State of Forests Report, 2019

• Union Environment Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar has released State of Forests Report, 2019 (ISFR).
• It is released every two years since 2003.
• It has been prepared by Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun.
• It assesses the forest and tree cover, bamboo resources, carbon stock and forest fires.
• According to this report, the forest area in the country has increased by 5,188 square km in the last two years.
• But however, the gain in forest cover is outside forestland.
• Only there is a gain of 301 sq km of dense forest on forestland since 2017.
• There is a loss of 2,145 sq km of dense forests that have become non-forests in those two years.
• Dense forests are defined by canopy cover: over 70% is considered very dense and 40-70% medium dense.
• Unlike natural forests, commercial plantations grow rapidly and show up as dense cover in satellite images.
• The 2019 assessment has for the first time also assessed biodiversity of plant species in forests.
• Karnataka is the top state measured in terms of richness of tree species with 325 species, followed by Tamil Nadu (252 species), Andhra Pradesh (242 species), Kerala (238 species) and Odisha (192 species).
• Arunachal Pradesh is the top state for plant species richness with 737 species, followed by Tamil Nadu (652 species), Karnataka (505 species), Jammu and Kashmir (478 species) and Kerala (477 species).

key findings of the ISFR 2019

• The total Forest and Tree cover of the country is 8,07,276 sq km which is 24.56% of the geographical area of the country.
• It is short of the National Forest Policy, 1988, which envisages 33% to be under such cover.
• The total forest cover of the country is 7,12,249 sq km which is 21.67% of the geographical area of the country.
• The tree cover of the country is estimated as 95,027 sq km which is 2.89% of the geographical area.
• There is an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of the country.
• According to the report, 7124 million tonnes of carbon stock has been recorded in the country.
• Mangrove cover in the country has increased by 54 sq km (1.10%).
• It has increased in Gujarat (37 Sq.Km), Maharashtra and Odisha.
• The total mangrove area is recorded to be 4975 square kilometers.
• West Bengal accounts for 42.45%, followed by Gujarat (23.66%) and Andaman & Nicobar Islands (12.39%).
• Total bamboo bearing area of the country is estimated as 1,60,037 sq km.
• There is an increase of 3,229 sq km in bamboo bearing area.
• This has happened because bamboo was reclassified as grass.
• It could be cut and then replanted.
• Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) represents the largest pool of carbon stock in forests, which has been estimated 4,004 million tonnes.
• The SOC contributes 56% to the total forest carbon stock of the country.

States data

• The top five States in terms of increase in forest cover are Karnataka (1,025 sq km), Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km), Kerala (823 sq km), Jammu & Kashmir (371 sq km) and Himachal Pradesh (334 sq km).
• There was a sharpest decline in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Mizoram.
• Total forest cover in the North Eastern region is 1,70,541 sq km, which is 65.05% of its geographical area.
• Except Assam and Tripura, all the States in the region show decrease in forest cover (765 sq km - 0.45 per cent).
• The loss in the North East is attributed primarily due to the traditional farming practice of Shifting Cultivation (Jhum cultivation).
• There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.83% of the area.
• Amongst the States, Gujarat has largest area of wetlands within the country followed by West Bengal.
• Dependence of fuelwood on forests is highest in the State of Maharashtra, followed by Odisha and Rajasthan.
• For fodder, small timber and bamboo, dependence is highest in Madhya Pradesh.

Tamilnadu

• Tamil Nadu increased its total green cover by 83.02sqkm
• The state’s overall green cover currently stands at 20% of its geographical area (Target is 33).
• The area under mangrove forest cover in Tamil Nadu has shrunk by four sq km
• Tamil Nadu’s mangrove cover is estimated to be close to 45sqkm.

Forest cover

• In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five states include Mizoram (85.41%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and Nagaland (75.31%).