By Meera Bhardwaj
In the background of NDA government promising to enhance its forest cover at various global platforms, the latest government biennial report in fact, reveals a whopping loss of forest cover in some 11 states of the country. Further, the so-called gains are nullified by loss of natural forests. Apart from this, the new nomenclature is Commercial Plantations have been declared as ‘Open Forests’.
The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021 states there has been an increase of forest/tree cover of 0.28 per cent across India compared to 2019 but the truth is natural forest remains just 3.04 percent of the total geographical area of the country. This survey is done through remote sensing while real ground visit done only across 3414 locations in the country.
The Survey report’s claims of increase are in the Open Forest category (9.34 %) and not the Very Dense Forest category (just a meager 3.04 %) which are pristine, natural forests. On top of this, the North Eastern states, hill districts and tribal districts have lost more than 1020 sq kms of forest cover in the last two years.
140 hill districts in India have lost 902 sq kms of precious forest cover which is 0.32%, as per ISFR, 2021.
WHAT ABOUT HIMALAYAN STATES FACING CLIMATE DISASTERS?
Himalayan states like J & K have lost pristine and precious cover of 115 sq kms Very Dense Forests but has gained in open forest category through commercial plantations. Himachal Pradesh too has lost about 26 sq kms of Moderately Dense Forests and 15 sq kms of Open Forests.
Now what is the classification of Forests types?
The Forest Cover Mapping has been presented in FIVE Canopy density classes:
- Very Dense Forest: >70% Canopy Density (VDF)
- Moderately Dense Forest: 40-70% Canopy Density (MDF)
- Open Forest: 10-40% Canopy Density (OF)
- Scrub < 10% Canopy
- Non-Forest (NF) Lands not included in above
The ISFR, 2021 defines forests that includes all patches of land with a tree canopy of density more than 10 per cent and with area of having more than one hectare area irrespective of land use, ownership and tree species.
Unfortunately, agro-forests, bamboo, commercial plantations have all been classified as Open Forests (OF) and therefore, many states see increase in their forest cover due to this big anomaly.
LOSS IN HILL DISTRICTS
Hill districts in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam are the worst hit as they have lost pristine wildlife habitats for varied reasons. These districts are the ones that are above 500 meters above the sea level and are supposed to maintain two-thirds of its area under forest cover. Due to the fragility of the hill areas and vulnerability to land degradation, the presence of forest cover helps in maintaining eco- balance and environmental stability, thereby, preventing soil erosion and landslides.
States Forest Cover Loss
(Hill districts) (sq kms)
Arunachal Pradesh 257
Manipur 249
Nagaland 235
Mizoram 186
Assam 107
Meghalaya 073
West Bengal 018
Tripura 004
Sikkim 001
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Total 902 sq kms
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LOSS IN TRIBAL DISTRICTS
Further, 216 tribal districts in 26 states have sustained an overall loss of 55 sq kms, the report says.
Taking a deeper look into the ISFR, 2021statistics, 216 tribal districts have in fact, lost a whopping 655 sq kms inside RFA (Recorded Forest Areas) and GW (Green Wash) areas. In comparison to this, there has been a gain of 600 sq kms outside the RFA and GW areas. Therefore, the Net Loss has been deduced at 55 sq kms in tribal districts. The irony is the loss inside RFA and outside RFA has been considered the same.
The worst hit tribal districts are 16 in Arunachal Pradesh with a forest cover loss of 257 sq kms, 9 districts in Manipur with loss of 249 sq kms and 11 districts in Nagaland with loss of 235 sq kms.
LOSS IN NORTH EASTERN STATES
As per ISFR, 2021, the North Eastern states have suffered an overall forest cover loss of 0.62% which is about 1020 sq kms. The data reveals how these states have suffered due to shifting/Jhum cultivation, development and unsustainable agricultural practices.
FOREST/TREE COVER RISE
Overall, the ISFR, 2021 report claims there has been an increase of 1540 sq km of forest cover and 721 sq km of tree cover as compared to the last assessment in 2019. However, the reported increase in forest cover is completely nullified by the severe forest cover loss in many states and union territories.
As per the report, the present forest cover of India has been pegged at 7.14 lakh sq kms i.e., about 21.71 percent of the total geographical area of the country. Five states – AP, Telangana, Odisha, Karnataka and Jharkhand have contributed to the net increase of 1540 sq kms of forests that even includes plantation crops and agro-forests.
Out of the total rise, 18.67 % is covered by MDF and OF categories while Very Dense Forests is only 3.04 percent. This means India has been steadily losing its pristine and natural forests and the addition of 501 sq kms is not enough.
The states having the largest Forest Cover are Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. However, in contrast to this, some 5 states in North East have sustained major losses in Forest Cover the last two years.
Let’s see the increase and decrease in forest cover compared to 2019.
Total Forest Cover Total Forest Cover
ISFR, 2019 ISFR, 2021
VDF 99,278 99,779
MDF 3,08,472 3,06,890
OF 3,04,499 3,07,120
Scrub 46,297 46,539
NF 25,28,923 25,27,141
A peek at the report statistics reveals a net forest cover change matrix of 501 sq kms in the Very Dense Forests category but a whopping loss of 1582 sq kms of Moderate Dense Forests and 1781 sq km loss of non-Forests in the country.
TREE COVER RISE
Apart from this, the total Tree Cover in the country has been estimated at 95,748 sq kms, showing a decadal increase of 4904 sq kms from 2011-21.
Compared to 2019, there is an increase of 721 sq kms in tree cover. Further, the leading states in “Trees Outside Forest” (TOF) category are Maharashtra (26,676 sq kms), Odisha (24,474 sq kms) and Karnataka (23,676 sq kms).
TOF refers to all trees growing outside recorded forest areas irrespective of the patch size.
The leading states in Tree Cover are:
States Total Tree Cover
(Sq Kms)
Maharashtra 12,108
Rajasthan 8,733
Madhya Pradesh 8,054
Karnataka 7,494
Uttar Pradesh 7,421
The 17th cycle of biennial assessment of ISFR further states that the wall-to-wall mapping exercise was done by using remote sensing. Also, the Tree Cover assessment has been done through Remote Sensing and observations on Sample plots.