India State of Forest Report 2019 (Volume I)

According to the report, forest cover comprises of areas of more than a hectare with a tree canopy density of 10 per cent or more, irrespective of whether or how the land is used, its legal status and ownership, and tree species. Tree cover comprises of tree patches that are less than a hectare and occur outside ‘recorded forest areas’ (RFAs; areas recorded as forests in government records).

ISFR 2019 states that India’s total forest and tree cover is 8,07,276 square kilometres – 24.56 per cent of the country’s geographical area. This is 5,188 square kilometres or 0.65 per cent more than the forest and tree cover recorded in ISFR 2017.

The forest cover within ‘recorded forest areas’ and ‘green wash’ areas have reduced slightly – by 330 square kilometres or 0.05 per cent – since 2017. Green wash (GW) refers to areas with forest cover in states and union territories for which the Forest Survey of India did not have “usable digitized boundaries” of RFAs. 

The forest cover outside RFAs and GW areas has increased by 4,306 square kilometres.

There are 62,466 wetlands in India’s RFAs and GW areas, covering 3.83 per cent of their territory. Gujarat has the largest area of wetlands within its RFAs, followed by West Bengal.

The states that recorded the most substantial rise in forest cover since 2017 were Karnataka (1,025 square kilometres), Andhra Pradesh (990 square kilometres), Kerala (823 square kilometres), Jammu and Kashmir (371 square kilometres) and Himachal Pradesh (334 square kilometres).

The forest cover in India’s 140 hill districts is 2,84,006 square kilometres or 40.3 per cent of their total geographical area. There has been a 544 square kilometre (or 0.19 per cent) rise in the forest cover of these districts since 2017.

The forest cover in India’s tribal districts is 4,22,351 square kilometres or 37.54 per cent of their total geographical area. Since 2017, the forest cover in the RFAs and GW areas of these districts has reduced by 741 square kilometres. At the same time, it has increased by 1,922 square kilometres in areas outside these RFAs and GW zones.

There are 62,466 wetlands in India’s RFAs and GW areas, covering 3.83 per cent of their territory. Gujarat has the largest area of wetlands within its RFAs, followed by West Bengal.

The total forest cover in India’s North Eastern region is 1,70,541 square kilometres or 65.05 per cent of its geographical area. The ISFR 2019 estimates that forest cover in the region has reduced by 765 square kilometres (0.45 per cent) since the 2017 assessment. Except Assam and Tripura, all states in the region recorded a decrease in forest cover.

India’s total mangrove cover has increased by 54 square kilometres (1.1 per cent) as compared to the 2017 assessment.

The country’s bamboo bearing area has increased by 3,229 square kilometres since the 2017 assessment. The total area is estimated to be 1,60,037 square kilometres as of 2019.

ISFR 2019 states that the total carbon stock in India’s forests is estimated to be 7,124.6 million tonnes – 42.6 million tonnes more than it was in the 2017 assessment. Carbon stock refers to the quantity of carbon in a ‘pool’, or a reservoir or system which has the capacity to accumulate or release carbon.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) refers to the carbon contained in the soil’s organic components such as plants residues, small living organisms and decomposed organic matter. At 56 per cent, SOC represents the largest pool of carbon stock in India’s forests, estimated to be 4,004 million tonnes as per the 2019 assessment.

ISFR 2019 estimates that 21.4 per cent of India's forest cover is ‘highly’ to ‘extremely’ fire prone.

Focus and Factoids by Gokul K.P.