Lok Sabha Question No. 2431 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-01
Subject: India State of Forest Report
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Bhartruhari Mahtab

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 2431

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 01.08.2022

## India State of Forest Report

## 2431.   SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

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

- (a) whether as per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021, the country has witnessed an increase in forest cover across the country, but a decline in moderate dense forest and also an increase in forest fires and if so, the details thereof:
- (b) the States that have witnessed an increased in forest cover and the States which has witnessed a decline in forest cover along with the details thereof and underlying reasons thereof;
- (c) the  necessary  steps  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  enhance  afforestation  activities  and  check forest fires in the country; and
- (d) the  major  plans  chalked  out  for  resettlement  of  forest  dwellers  in  the  country  along  with funds earmarked for same, State/UT-wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). The forest cover assessment is a wallto-wall  mapping  exercise  based  on  remote  sensing  supported  by  intensive  ground verification and field data from National Forest Inventory. As per latest ISFR- 2021, the total forest cover of the country has increased by 1540 square kilometre, tree cover has increased by 721 square kilometre and total forest and tree cover has increased by 2261 square kilometre at the national level as compared to the previous assessment i.e. ISFR  2019.  As  per  ISFR-2021,  there  is  decrease  of  1582  square  kilometre  in Moderately Dense Forest.

Number of forest fire detections by Forest Survey of India using Moderate Resolution Imaging  Spectro-Radiometer  (MODIS)  Sensor  and  SNPP-VIIRS  (Suomi  Imager Radiometer Suite) sensor during fire season from 1 st November 2021 to 30 th June 2022 were 29,675 and 2,23,333 respectively in the fire season November 2021-June 2022 are lesser compared to detection in the previous year. As per the ISFR 2021, the forest fire detection in the fire season November 2020-June 2021 were more compared to the previous  fire  season  i.e.  November  2019-June  2020.  The  State  and  Union  Territory wise number of forest fire detections using MODIS and SNPP-VIIRS sensors during last three years are attached at Annexure-I.

- (b) There has been increase in forest cover in some States while there has been decrease in forest cover in some States as per ISFR 2021. The gain in forest cover or improvement in  forest  canopy  density  may  be  attributed  to  conservation  measures,  afforestation activities,  enhanced  protection  measures  in  plantation  as  well  as  in  traditional  forest areas  and  expansion  of  trees  outside  forest  whereas,  loss  in  forest  cover  may  be attributed due to developmental activities, harvesting of short rotational plantations and biotic pressure. The details of States and UTs showing increase and decrease in forest cover in comparison to previous assessment (ISFR-2019) are given at Annexure II.
- (c) To  improve  and  increase  the  forest  &  tree  cover  in  the  country,  afforestation programmes are taken up under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes of the Ministry such as National Mission for a Green India (GIM). 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  Change  by undertaking  plantation  activities  in  the  forest  and  non-forest  areas.  The  Ministry  is implementing  Nagar  Van  Yojana  (NVY)  since  the  year  2020  which  envisages developing 400 Nagar Vans and 200 Nagar Vatika in the country during the period of 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an objective to significantly enhance the tree outside forests and green cover, enhancement of biodiversity and ecological benefits to the urban and peri-urban areas apart from improving quality of life of city dwellers with the funds under  the  National  Fund  of  the  Compensatory  Afforestation  Fund  Management  and Planning  Authority  (CAMPA).  The  Ministry  is  also  implementing  'School  Nursery Yojana' (SNY) since the year 2020 for a period of five years where students of class Sixth,  Seventh  and  Eighth  from  all  public  and  private  schools  organized  by  State Boards/ Central Government Boards all over the country will be actively involved in developing nursery, raising and planting seedlings as part of school curriculum.

Afforestation activities  are also  taken  up  under  various  programmes/funding  sources such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Compensatory Afforestation Funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA). Afforestation activities are also taken up  under  various  schemes  of  State  Government  /UT  Administration.  In  addition, plantations  are  also  done  by  various  departments,  Non-Government  Organizations, Civil Society, Corporate bodies etc.

The Ministry supports the efforts of the States/ UTs in prevention and control of forest fire by providing financial assistance for various forest fire prevention and management measures such as modern tools for fire extinguishing, use of communication and information technology, etc creation and maintenance of fire lines in  forest  areas,  engagement  of  fire  watchers,  creation  of  water  storage  structures  in forest areas, strengthening of forest infrastructure, procurement of firefighting equipment,  soil  and  moisture  conservation  works  in  high  risk  areas,  awareness creation, incentivizing villages/communities for protection against forest fire etc. under the Centrally Sponsored Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme.

