India’s tree and forest cover increased by 5,188 square km in past two years

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 30

India’s tree and forest cover increased by 5,188 square kilometres in the past two years, according to the India State of Forest Report 2019 released on Monday by Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Currently its total forest and tree cover is 80.73 million hectares—24.56 per cent of the geographical area of the country.

India’s target is to bring 33 per cent of its geographical area under the forest cover.

Releasing the report, Javadekar also talked of an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock as compared to the last assessment of 2017.

Under the current assessment the total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated 7,124.6 million tonnes and there is an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment of 2017. 

The report gives us confidence that we are on track to achieve our Paris Agreement goals, he said.

As per the latest report, in comparison to the assessment of 2017, there is an increase of 5,188 sq km in the total forest and tree cover in the country.

Of this, the increase in the forest cover is 3,976 sq km and tree cover is 1,212 sq km.

Top three states showing increase in forest cover are Karnataka (1,025 sq km), Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km).

Mangrove cover, separately reported, has also increased. The total mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km, an increase of 54 sq km as compared to the previous assessment. 

The top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km). 

The extent of bamboo bearing area of the country has been estimated 16.00 million hectare. 

The total estimated green weight of bamboo culms is 278 million tonnes, showing an increase of 88 million tonnes as compared to the 2017 assessment.

Javadekar said ever since bamboo legally ceased to be a tree with the government following the amendment in the Indian Forest Act in 2017, its coverage had increased.

The classification of the bamboo as a tree meant that it couldn’t be easily ferried across state borders. It also required permits from village councils and couldn’t be cultivated in non-forest areas.  

The total growing stock of India’s timber is estimated 5,915.76 million cubic metre of which 4,273.47 million cu-m is inside the forests and 1,642.29 million cu-m outside.

There is an increase of 93.38 million cu-m of total growing stock, as compared to the previous assessment.

Current assessment shows a decrease of forest cover to the extent of 765 sq km (0.45 per cent) in Northeast India region.

Except Assam and Tripura, all states in the region show decrease in forest cover, which the minister said was due to the Jhoom cultivation.