Increase in Forest Covers of the Country

There is increase in forest cover due to afforestation-reforestation in different states.The forest cover of the country is assessed by Forest Survey of India, Dehradun on biennial basis.  The data is published in state of Forest Report.  The last report was published in 2009 which is known as India State of Forest Report, 2009.  According to the India State of Forest Report 2009, there is an increase in the forest cover of the country from 690171 square km in 2005 to 690899 square km in 2007.  The details of forest cover in the country, state-wise is given in Annexure I.

            The Ministry of Environment and Forests is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of National Afforestation Programme (NAP) Scheme for regeneration of degraded forests and adjoining areas in the country.  The scheme is being implemented through a decentralized mechanism 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.  As on 31.10.2011, 800 FDA projects have been approved in 28 States in the country to treat an area of 18.32 lakh ha. since inception of the scheme in 2002.  The details of funds released and area approved during the current five year plan are given in Annexure II.

Annexure I

Forest Cover in States / UTs in India

(area in km²)

State/UT	Geographical Area	Forest Cover				% to  GA	Change  in forest cover	Scrub
		Very Dense Forest	Mod. Dense Forest	Open Forest	Total
Andhra Pradesh	275,069	820	24,757	19,525	45,102	16.40	-129	10,372
Arunachal Pradesh	83,743	20,858	31,556	14,939	67,353	80.43	-119	111
Assam	78,438	1,461	11,558	14,673	27,692	35.30	-66	179
Bihar	94163	231	3,248	3,325	6,804	7.23	-3	134
Chhattisgarh	135,191	4,162	35,038	16,670	55,870	41.33	-59	107
Delhi	1,483	7	50	120	177	11.94	0	1
Goa	3,702	511	624	1,016	2,151	58.10	-5	1
Gujarat	196,022	376	5,249	8,995	14,620	7.46	16	1,463
Haryana	44,212	27	463	1,104	1,594	3.61	-10	145
Himachal Pradesh	55,673	3,224	6,383	5,061	14,668	26.35	2	327
Jammu & Kashmir	222,236	4,298	8,977	9,411	22,686	10.21	-3	2,036
Jharkhand	79,714	2,590	9,899	10,405	22,894	28.72	172	683
Karnataka	191,791	1,777	20,181	14,232	36,190	18.87	-10	3,176
Kerala	38,863	1,443	9,410	6,471	17,324	44.58	40	58
Madhya Pradesh	308,245	6,647	35,007	36,046	77,700	25.21	-39	6,401
Maharashtra	307,713	8,739	20,834	21,077	50,650	16.46	-11	4,157
Manipur	22,327	701	5,474	11,105	17,280	77.40	328	1
Meghalaya	22,429	410	9,501	7,410	17,321	77.23	116	211
Mizoram	21,081	134	6,251	12,855	19,240	91.27	640	1
Nagaland	16,579	1,274	4,897	7,293	13,464	81.21	-201	2
Orissa	155,707	7,073	21,394	20,388	48,855	31.38	100	4,852
Punjab	50,362	0	733	931	1,664	3.30	4	20
Rajasthan	342,239	72	4,450	11,514	16,036	4.69	24	4,347
Sikkim	7,096	500	2,161	696	3,357	47.31	0	356
Tamil Nadu	130,058	2,926	10,216	10,196	23,338	17.94	24	1,206
Tripura	10,486	111	4,770	3,192	8,073	76.99	-100	75
Uttar Pradesh	240,928	1,626	4,563	8,152	14,341	5.95	-5	745
Uttarakhand	53,483	4,762	14,165	5,568	24,495	45.80	2	271
West Bengal	88,752	2,987	4,644	5,363	12,994	14.64	24	29
A&N Islands	8,249	3,762	2,405	495	6,662	80.76	-1	53
Chandigarh	114	1	10	6	17	14.91	0	1
Dadra & Nagar Haveli	491	0	114	97	211	42.97	-5	1
Daman & Diu	112	0	1	5	6	5.04	0	3
Lakshadweep	32	0	16	10	26	82.75	0	0
Puducherry	480	0	13	31	44	9.14	2	0
Grand Total	3,287,263	83,510	319,012	288,377	690,899	21.02	728	41,525

Annexure II

 ‘Increase in forest covers of the country’

S.No.	State	Total Release (in crore)	Total area (in ha.)
1.	Andhra Pradesh	50.62	34017
2.	Bihar	29.26	21813
3.	Chhattisgarh	135.80	69783
4.	Goa	0.00	0
5.	Gujarat	118.97	61270
6.	Haryana	83.95	26329
7.	Himachal Pradesh	24.69	16717
8.	Jammu and Kashmir	30.40	17655
9.	Jharkhand	80.67	56650
10.	Karnataka	69.95	44635
11.	Kerala	31.76	19364
12.	Madhya Pradesh	91.49	65827
13.	Maharashtra	96.27	57838
14.	Orissa	63.80	75695
15.	Punjab	12.20	9874
16.	Rajasthan	29.81	21000
17.	Tamil Nadu	36.59	18909
18.	Uttar Pradesh	127.20	76670
19.	Uttarakhand	33.10	31609
20.	West Bengal	26.10	20567
21.	Arunachal Pradesh	15.99	12030
22.	Assam	38.92	25650
23.	Manipur	43.10	22314
24.	Meghalaya	21.63	15645
25.	Mizoram	66.42	28320
26.	Nagaland	39.33	24690
27.	Sikkim	43.01	15399
28.	Tripura	26.22	22556
	Grant Total	1467.25	912826