Context:

Recently, the India State of Forest Report 2023 was released.  

About the Report: 

• The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) has been published biennially by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) since 1987.
  The ISFR 2023 is the 18th report in the series. 
• FSI evaluates the country’s forest and tree resources using satellite data and field-based National Forest Inventory (NFI) and the results of these assessments are published in the ISFR.
• The report contains information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover, growing stock, carbon stock in India’s forests, instances of forest fire, Agroforestry, etc. 

Key Findings of ISFR 2023

• Total Forest and Tree Cover: The total forest and tree cover is 8,27,357 sq km, which is 25.17% of India’s total geographical area.
  The total Forest cover has an area of 7,15,343 sq km (21.76%) while Tree cover has an area of 1,12,014 sq km (3.41%).
• The present assessment also reveals that 19 states/UTs have above 33% of the geographical area under forest cover.
  Out of these, eight states/UTs namely Mizoram, Lakshadweep, A & N Island, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Manipur have forest cover above 75%.
• Increase in Forest and Tree Cover: As compared to ISFR 2021, there is an increase of 1445 sq km in the forest and tree cover (showing an increase of 0.55%) of the country which includes –
  156 sq km increase in the forest cover and
  1289 sq km increase in tree cover

Top performing States:

• Top four states showing the maximum increase in forest and tree cover are –
  Chhattisgarh (684 sq km)
  Uttar Pradesh (559 sq km)
  Odisha (559 sq km)
  Rajasthan (394 sq km) 
• Top three states showing the maximum increase in forest cover are –
  Mizoram (242 sq km)
  Gujarat (180 sq km)
  Odisha (152 sq km)

Area-wise Top States: 

• Top three states having the largest forest and tree cover –
  Madhya Pradesh (85,724 sq km)
  Arunachal Pradesh (67,083 sq km)
  Maharashtra (65,383 sq km)
• Top three states having the largest forest cover –
  Madhya Pradesh (77,073 sq km)
  Arunachal Pradesh (65,882 sq km)
  Chhattisgarh (55,812 sq km)
• States with the Highest Percentage of “Forest Cover”: In terms of percentage of forest cover with respect to the total geographical area, Lakshadweep (91.33%) has the highest forest cover followed by Mizoram (85.34%) and Andaman & Nicobar Island (81.62%).
• The total forest and tree cover in the North Eastern region is 1,74,394.70 km2, which is 67% of the geographical area of these states.
  The current assessment shows a decrease in forest cover of 327.30 km2 in the region. 
• Mangrove Cover: The total mangrove cover in the country is 4,992 sq km, which accounts for 0.15 % of the country’s total geographical area.
  In comparison to the 2021 assessment, there has been a net decrease of 7.43 sq km in the country’s Mangrove coverage.
  Gujarat has a notable decrease of 36.39 sq km.
  Notable increase in Andhra Pradesh (13.01 sq km).
• Bamboo Bearing Area: The extent of bamboo bearing area for the country has been estimated as 1,54,670sq km. As compared to the last assessment done in 2021 there is an increase of 5,227 sq km in bamboo area.
• Carbon Stock in Forest: The total carbon stock in the country’s forest is estimated to be 7,285.5 million tonnes. There is an increase of 81.5 million tonnes in the carbon stock of the country as compared to the last assessment.
  Arunachal Pradesh has maximum carbon stock of 1,021 Mt followed by Madhya Pradesh (608 Mt), Chhattisgarh (505 Mt) and Maharashtra (465 Mt).
  Regarding the monitoring of the target of NDC, the current assessment shows that India has reached to 30.43 billion tonnes of CO2 eq, which indicates that as compared to the base year of 2005, we have already reached to 2.29 billion tonnes of additional carbon sink. 

Key Terminologies Used in the Report 

• Recorded Forest Areas: It refers to any area that is officially documented as a forest in government records (Such areas have more than 10% canopy density).
  It largely consists of the ‘Reserved Forests’ (RF) and the ‘Protected Forests’ (PF), constituted under the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
• Forest cover: It refers to all lands, more than or equal to one hectare in area, with a tree canopy of more than or equal to 10%, irrespective of ownership and legal status; and includes orchards, bamboo, and palm.
• Tree cover:  It refers to the area covered by trees outside recorded forest areas. 

o These areas range from that covered by a single tree to patches of trees less than 1 ha, as areas more than 1 ha are already covered in the Forest cover.