India State of Forest Report 2023: Volumes I&II

The total forest and tree cover of the country is 8,27,356.95 square kilometres, which is 25.17 per cent of the geographical area of the country.

There is an increase of 156.41 square kilometres in the Forest Cover from 2021. It should be noted that the term “Forest Cover”, besides capturing natural forests, encompasses a wide range of tree species, including bamboo, fruit orchards, coconut, oil-palm, subabul, eucalyptus, poplar, acacia, casuarina, arecanut, rubber plantations, and shade-trees in tea and coffee plantations. It also includes areas that may be classified as forest, private land, community land, government-owned land, or institutional land.

From 2011 to 2021, 40,709.28 square kilometres of very dense forest (VDF) and moderately dense forest degraded to open forest (OF).

The maximum increase in forest and tree cover is seen in the states of Chhattisgarh - 683.62 square kilometres, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 559.19 square kilometres, Odisha with 558.57 square kilometres and Rajasthan at 394.46 square kilometres. 

Hill regions in the country, specifically the Western Ghats and the North Eastern region, lost forest cover in the last decade. The Western Ghats Eco-Sensitive Areas (WGESA) saw an overall loss of 58.22 square kilometres, total forest and tree cover in the North Eastern region declined by 327.30 square kilometres.

In Tripura, rubber plantations now account for 8.88 per cent of Recorded Forest Area (RFA), and the report warns that, “Extensive cultivation of rubber has also led to concerns about its potential adverse impact on biodiversity, as vast areas of natural forests have been converted into monoculture plantations, impacting the ecological balance.”

Madhya Pradesh lost the most forest cover – 612.41 square kilometres; it was followed by Karnataka which lost 459.36 square kilometres, Ladakh lost 159.26 square kilometres and Nagaland lost 125.22 square kilometres.

Mangroves cover 4,991.68 square kilometres, or 0.15 per cent of the country’s total geographical area. Since the 2021 assessment, there has been a net decrease of 7.43 square kilometres in the country’s mangroves. 

The report states that 2,03,544 forest fire hotspots (features on the ground above certain threshold temperature) were detected by sensors in 2023-24. This is noted to be less than the last two seasons. Maximum fires occurred in Uttarakhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh (2023-24).

The total growing stock of wood in the country is estimated at 6,429.64 M m3 (million cubic meter), up by 262.32 M m3 or 4.25 per cent from 2021. Arunachal Pradesh has maximum growing stock (457.83 M m3) in forests, followed by Uttarakhand (400.02 M m3), Chhattisgarh (398.54 M m3) and Madhya Pradesh (387.18 M m3).

The most popular tree in forests is sal (Shorea robusta) – 11.43 per cent of the total growing stock in 2023. It is followed by teak (Tectona grandis) and pine (Pinus roxburghii) with both over 4 per cent. Outside forests, mango (Mangifera indica) contributes maximum volume at 13.25 per cent of the total growing stock, followed by neem (Azadirachta indica) and mahua (Madhuca latifolia, Madhuca longifolia, Madhuca indica). 

In terms of grazing incidence, the load of moderate (10-50 per cent area affected by grazing) to heavy (more than 50 per cent area affected) has come down to 35.79 per cent as compared to 41.04 per cent in 2013.

Invasive species are non-indigenous to an ecosystem, whose introduction and spread causes or is likely to cause socio-cultural, economic or environmental harm. They spread rapidly and often disrupt native species within forest areas. As per the report, the occurrence of invasive species is 'moderate to dense' (10-50 per cent of the area infested) in 33.59 per cent of forest area, and only 23.61 per cent of forests are free from such species. 

Focus and Factoids by Priti David.