In addition, the FSI has taken following steps to improve the forest fire alert system:-

- (i)        FSI has pursued with States/UTs to increase the number of registered users of its alert system. Now, the number of such registered users has increased to around 1.55 lakh.
- (ii)      FSI  also  generates  and  disseminates  'Weekly  Early-Warning  Alerts' of  forest fire to concerned States/UTs.
- (iii)   FSI has also initiated an innovative 'Large Forest Fire Monitoring' programme in January 2019 which aims at improving tactical as well as strategic response to large forest fires by the respective States/UTs.
- (d) There  is  the  provision  for  settlement  of  forest  dwellers  under  Scheduled  Tribes  and Other  Traditional  Forest  Dwellers  (Recognition  of  Forest  Rights)  Act,  2006 . The eligible individuals' forest right claims are approved by the District Level Committee under  the  chairmanship  of  concerned  Collector  and  District  Magistrate.  Information related to funds earmarked for this purpose are not collated at the level of the Ministry.

****

Annexure -I

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2431 due for answer on 01.8.2022 regarding 'India State of Forest Report'

State/UT-wise number of forest fire detected by Forest Survey of India using MODIS & SNPP-VIIRS sensors in the last three years. (This includes large, continuous and repeated forest fires)

|       |                          | MODIS Detections      | MODIS Detections      | MODIS Detections      | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   | SNPP-VIIRS Detections   |
|-------|--------------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|-------------------------|
| S.No. | State/UT                 | Nov 2019 to June 2020 | Nov 2020 to June 2021 | Nov 2021 to June 2022 | Nov 2019 to June 2020   | Nov 2020 to June 2021   | Nov 2021 to June 2022   |
| 1     | Andaman &Nicobar Islands | 15                    | 2                     | 3                     | 39                      | 16                      | 33                      |
| 2     | Andhra Pradesh           | 1,080                 | 2,888                 | 1716                  | 9,996                   | 19,328                  | 14,138                  |
| 3     | Arunachal Pradesh        | 660                   | 1,109                 | 1116                  | 1,786                   | 3,914                   | 3,449                   |
| 4     | Assam                    | 3,000                 | 3,387                 | 2305                  | 8,924                   | 10,718                  | 8,158                   |
| 5     | Bihar                    | 50                    | 537                   | 222                   | 614                     | 5,179                   | 3,024                   |
| 6     | Chandigarh               | 0                     | 0                     | 0                     | 2                       | 0                       | 0                       |
| 7     | Chhattisgarh             | 416                   | 3,112                 | 1942                  | 6,360                   | 38,106                  | 25,792                  |
| 8     | Dadra &Nagar Haveli      | 1                     | 3                     | 1                     | 21                      | 33                      | 15                      |
| 9     | Daman &Diu               | 0                     | 0                     | 0                     | 0                       | 1                       | 3                       |
| 10    | Delhi                    | 3                     | 5                     | 5                     | 21                      | 14                      | 3                       |
| 11    | Goa                      | 4                     | 10                    | 5                     | 47                      | 45                      | 20                      |
| 12    | Gujarat                  | 202                   | 422                   | 236                   | 2,770                   | 3,803                   | 2,769                   |
| 13    | Haryana                  | 39                    | 25                    | 37                    | 68                      | 152                     | 135                     |
| 14    | Himachal Pradesh         | 80                    | 533                   | 601                   | 536                     | 4,110                   | 5,280                   |
| 15    | Jammu &Kashmir           | 62                    | 131                   | 524                   | 438                     | 1,098                   | 4,282                   |
| 16    | Jharkhand                | 101                   | 1,563                 | 630                   | 2,613                   | 21,713                  | 9,419                   |
| 17    | Karnataka                | 538                   | 932                   | 800                   | 4,232                   | 5,784                   | 4,973                   |
| 18    | Kerala                   | 142                   | 51                    | 61                    | 864                     | 296                     | 504                     |
| 19    | Lakshadweep              | 0                     | 0                     | 0                     | 0                       | 0                       | 0                       |
| 20    | Madhya Pradesh           | 1,383                 | 7,103                 | 3908                  | 9,537                   | 47,795                  | 32,728                  |
| 21    | Maharashtra              | 1,102                 | 4,297                 | 2309                  | 14,018                  | 34,025                  | 22,052                  |
| 22    | Manipur                  | 2,475                 | 3,252                 | 1638                  | 8,800                   | 10,457                  | 5,544                   |
| 23    | Meghalaya                | 1,826                 | 2,052                 | 1431                  | 6,762                   | 7,658                   | 6,322                   |
| 24    | Mizoram                  | 2,816                 | 4,345                 | 2105                  | 7,361                   | 12,846                  | 8,734                   |
| 25    | Nagaland                 | 1,248                 | 1,726                 | 1309                  | 2,905                   | 4,975                   | 3,471                   |
| 26    | Odisha                   | 1,326                 | 5,307                 | 2086                  | 10,602                  | 51,968                  | 22,014                  |
| 27    | Puducherry               | 1                     | 1                     | 0                     | 0                       | 1                       | 0                       |
| 28    | Punjab                   | 52                    | 171                   | 128                   | 153                     | 635                     | 428                     |
| 29    | Rajasthan                | 420                   | 447                   | 238                   | 3,461                   | 3,402                   | 2,703                   |
| 30    | Sikkim                   | 5                     | 17                    | 11                    | 47                      | 63                      | 26                      |
| 31    | Tamil Nadu               | 187                   | 202                   | 151                   | 1,368                   | 1,220                   | 1,035                   |
| 32    | Telangana                | 1,042                 | 2,566                 | 1372                  | 12,132                  | 18,237                  | 13,737                  |
| 33    | Tripura                  | 1,467                 | 1,664                 | 310                   | 4,369                   | 5,015                   | 2,609                   |
| 34    | Uttar Pradesh            | 396                   | 1,667                 | 905                   | 1,548                   | 8,608                   | 5,428                   |
| 35    | Uttarakhand              | 167                   | 2,710 548             | 1337                  | 759                     | 21,487                  | 12,985 1,520            |
| 36    | West Bengal              | 141                   |                       |                       |                         | 3,287                   |                         |
| Total |                          | 22,447                | 52,785                | 233 29,675            | 1,320 1,24,473          | 3,45,989                | 2,23,333                |

