India State of Forest Report 2021 – Highlights & important findings | APSC Exam Notes

Posted on by admin

India State of Forest Report 2021 – Highlights & important findings | APSC Exam Notes

Geography Notes APSC, UPSC and State Exam Notes

Go To Assam Geography Notes & Study Materials   |  Go To Geography Notes

 

Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021, which provides information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover, growing stock, carbon stock in India’s forests, forest fire monitoring, forest cover in tiger reserve areas, above ground estimates of biomass using SAR data & climate change hotspots in Indian forests. 

As per the report, India has recorded an increase of 1,540 sq kms in its forest cover, reaching India’s total forest cover of 713,789 sq km or 21.71 per cent of the total geographical area of the country. India has set a target of bringing 33 percent of its geographical area under forest cover as envisaged in the National Forest Policy, 1988.

The Forest Survey of India defines “forest cover” as all land of one hectare or more of tree patches with canopy density of more than 10 per cent. This covers all land irrespective of legal ownership and land use.

Three categories of forests are surveyed – very dense forests (canopy density over 70%), moderately dense forests (40-70%) and open forests (10-40%). Scrubs (canopy density less than 10%) are also surveyed but not categorised as forests.

 

India’s total 7,13,789 sq km of forest cover comprises
  • Open forests have the biggest share in India’s forest cover, with 9.34% of the total geographical area (307,120 sq km). There is an increase of 2,612 sq km.
  • Very dense forests account for just 3.04% (99,779 sq km) of the total geographical area. There is an increase of 501 sq km.
  • Moderately dense forests account for 9.33% (3,06,890 sq km). There is loss of 1,582 sq km.

 

Key highlights of India State of Forest Report, 2021
  • ISFR 2021 has shown an increasing trend in forest cover overall, the trend is not uniform across all kinds of forests. Increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very dense forest. 
  • The forest and tree cover of India is 80.9 million hectares which is 24.62 percent of the geographical area of the country. As compared to the assessment of 2019, there is an increase of 2,261 sq km in the total forest and tree cover of the country. Out of this, the increase in the forest cover has been observed as 1,540 sq km and that in tree cover it is 721 sq km.

  • Madhya Pradesh has the largest area covered under forest 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 (84.53%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.33%), Meghalaya (76.00%), Manipur (74.34%) and Nagaland (73.90%).
  • 17 states/UT’s have above 33 percent of the geographical area under forest cover. Five states/UTs namely Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have more than 75 percent forest cover.
  • Total carbon stock in the country’s forest is estimated to be 7,204 million tonnes and there is an increase of 79.4 million tonnes in the carbon stock of the country as compared to the last assessment of 2019. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 39.7 million tonnes.
  • By 2030, 45-64% of forests in India will experience the effects of climate change and rising temperatures, and forests in all states (except Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland) will be highly vulnerable climate hot spots. Ladakh is likely to be the most affected. 
  • India’s forests are already showing shifting trends of vegetation types, such as Sikkim which has shown a shift in its vegetation pattern for 124 endemic species.
  • The assessment of the report is based on interpretation of LISS-III data from Indian Remote Sensing satellite data (Resourcesat-II) with a spatial resolution of 23.5 meters with the scale of interpretation 1:50,000 to monitor forest cover and forest cover changes at District, State and National level.

 

Mangroves coverage
  • India’s total mangrove cover is 4,992 sq km and an increase of 17 sq Km in mangrove cover as compared to the previous assessment of 2019. 
  • Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Odisha (8 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (4 sq km) and Karnataka (3 sq km).

 

Forest  cover in Tiger reserves
  • In ISFR 2021, FSI has included a new chapter related to the assessment of forest cover in the Tiger Reserves, Corridors and Lion conservation area of India.
  • It has found that the forest cover in tiger corridors has increased by 37.15 sq km (0.32%) between 2011-2021, but decreased by 22.6 sq km (0.04%) in tiger reserves.
  • Buxa (West Bengal), Anamalai (Tamil Nadu) and Indravati reserves (Chhattisgarh) have shown an increase in forest cover.
  • The highest forest cover losses have been found in Kawal (Telangana), Bhadra (Karnataka) and the Sundarbans reserves (West Bengal).
  • Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh has the highest forest cover, at nearly 97%.

 

Some of the concerns
  • India is not adding dense forests. It is actually losing significant areas of natural forests with moderate tree cover. India has more ‘open forest’ i.e. forest cover with tree canopy density in the range of 10% to 40%.
  • 1,582 sq km decline in moderately dense forests, or “natural forests”, in conjunction with an increase of 2,621 sq km in open forest areas – shows a degradation of forests in the country, with natural forests degrading to less dense open forests. 
  • Scrub area has increased by 5,320 sq km, indicating the complete degradation of forests in these areas.
  • The Northeast states, which account for 7.98% of total geographical area but 23.75% of total forest cover, have shown an overall decline of 1,020 sq km in forest cover.
  • Forest loss in NE states: Mizoram (84.5% of its total geographical area is forests) or Arunachal Pradesh (79.3%), the two states have respectively lost 1.03% and 0.39% of their forest cover, while Manipur has lost 1.48 %, Meghalaya 0.43%, and Nagaland 1.88%.
  • In 2019-20, 1.2 lakh forest fire hotspots were detected by the SNPP_VIIRS sensor, which increased to 3.4 lakh in 2020-21. The highest numbers of fires were detected in Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
 
FACTFILE - India State of Forest Report (ISFR)
  • The biannual report is prepared by The Forest Survey of India (FSI), a body under MoEFCC, which conducts surveys and assessment of forest resources in the country.
  • The information given in the report will serve as an important tool to monitor the country’s forest resources and plan suitable scientific and policy interventions for its management. It will also serve as a useful source of information for the policy makers, planners, State Forest Departments, line agencies involved in various developmental works, academicians, civil society and others interested in natural resource conservation and management.
  • Published biennially, the India State of Forest Report, 2021 is an assessment of the forest and tree resources of the country. The first survey was published in 1987, and ISFR 2021 is the 17th.

Go To Assam Geography Notes & Study Materials                                                                                         Go To Geography Notes

Environment & Ecology e-Book PDF | Geography of Assam e-Book PDF