Lok Sabha Question No. 5551 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-26
Subject: Forest Cover
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Vishnu Dayal Ram

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  5551

TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2019

## Forest Cover

## 5551.    SHRI VISHNU DAYAL RAM:

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

- (a) the total area under forest cover in the country;
- (b) whether the definition of forest cover includes plantations and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether there has been a rapid decrease in forest cover in North-Eastern States because of practice of environmentally unviable agricultural practices and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the corrective measures taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry carries out the  assessment  of  forest  cover  of  the  country  biennially  and  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 in the country is 8,02,088 square kilometre (forest cover 7,08,273 square kilometre, tree cover 93,815 square kilometre) which is 24.39%  of the geographical area of the country. There is an increase of 8,021 square kilometre (forest cover 6,778 square kilometre, tree cover 1,243 square kilometre) of total forest and tree cover compared to that of ISFR-2015.
- (b) The definition of the term 'Forest Cover' in the ISFR is as given below, which include plantation:-

'All  lands,  more  than  1  hectare  in  area,  with  a  tree  canopy  density  of  more  than  10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status. Such lands may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm.'

- (c) As  per  the  latest  ISFR  2017,  the  total  forest  cover  in  the  North  Eastern  region  of  the country is 1,71,306 square kilometre  which is 65.34 percent of the geographical area of the region. The forest cover in the northeastern region shows a decrease of 630 square kilometre over the previous assessment. The State wise details of forest cover of the north eastern region as per ISFR-2017 is given in Annexure.
- (d) For  further  expansion  of  forest  area  and  maintaining  the  existing  forest  cover  of  the country  including  north  eastern  region,  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  the 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, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Compensatory Afforestation Funds (CAF) and under concerned State/UT schemes/plans.

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Annexure Annexure referred to reply in part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5551 due for answer on 26.07.2019 regarding 'Forest cover' State wise details of Forest Cover in north eastern region as per ISFR 2017 (Area in square kilometre)

| State             |   Geographical Area | Forest Cover   |   Percentage of geographical area |   Change in Forest Cover |
|-------------------|---------------------|----------------|-----------------------------------|--------------------------|
| Arunachal Pradesh |               83743 | 66,964         |                             79.96 |                     -190 |
| Assam             |               78438 | 28,105         |                             35.83 |                      567 |
| Manipur           |               22327 | 17,346         |                             77.69 |                      263 |
| Meghalaya         |               22429 | 17,146         |                             76.45 |                     -116 |
| Mizoram           |               21081 | 18,186         |                             86.27 |                     -531 |
| Nagaland          |               16579 | 12,489         |                             75.33 |                     -450 |
| Sikkim            |                7096 | 3344           |                             47.13 |                       -9 |
| Tripura           |               10486 | 7726           |                             73.68 |                     -164 |
| Grand Total       |              262179 | 171306         |                             65.34 |                     -630 |