Increase in Forest Covers of the Country


Increase in Forest Covers of the Country
There is increase in forest cover due to afforestation-reforestation in different states.The forest cover of the country is assessed by Forest Survey of India, Dehradun on biennial basis.  The data is published in state of Forest Report.  The last report was published in 2009 which is known as India State of Forest Report, 2009.  According to the India State of Forest Report 2009, there is an increase in the forest cover of the country from 690171 square km in 2005 to 690899 square km in 2007.  The details of forest cover in the country, state-wise is given in Annexure I.

            The Ministry of Environment and Forests is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Afforestation Programme (NAP) Scheme for regeneration of degraded forests and adjoining areas in the country.  The scheme is being implemented through a decentralized mechanism 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.  As on 31.10.2011, 800 FDA projects have been approved in 28 States in the country to treat an area of 18.32 lakh ha. sinceinception of the scheme in 2002.  The details of funds released and area approved during the current five year plan are given in Annexure II.

Annexure I


Forest Cover in States / UTs in India
(area in km2)
State/UT
Geographical Area
Forest Cover
% to GA
Change
 in
forest cover
Scrub
Very Dense Forest
Mod. Dense Forest
Open Forest
Total

Andhra Pradesh
275,069
820
24,757
19,525
45,102
16.40
-129
10,372
Arunachal Pradesh
83,743
20,858
31,556
14,939
67,353
80.43
-119
111
Assam
78,438
1,461
11,558
14,673
27,692
35.30
-66
179
Bihar
94163
231
3,248
3,325
6,804
7.23
-3
134
Chhattisgarh
135,191
4,162
35,038
16,670
55,870
41.33
-59
107
Delhi
1,483
7
50
120
177
11.94
0
1
Goa
3,702
511
624
1,016
2,151
58.10
-5
1
Gujarat
196,022
376
5,249
8,995
14,620
7.46
16
1,463
Haryana
44,212
27
463
1,104
1,594
3.61
-10
145
Himachal Pradesh
55,673
3,224
6,383
5,061
14,668
26.35
2
327
Jammu & Kashmir
222,236
4,298
8,977
9,411
22,686
10.21
-3
2,036
Jharkhand
79,714
2,590
9,899
10,405
22,894
28.72
172
683
Karnataka
191,791
1,777
20,181
14,232
36,190
18.87
-10
3,176
Kerala
38,863
1,443
9,410
6,471
17,324
44.58
40
58
Madhya Pradesh
308,245
6,647
35,007
36,046
77,700
25.21
-39
6,401
Maharashtra
307,713
8,739
20,834
21,077
50,650
16.46
-11
4,157
Manipur
22,327
701
5,474
11,105
17,280
77.40
328
1
Meghalaya
22,429
410
9,501
7,410
17,321
77.23
116
211
Mizoram
21,081
134
6,251
12,855
19,240
91.27
640
1
Nagaland
16,579
1,274
4,897
7,293
13,464
81.21
-201
2
Orissa
155,707
7,073
21,394
20,388
48,855
31.38
100
4,852
Punjab
50,362
0
733
931
1,664
3.30
4
20
Rajasthan
342,239
72
4,450
11,514
16,036
4.69
24
4,347
Sikkim
7,096
500
2,161
696
3,357
47.31
0
356
Tamil Nadu
130,058
2,926
10,216
10,196
23,338
17.94
24
1,206
Tripura
10,486
111
4,770
3,192
8,073
76.99
-100
75
Uttar Pradesh
240,928
1,626
4,563
8,152
14,341
5.95
-5
745
Uttarakhand
53,483
4,762
14,165
5,568
24,495
45.80
2
271
West Bengal
88,752
2,987
4,644
5,363
12,994
14.64
24
29
A&N Islands
8,249
3,762
2,405
495
6,662
80.76
-1
53
Chandigarh
114
1
10
6
17
14.91
0
1
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
491
0
114
97
211
42.97
-5
1
Daman & Diu
112
0
1
5
6
5.04
0
3
Lakshadweep
32
0
16
10
26
82.75
0
0
Puducherry
480
0
13
31
44
9.14
2
0
Grand Total
3,287,263
83,510
319,012
288,377
690,899
21.02
728
41,525


Annexure II

 ‘Increase in forest covers of the country’

S.No.
State
Total Release (incrore)
Total area (in ha.)
1.
Andhra Pradesh
50.62
34017
2.
Bihar
29.26
21813
3.
Chhattisgarh
135.80
69783
4.
Goa
0.00
0
5.
Gujarat
118.97
61270
6.
Haryana
83.95
26329
7.
Himachal Pradesh
24.69
16717
8.
Jammu and Kashmir
30.40
17655
9.
Jharkhand
80.67
56650
10.
Karnataka
69.95
44635
11.
Kerala
31.76
19364
12.
Madhya Pradesh
91.49
65827
13.
Maharashtra
96.27
57838
14.
Orissa
63.80
75695
15.
Punjab
12.20
9874
16.
Rajasthan
29.81
21000
17.
Tamil Nadu
36.59
18909
18.
Uttar Pradesh
127.20
76670
19.
Uttarakhand
33.10
31609
20.
West Bengal
26.10
20567
21.
Arunachal Pradesh
15.99
12030
22.
Assam
38.92
25650
23.
Manipur
43.10
22314
24.
Meghalaya
21.63
15645
25.
Mizoram
66.42
28320
26.
Nagaland
39.33
24690
27.
Sikkim
43.01
15399
28.
Tripura
26.22
22556

Grant Total
1467.25
912826