The Forest Survey of India evaluates India’s forest and tree cover every two years. The first survey was conducted in 1987; the 17th is the Indian State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021.
India is one of the few countries that conduct such an assessment every two years, and it is usually regarded as thorough and reliable. The ISFR is utilized in policy development and implementation in the forest conservation, forestry, and agroforestry spheres.
During the survey, three types of ecosystem types were identified: very thick forests (canopy density over 70%), moderately dense forests (40-70%), and open forests (10-40%). Scrubs (canopy concentration less than 10%) are likewise evaluated but are not classified as forests.
New features of ISFR, 2021:
- Assessing forest areas in tiger sanctuaries, tiger corridors, and the Gir forest is dedicated to the Asiatic lion for the first time.
- Between 2011 and 2021, forest area in tiger corridors rose by 37.15 square kilometres (0.32 %) but declined by 22.6 square kilometres (0.04%) in tiger sanctuaries.
- Forest cover has grown in 20 tiger sanctuaries in these ten years while decreasing in 32.
- Anamalai, Indravati, and Buxa reserves have expanded forest cover, whereas Kawal, the Sunderbans, and Bhadra have seen the highest losses.
- Importantly, Pakke Tiger Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh has about % forest cover, the highest of all reserves.
Report Findings:
Increase in Area
- The country’s forest and tree cover continue to grow, with an extra 1,540 square kilometres added in the last two years.
- India’s forest cover has increased to 7,13,789 square kilometres, or 21.71 % of the country’s geographical region, up from 21.67 % in the 2019 survey.
- The space covered by trees has increased by 721 square kilometres.
- Tree coverage is described as all tree clusters of less than one hectare that exist outside the reported forest area. This consists of trees of different shapes and sizes and dispersed trees.
Expansion in Forest Coverage
- Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha have seen the most significant improvement in forest cover.
- Mangroves have grown by 17 square kilometres. India today has a total mangrove cover of 4,992 square kilometres.
Overall Carbon Stock
- The entire carbon stock in the country’s forest areas is anticipated to be 7,204 million tons, up 79.4 million tons from 2019.
- The quantity of carbon absorbed from the atmosphere, now held within the ecological system, mainly in live biomass and soil, but also, to a lesser extent, in dead wood and litter, is referred to as forest carbon stock.
Issues:
Natural Forest Loss
- There is a 1,582 sq. km reduction in moderately thick forests, sometimes known as “natural forests”.
- The loss and rise of 2,621 square kilometres in open forest areas indicate that the country’s forests are degrading.
- In addition, the scrub area has increased by 5,320 square kilometres, suggesting that the forests in these places have entirely been degraded.
Northeast Forest Coverage Decline
- A total of 1,020 square kilometres of forest cover has been lost in the region.
- The Northeast states comprise 7.98% of total land mass but 23.75% of entire forested land.
- The drop in the Northeastern states has been connected to a series of natural disasters in the region, including landslides and severe rains, man-made activities such as changing agriculture, pressure from construction operations, and tree chopping.
