¶ Union
Ministry for Environment released the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2019
in New Delhi
¶ The
report is published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI)
¶ ISFR
2019 is the 16th report in the series.
¶ India
is among few countries in the world where forest cover is consistently
increasing.
¶ The
total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.73 million hectare which is
24.56% of the geographical area of the country.
¶ Compared
to the assessment of 2017, there is an increase of 5,188 sq. km in the total
forest and tree cover of the country.
¶ Top
three states showing increase in forest cover are Karnataka (1,025 sq. km)
followed by Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km)
¶ Area-wise
Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by
Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. In terms of forest
cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram
(85.41%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and
Nagaland (75.31%).
ISFR 2019
|
Maximum Forest Area
(by area)
|
Maximum Forest Area
(by %)
|
Madhya Pradesh
|
Mizoram (85.41%)
|
Arunachal Pradesh
|
Arunachal Pradesh
(79.63%)
|
Chhattisgarh
|
Meghalaya (76.33%)
|
Odisha
|
Manipur (75.46%)
|
Maharashtra
|
Nagaland (75.31%)
|
¶ Mangrove
cover has been separately reported in the ISFR 2019 and the total mangrove
cover in the country is 4,975 sq km.
¶ An
increase of 54 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the
previous assessment of 2017.
¶ Top
three states showing mangrove cover increase are
Ø
Gujarat (37 sq km)
Ø
Maharashtra (16 sq km) and
Ø
Odisha (8 sq km).
Classification of Forests
Class
|
Details
|
Very Dense Forest
|
All lands with tree
canopy density of 70% and above
|
Moderately Dense
Forest
|
All lands with tree
canopy density of 40% and more but less than 70%
|
Open Forest
|
All lands with tree
canopy density of 10% and more but less than 40%
|
Scrub
|
All lands with tree
canopy density of less than 10%
|
Non - forest
|
Lands not included in
any of the above classes (includes water)
|
