New Delhi, Feb 12: India’s tree and forest cover has registered an increase of one per cent or 8,021 sq km in two years since 2015, according to the latest assessment by the government.
The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2017 was released by Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan and his deputy Mahesh Sharma here Monday. Harsh Vardhan said India has shown an increasing trend in the forest and tree cover as against the global trend of decreasing forest cover during the last decade.
According to the report, the total forest cover is 7,08,273 sq km, which is 21.54 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. Forest and tree cover combined is 8,02,088 sq km or 24.39 per cent of the total geographical area.
The environment ministry said in the latest assessment that very dense forest in India has also increased by 1.36 per cent as compared to 2015. ISFR is released every two years.
“The increase in the forest cover has been observed as 6,778 sq km and that of tree cover as 1,243 sq km,” Harsh Vardhan said. He said that the encouraging sign was that much of the increase in forest cover has been observed in very dense forest (VDF) category, as they absorb maximum carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
“The increase in forest cover in VDF is followed by increase in open forest,” the minister said, adding that ISFR 2017 has been prepared with the help of scientific tools. He said Madhya Pradesh (77,414 sq km) has the largest forest cover in the country in terms of area, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (66,964 sq km) and Chhattisgarh (55,547 sq km).
In terms of percentage of forest cover with respect to the total geographical area, Lakshadweep with (90.33 per cent) has the highest forest cover, followed by Mizoram (86.27 per cent) and Andaman and Nicobar Island (81.73 per cent), he said.
The top five states where maximum forest cover has increased are Andhra Pradesh (2,141 sq kms), Karnataka (1,101 sq kms), Kerala (1,043 sq kms), Orissa (885 sq kms) and Telangana (565 sq kms).
PTI
