Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). The forest cover assessment is a wall-to-wall mapping exercise based on remote sensing supported by intensive ground verification and field data from National Forest Inventory. As per the latest ISFR-2021, the total forest cover of the country is 7,13,78,903 hectare which is 21.71% of the geographical area of the country. The State and Union Territories wise details of forest cover as per ISFR 2021is given at Annexure.

Various schemes are being implemented by the Central and State Government/Union Territory   Administration for increase in forest and tree cover in the country. These includes the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and Green India Mission (GIM) being implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. National Afforestation Programme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme for regeneration of degraded forest and adjoining areas in the country. The scheme has been implemented through 3 tier institutional setup of State Forest Development Agency (SFDA) at State level, Forest Development agency (FDA) at Forest Division level and Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) at Village level. Now NAP scheme has been merged with Green India Mission.  National Mission for a Green India (GIM) is one of the eight Missions outlined under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. It aims at protecting, restoring, and enhancing India’s forest cover and responding to Climate Change by means of plantation activities in the forest and non-forest areas. 

Afforestation activities are also taken up under various programmes/funding sources such as Compensatory Afforestation Funds under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), afforestation activities under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), National Agro-forestry Policy and Sub-mission on Agro-forestry (SMAF), National Bamboo Mission and National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture. In addition to above, State and UT Governments have their own afforestation and reforestation programmes. Almost every State has activities under social forestry, which largely focuses on tree planting in the areas outside forests.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

 

******

Annexure

State and Union Territory wise details of forest cover as per ISFR 2021

(Area in hectare )
S. No.	State/UTs		Geographical Area	Total Forest Cover	Percentage of Geographical area
1	Andhra Pradesh		1,62,96,800	29,78,004	18.28
2	Arunachal Pradesh		83,74,300	66,43,100	79.33
3	Assam		78,43,800	28,31,200	36.09
4	Bihar		94,16,300	7,38,100	7.84
5	Chhattisgarh		1,35,19,200	55,71,700	41.21
6	Delhi		1,48,300	19,500	13.15
7	Goa		3,70,200	2,24,400	60.62
8	Gujarat		1,96,24,400	14,92,600	7.61
9	Haryana		44,21,200	1,60,300	3.63
10	Himachal  Pradesh		55,67,300	15,44,300	27.73
11	Jharkhand		79,71,600	23,72,100	29.76
12	Karnataka		1,91,79,100	38,73,000	20.19
13	Kerala		38,85,200	21,25,300	54.70
14	Madhya Pradesh		3,08,25,200	77,49,300	25.14
15	Maharashtra		3,07,71,300	50,79,800	16.51
16	Manipur		22,32,700	16,59,800	74.34
17	Meghalaya		22,42,900	17,04,600	76.00
18	Mizoram		21,08,100	17,82,000	84.53
19	Nagaland		16,57,900	12,25,100	73.90
20	Odisha		1,55,70,700	52,15,600	33.50
21	Punjab		50,36,200	1,84,700	3.67
22	Rajasthan		3,42,23,900	16,65,500	4.87
23	Sikkim		7,09,600	3,34,100	47.08
24	Tamil Nadu		1,30,06,000	26,41,900	20.31
25	Telangana		1,12,07,700	21,21,400	18.93
26	Tripura		10,48,600	7,72,200	73.64
27	Uttar Pradesh		2,40,92,800	14,81,800	6.15
28	Uttarakhand		53,48,300	24,30,500	45.44
29	West Bengal		88,75,200	16,83,200	18.96
30	A & N Islands		8,24,900	6,74,400	81.75
31	Chandigarh		11,400	2,288	20.07
32	Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu		60,200	22,775	37.83
33	Jammu & Kashmir	(54,624)	2,22,23,600	21,38,700	39.15
34	Ladakh	(1,68,055)		2,27,200	1.35
35	Lakshadweep		3,000	2,710	90.33
36	Puducherry		49,000	5,330	10.88
Total			32,87,46,900	7,13,78,903	21.71

 

HS/PD/IG

(Release ID: 1842628) Visitor Counter : 3722