest  cover  in  the  country  between ISFR 2019 to ISFR 2011, which contributes to a total of 2.92% increase of forest cover w.r.t. the forest cover reported in ISFR 2011.

- (b) No  Sir.  The  forest  area  has  not  decreased  due  to  forest  fire  and  other  reasons  in  the Himalayan region particularly in Uttarakhand. As per ISFR-2019, the forest cover in the State  of  Uttarakhandis  24,303.04  square  kilometre  which  is  45.44%  of  the  State's geographical  area.    The  forest  cover  for  the  State  of  Uttarakhand  has  increased  by  8.04 square kilometre as compared to the previous assessment reported in ISFR-2017.
- (c) & (d)   The   Union Government  has  not  provided or proposes to provide   green  bonus   to   the Himalayan  States,  however,  the  XV  finance  Commission  has  assigned  10%  weight  to forest and ecology in its horizontal devolution criteria and weights. The criterion has been arrived at by calculating the share of dense forest of each State, including Uttarakhand, in the aggregate dense forest of all the States.

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