Lok Sabha Question No. 353 (STARRED), answered on 2022-03-28
Subject: Incentive Programmes to Increase Forest Areas
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Saikia Dilip

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO: 353*

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 28.03.2022

## Incentive Programmes to Increase Forest Areas

## * 353 SHRI DILIP SAIKIA:

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

- (a) the  actual  status  of  the  forest  areas  in  the  country  and  whether  there  has  been  an increase  or  decrease  in  the  forest  areas  during  the  last  one  decade  and  the  details thereof;
- (b) the  incentive  programmes  being  implemented  by  the  Government  to  increase  forest areas in various States particularly in Haryana and the North-Eastern States including Assam; and
- (c) the details of the effect of this trend of decreasing forest areas on the climate and the forest dwellers?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BHUPENDER YADAV)

- (a) to (c) The statement is laid on the table of the House.

***

## Statement refer to in reply to part (a) to (c) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 353 due for reply  on  28.03.2022  regarding  'Incentive Programmes to Increase Forest Areas'  by  Shri Dilip Saikia.

- (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.    The  ISFR  2021  has  been recently  released  by  the  Ministry  on  13 th January,  2022.    As  per  the  ISFR  reports,  the change in forest cover  w.r.t.  previous  assessments  is  increased  or  decreased  in  the  last decade is given as below:-

## (Area in square kilometre)

|   S. No. |   ISFR | Total Forest Cover   | Change in forest cover w.r.t. previous assessment   |
|----------|--------|----------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
|        1 |   2011 | 6,92,027             | -367                                                |
|        2 |   2013 | 6,97,898             | 5,871                                               |
|        3 |   2015 | 7,01,495             | 3,597                                               |
|        4 |   2017 | 7,08,273             | 6,778                                               |
|        5 |   2019 | 7,12,249             | 3,976                                               |
|        6 |   2021 | 7,13,789             | 1,540                                               |

Hence,  the  overall  increase  in  forest  cover  in  the  last  one  decade  is  21,762  square kilometre.

- (b) Various  schemes  are  being  implemented  by  the  Central  and  State  Government/Union Territory  Administration  for  increase  in  forest  and  tree  cover  in  the  country.  These includes the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and Green India Mission (GIM) being  implemented  by  the  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change. National Afforestation Programme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for regeneration of degraded  forest  and  adjoining  areas  in  the  country.  The  scheme  is  being  implemented through 3 tier institutional setup 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. Now NAP scheme has been merged with Green India Mission.  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 Change by means of plantation activities in the forest and non-forest areas.

Afforestation activities are also taken up under various programmes/funding sources such as Compensatory Afforestation Funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), afforestation activities under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural  Employment Guarantee  Scheme (MGNREGA),  National Agroforestry  Policy  and  Sub-mission  on  Agro-forestry  (SMAF),  National  Bamboo  Mission and National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture.

In  addition  to  above,  State  and  UT  Governments  have  their  own  afforestation  and reforestation programmes. Almost every State has activities under social forestry, which largely focuses on tree planting in the areas outside forests.   The State Governments in the  North  Eastern  region  also  take  up  awareness  programme  to  educate  people  against Jhum cultivation.  The  State  Governments  also  carry  out  plantation  involving  local communities in the Jhum affected areas and provide alternate livelihood for forest fringe communities.  The  State  Government  of  Haryana  has  started  intensive  afforestation programme for plantation on forest lands, panchayat lands, institutional lands, farm lands, urban areas to increase in forest cover.

- (c)  The  India  State  of  Forest  Report  published  by  the  Ministry  shows  that  overall  at  the national  level  forest  cover  has  increased  by  21,762  square  kilometre  in  the  last  one decade. There is no decreasing trend in forest cover of the country.

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