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2431 due for answer on 01.8.2022 regarding 'India State of Forest Report'

Details of State showing increase in Forest Cover in the States/UTs in India as per ISFR 2021

(Area in Square Kilometre)

| States/UTs                         | Geographical area   | Forest Cover ISFR 2021   | Change in forest cover w.r.t ISFR 2019   |
|------------------------------------|---------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| Andhra Pradesh                     | 1,62,968            | 29,784                   | 647                                      |
| Bihar                              | 94,163              | 7,381                    | 75                                       |
| Chhattisgarh                       | 1,35,192            | 55,717                   | 106                                      |
| Goa                                | 3,702               | 2,244                    | 7                                        |
| Gujarat                            | 1,96,244            | 14,926                   | 69                                       |
| Haryana                            | 44,212              | 1,603                    | 1                                        |
| Odisha                             | 1,55,707            | 52,156                   | 537                                      |
| Himachal Pradesh                   | 55,673              | 15,443                   | 9                                        |
| Jharkhand                          | 79,716              | 23,721                   | 110                                      |
| Karnataka                          | 1,91,791            | 38,730                   | 155                                      |
| Kerala                             | 38,852              | 21,253                   | 109                                      |
| Tamil Nadu                         | 1,30,060            | 26,419                   | 55                                       |
| Rajasthan                          | 3,42,239            | 16,655                   | 25                                       |
| Madhya Pradesh                     | 3,08,252            | 77,493                   | 11                                       |
| Maharashtra                        | 3,07,713            | 50,798                   | 20                                       |
| Telangana                          | 1,12,077            | 21,214                   | 632                                      |
| Uttar Pradesh                      | 2,40,928            | 14,818                   | 12                                       |
| Uttarakhand                        | 53,483              | 24,305                   | 2                                        |
| A&N Islands                        | 8,249               | 6,744                    | 1                                        |
| Chandigarh                         | 114                 | 22.88                    | 0.85                                     |
| Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu | 602                 | 227.75                   | 0.10                                     |
| Jammu &Kashmir                     | 2,22,236            | 21,387                   | 29                                       |
| Ladakh                             |                     | 2,272                    | 18                                       |
| Lakshadweep                        | 30                  | 27.1                     | 0                                        |
| Puducherry                         | 490                 | 53.3                     | 0.89                                     |
| Total                              | 28,84,693           | 5,25,394                 | 2,632                                    |

Details of State showing decrease in Forest Cover in the States/UTs in India as per ISFR 2021

(Area in Square Kilometre)

| States/UTs        | Geographical area   | Forest Cover ISFR 2021   | Change in forest cover w.r.t ISFR 2019   |
|-------------------|---------------------|--------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| Manipur           | 22,327              | 16,598                   | -249                                     |
| Meghalaya         | 22,429              | 17,046                   | -73                                      |
| Mizoram           | 21081               | 17,820                   | -186                                     |
| Nagaland          | 16,579              | 12,251                   | -235                                     |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 83,743              | 66,431                   | -257                                     |
| Assam             | 78,438              | 28,312                   | -15                                      |
| Punjab            | 50,362              | 1,847                    | -2                                       |
| Sikkim            | 7,096               | 3,341                    | -1                                       |
| Tripura           | 10,486              | 7,722                    | -4                                       |
| West Bengal       | 88,752              | 16,832                   | -70                                      |
| Delhi             | 1,483               | 195                      | -0.44                                    |
| Total             | 4,02,776            | 1,88,395                 | -1,092                                   |