Forest, tree cover grow by 5,188 sq km

The forest and tree cover in India has risen by 5,188 sq km in the past two years, said the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2019, which showed Karnataka growing the maximum cover of 1,025 sq km.

The biennial report by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), which is an assessment of the country’s forest resources, was released by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on December 30. He revealed that the total tree and forest cover in the country includes an increase of 3,976 sq km (0.56 per cent) of forest cover and 1,212 sq km (1.29 per cent) of tree cover, compared to the 2017 report.

According to the report, the top three states in terms of forest cover are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

While Karnataka grew the maximum forest and tree cover at 1,025 sq km, Andhra Pradesh grew a 990 sq km cover and a 823 sq km of forest cover was created by Kerala in the past two years.

Two other states that followed are Jammu and Kashmir, which grew a 371 sq km forest cover, and Himachal Pradesh, where a 334 sq km forest area was created.

“Forest cover in the hill districts is 2,84,006 sq km, which is 40.30 per cent of their total geographical area. The current assessment shows an increase of 544 sq km (0.19 per cent) in 140 hill districts,” the report said.

It specified that the forest data of Jammu and Kashmir, recorded through satellite imaging, “covers areas outside LoC that is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan and China”.

However, the Northeast did not show positive results as the current assessment showed a decrease of forest cover to the extent of 765 sq km (0.45 per cent) in the region.

“Except Assam and Tripura, all states in the region show a decrease in forest cover,” Javadekar said.

According to the report, the total forest cover of India is 7,12,249 sq km, which is 21.67 per cent of the total geographical area. The tree cover is estimated at 95,027 sq km, which is 2.89 per cent of the geographical area.

“The total forest and tree cover of the country is 8,07,276 sq km, which is 24.56 per cent of the geographical area of the country,” it said.

The report also showed that the mangrove cover had increased by 54 sq km (1.10 per cent), as compared to the previous assessment.

Carbon stock increases

The minister said after seeing the report, he was confident that India was on track to achieve its climate goal of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes under the Paris Agreement.

Javadekar said there was an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the country’s carbon stock as compared to the last assessment of 2017.

“This report gives us confidence that we are on track to achieve our Paris Agreement goals,” he said.

According to the present assessment, the total carbon stock in India’s forests is estimated at 7,124.6 million tonnes.

“There is an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock as compared to the last assessment of 2017. The annual increase is 21.3 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 78.1 million tonnes of CO2,” the report said.

“Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) represents the largest pool of carbon stock in forests, which has been estimated at 4,004 million tonnes. The SOC contributes 56 per cent to the total forest carbon stock of the country,” it said.

Susceptible to fire

It also said that 21.4 per cent of forest cover in the country was susceptible to fire.

“Fire-prone forest areas of different severity classes have been mapped in the grids of 5km x 5km, based on the frequency of forest fires. The analysis reveals that 21.40 per cent of the forest cover of the country is highly to extremely fire-prone,” it said.

Dependence of fuelwood on forests was the highest in Maharashtra, whereas, for fodder, small timber and bamboo, the dependence was highest in Madhya Pradesh.

The report has assessed that the annual removal of small timber by people living in forest fringe villages is nearly 7 per cent of the average annual yield of the forests in the country.

The report said there was an increase of 3,229 sq km of bamboo-bearing area in the past two years, with the total bamboo-bearing area of the country estimated at 1.60 lakh sq km.

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