State of Forest Report 2017

State of Forest Report 2017

Question- on February 12, 2018 State of Forest Report 2017 was released.  According to this report, which of the following states has the maximum increase in forest cover?
(a) Tamil Nadu
(b) Kerala
(c) Andhra Pradesh
(d) Madhya Pradesh
Answer- (c)
Related Facts:

  • On 12th February, 2018, Union Minister for Environment and Climate Change Dr. Harsha Vardhana released the ‘ India State of Forest Report: ISFR 2017’.
  • According to this report India is among top ten nations in the world in terms of forest area.
  • India is ranked 10th in the world, with 24.4% of land area under forest and tree cover, even though it accounts for 2.4 % of the world surface area and sustains the needs of 17 % of human and 18 % livestock population.
  • As per the latest FAO report, India is placed 8thin the list of Top Ten nations reporting the greatest annual net gain in forest area.
  • According to ISFR-2017, there is an increase of 8, 021 sq km (about 80.20 million hectare) in the total forest and tree cover of the country, compared to the previous assessment in 2015.
  • Increase in the forest cover has been observed as 6,778 sq km and that of tree cover as 1, 243 sq km.
  • The total forest and tree cover is 8, 02,088 sq. Km which is 39 per cent of the geographical area of the country.
  • Total forest cover in the country is 7, 08,273 sq. Km. which is 21.54 per cent of the total geographical area.
  • The intensive forest in the country has increased by 1.36 percent.
  • Significantly, the highly intensive forest absorbs most carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
  • As per the ISFR 2017, the total mangrove cover stands at 4,921 sq km and has shown an increase of 181 sq km.
  • The extent of bamboo-bearing area in the country has been estimated at 15.69 million hectare.
  • It is noteworthy that recently, the Central Government has presented a bill to exclude bamboo from the category of trees in Parliament.
  • Exclusion of Bamboo from the category of Tree will motivate people to grow bamboo in their own land.
  • According to the ISFR-2015, the mangrove cover in India is about 3.3 percent of the world’s entire mangroves, which is Spread over 4921 km in the country which is 0.15 percent of the total geographical area of ​​the country.
  • Three states  – Andhra Pradesh (2141 sq km), followed by Karnataka (1101 sq km) and Kerala (1043 sq km) have shown the maximum increase in forest cover.
  • “Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover of 77,414 sq km in the country in terms of area, followed by Arunachal Pradesh with 66,964 sq km and Chhattisgarh (55,547 sq km).
  • The highest mangrove cover in India is that four states / union territories are West Bengal (2,114 sq. km), Gujarat (1,140 sq. km), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (617 sq. km) and Andhra Pradesh (404 sq. Km) respectively.
  • While the four most mangrove cover districts are respectively South 24 Parganas-West Bengal (2084 sq. Km), Kutch-Gujarat (798 sq. Km), North-Andaman and Nicobar Islands (425 sq. Km) and Kendrapara-Odisha (197 sq. Km).
  • In terms of percentage of forest cover with respect to the total geographical area, Lakshadweep with (90.33 per cent) has the highest forest cover, followed by Mizoram (86.27 per cent) and Andaman & Nicobar Island (81.73 per cent)”.
  • The present assessment also reveals that 15 states/UT’s have above 33 per cent of the geographical area under forest cover.
  • Out of these States and Union Territories, seven States/UTs namely Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur have more than 75 per cent forest cover.
  • 8 states – Tripura, Goa, Sikkim, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Chhattisgarh and Assam have forest cover between 33 per cent to 75 per cent.
  • About 40% per cent of the country’s forest cover is present in 9 large contiguous patches of the size of 10, 000 sq.km, or more.
  • It is worth mentioning that Uttar Pradesh’s total forest cover is 2, 40,928 square km which is 7.33 percent of the country’s geographical area.
  • It is known that ‘India Forest Status Report’ is released on every two years by the Forest Survey of India, based on Remote Sensing based satellite imagery, on the status of forests and trees in the country.
  • Referring to the enormity of the task of preparing the State of Forest Report, “Work has already started for preparing ISFR 2019”.

Reference:
http://fsi.nic.in/isfr2017/isfr-mangrove-cover-2017.pdf
http://fsi.nic.in/isfr2017/isfr-forest-cover-2017.pdf
http://fsi.nic.in/details.php?pgID=sb_64