Forest, tree cover make up 25.17% of India’s total geographical area

• India highlighted its significant achievements in forest and landscape restoration at the 28th session of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) Committee on Forestry (COFO 28), in Rome.

• As per India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, the forest and tree cover of the country is 82.74 million hectares which is 25.17 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. 

• The forest and tree cover of the country has increased by 1,445.81 square kilometers as compared to the last assessment of ISFR 2021.

• The forest cover assessment is a wall-to-wall mapping exercise based on remote sensing supported by intensive ground verification and field data from the National Forest Inventory.

• Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organisation under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, carries out the assessment of forest and tree cover of the country biennially and the findings are published in the ISFR. 

The increase in the forest and tree cover arise due to:

i) Natural growth of vegetation.

ii) Afforestation initiatives.

iii) Improved protection of plantations and forest areas.

iv) Increase in trees outside forests.

v) Regeneration in shifting cultivation areas.

• Negative changes occur due to harvesting of short-rotation plantations, shifting cultivation, encroachment and natural calamities such as storms, floods and landslides.

• India also said that it has created an additional carbon sink of 2.29 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2021 and has enhanced its ambition to create an additional carbon sink of 3.5-4.0 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2035, compared with 2005 levels.

• India highlighted its commitment under the Bonn Challenge to restore 26 million hectares of degraded and deforested land by 2030, of which 21.76 million hectares have already been brought under restoration.