Lok Sabha Question No. 3610 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-08-08
Subject: Incentive Programmes to Increase Forest Cover
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Janardan Singh Sigriwal

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3610

TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.08.2022

## Incentive Programmes to Increase Forest Cover

## 3610. SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL:

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

- (a) whether the Government has made any assessment impact of climate change recently due to decreasing of forest area in various parts of the country and if so, the details of the findings thereof;
- (b) the present status of the forest areas in the country, State/UT-wise including Bihar; and
- (c) whether  there  is  any  incentive  programmes  being  implemented  by  the  Government  to increase forest areas in various States and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a)  and  (b)  Forest  Survey  of  India  (FSI),  Dehradun,  an  organization  under  the  Ministry  of Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  carries  out  the  assessment  of  forest  cover  of  the country biennially and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). This assessment gives the requisite data on change of forest cover in the country. As per ISFR2021, the total forest cover of the country is 7,13,789km 2 which is 21.71% of the geographical area of the country. The forest cover of the country has increased by 1540km 2 as compared to the last assessment i.e., ISFR 2019.Further, the overall increase in forest cover in the last one decade is 21,762km 2 . The details of State and Union Territory wise forest cover are given in Annexure-I .

Climate  Change  is  expected  to  impact  the  diverse  ecosystems  of  the  country  in  different ways.  As  per  India's  Third  Biennial  Update  Report  (2021)  submitted  to  the  United  Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the studies on forests and biodiversity indicate that many natural ecosystems in the country  are  vulnerable  to  ongoing  and  future  climate  change. The  studies also show  that Indian forests still retain considerable potential for  carbon sequestration.  The  dominant  forest  type  in  the  country,  namely  the  tropical  dry  forest,  has considerable  resilience  to  store  carbon  and  maintain  diversity  in  the  face  of  climate  related disturbances such as drought and fire as per studies in the Western Ghats, though changes in tree species composition are expected to occur. The studies have also brought out the vulnerability of the  natural  grasslands  of  the  country  to  climate  change  with  the  risk  of  invasion  by  alien  and native woody plants. There are already indications that both herbaceous and woody plants are moving to higher elevations in mountain regions such as the Himalaya.

(c)   Various  schemes  are  being  implemented  by  the  Central  and  State  Governments/Union Territory Administration for increase in forest and tree cover in the country. These include, 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 has been implemented through three-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. Green India Mission 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.

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## Annexure-I

Annexure referred to in reply to parts (a) and (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 3610 due for answer on 08.08.2022 regarding ' Incentive Programmes to Increase Forest Cover'

## State and Union Territory wise details of forest cover as per ISFR 2021 (Area in km 2 )

|   S. No. | State/UTs         | Geographical area   | Total forest cover   |   Percentage of geographical area |   Change in forest cover w.r.t ISFR 2019 |
|----------|-------------------|---------------------|----------------------|-----------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh    | 1,62,968            | 29,784               |                             18.28 |                                   647    |
|        2 | Arunachal Pradesh | 83,743              | 66,431               |                             79.33 |                                  -257    |
|        3 | Assam             | 78,438              | 28,312               |                             36.09 |                                   -15    |
|        4 | Bihar             | 94,163              | 7,381                |                              7.84 |                                    75    |
|        5 | Chhattisgarh      | 1,35,192            | 55,717               |                             41.21 |                                   106    |
|        6 | Delhi             | 1,483               | 195.00               |                             13.15 |                                    -0.44 |
|        7 | Goa               | 3,702               | 2,244                |                             60.62 |                                     7    |
|        8 | Gujarat           | 1,96,244            | 14,926               |                              7.61 |                                    69    |
|        9 | Haryana           | 44,212              | 1,603                |                              3.63 |                                     1    |
|       10 | Himachal Pradesh  | 55,673              | 15,443               |                             27.73 |                                     9    |
|       11 | Jharkhand         | 79,716              | 23,721               |                             29.76 |                                   110    |
|       12 | Karnataka         | 1,91,791            | 38,730               |                             20.19 |                                   155    |
|       13 | Kerala            | 38,852              | 21,253               |                             54.7  |                                   109    |
|       14 | Madhya Pradesh    | 3,08,252            | 77,493               |                             25.14 |                                    11    |
|       15 | Maharashtra       | 3,07,713            | 50,798               |                             16.51 |                                    20    |
|       16 | Manipur           | 22,327              | 16,598               |                             74.34 |                                  -249    |
|       17 | Meghalaya         | 22,429              | 17,046               |                             76    |                                   -73    |
|       18 | Mizoram           | 21,081              | 17,820               |                             84.53 |                                  -186    |
|       19 | Nagaland          | 16,579              | 12,251               |                             73.9  |                                  -235    |
|       20 | Odisha            | 1,55,707            | 52,156               |                             33.5  |                                   537    |
|       21 | Punjab            | 50,362              | 1,847                |                              3.67 |                                    -2    |
|       22 | Rajasthan         | 3,42,239            | 16,655               |                              4.87 |                                    25    |
|       23 | Sikkim            | 7,096               | 3,341                |                             47.08 |                                    -1    |
|       24 | Tamil Nadu        | 1,30,060            | 26,419               |                             20.31 |                                    55    |
|       25 | Telangana         | 1,12,077            | 21,214               |                             18.93 |                                   632    |
|       26 | Tripura           | 10,486              | 7,722                |                             73.64 |                                    -4    |
|       27 | Uttar Pradesh     | 2,40,928            | 14,818               |                              6.15 |                                    12    |
|       28 | Uttarakhand       | 53,483              | 24,305               |                             45.44 |                                     2    |
|       29 | West Bengal       | 88,752              | 16,832               |                             18.96 |                                   -70    |
|       30 | A &NIslands       | 8,249               | 6,744                |                             81.75 |                                     1    |
|       31 | Chandigarh        | 114                 | 22.88                |                             20.07 |                                     0.85 |

| S. No.   | State/UTs                          | State/UTs                          | Geographical area   | Total forest cover   |   Percentage of geographical area | Change in forest cover w.r.t ISFR 2019   |
|----------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|---------------------|----------------------|-----------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| 32       | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu | 602                 | 227.75               |                             37.83 | 0.10                                     |
| 33       | Jammu& Kashmir                     | Shape file Area (54,624)           | 2,22,236            | 21,387               |                             39.15 | 29                                       |
| 34       | Ladakh                             | Shape file Area (1,68,055)         | 2,22,236            | 2,272                |                              1.35 | 18                                       |
| 35       | Lakshadweep                        | Lakshadweep                        | 30                  | 27.10                |                             90.33 | 0.00                                     |
| 36       | Puducherry                         | Puducherry                         | 490                 | 53.30                |                             10.88 | 0.89                                     |
|          | Total                              | Total                              | 32,87,469           | 7,13,789             |                             21.71 | 1,540                                    |