Parliament Question: Steps to increase Forest Cover

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1173 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.12.2025 Steps to increase Forest Cover

1173. SHRI RAJEEV RAI:

SHRI NEERAJ MAURYA:

DR. ANGOMCHA BIMOL AKOIJAM:

SHRI DEVESH SHAKYA:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to

state:

(a) the details of forest cover in the country, as on date, State/UT-wise;

(b) whether the Government has implemented any Scheme to increase the forest cover in the country during the last five years and the current year, if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has conducted any studies to assess the rate of increase/decrease in forest cover in the country and analysed the reasons therefor, if so, the details of the findings of the said studies;

(d) the details of the decrease/increase in forest cover during the last five years and the current year, State/UT-wise, including district-wise details of Manipur and Uttar Pradesh;

(e) the details of the funds released under the National Afforestation Programme during the last five years and the current year, State/UT-wise including district-wise for Uttar Pradesh; and

(f) the details of the total land reclaimed/recovered as forests under the said Scheme during the last five years and the current year, State/UT-wise including district-wise for Uttar Pradesh? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, carries out the assessment of forest and tree cover of the country biennially and the findings are published in the India State of Forest Report

(ISFR). The forest cover assessment is a wall-to-wall mapping exercise based on remote sensing supported by intensive ground verification and field data from the National Forest Inventory.

As per ISFR 2023, the forest and tree cover of the country is 8,27,356.95 square kilometer which is 25.17% of the total geographical area of the country. The State/UT wise details of forest cover and tree cover in the country is given in Annexure-I.

(b)&(c) The Ministry provides technical and financial support to States and UTs through various schemes and programmes of the Central Government for enhancement of forest cover including protection, conservation and management of forests in the country. This includes the National Mission for a Green India (GIM), Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme(FPM), Nagar Van Yojana (NVY), Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats and Tangible Incomes (MISHTI) and Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats.

Further, a plantation campaign “एक पेड़ माँ के नाम #Plant4Mother” has also been launched on the occasion of World Environment Day 2024 and in the current year also to undertake plantation activities across the country. This campaign follows the “Whole of Government” and “Whole of Society” approach with participation of all stakeholders for increasing the green cover in the country. The campaign has contributed large scale plantation aiding the enhancement of green cover in the country.

It is a result of the comprehensive action taken regarding protection and conservation of forests as well as afforestation efforts that the forest cover has increased from 7,12,249.00 square kilometer in 2019 to 7,15,342.61 square kilometer in 2023.

As per India State of Forest Report 2023, the positive changes in forest cover arise due to natural growth of vegetation, afforestation initiatives, improved protection of plantations and forest areas, increase in trees outside forests, and regeneration in shifting cultivation areas, while negative changes occur due to harvesting of short-rotation plantations, shifting cultivation, encroachment and natural calamities such as storms, floods and landslides.

(d) The State/UT-wise details of the decrease/increase in forest and tree cover during the last four years between ISFR 2019 and ISFR 2023 including the State of Uttar Pradesh and Manipur is given in Annexure-I.

(e)&(f) The Ministry has implemented a Centrally Sponsored Scheme National Afforestation Programme (NAP) since 2000-01. The overall objective of NAP was ecological restoration of degraded forests and to develop the forest resources with people’s participation, with focus on improvement in livelihoods of the forest-fringe communities, especially the poor.

At present the scheme (NAP) has been merged with the National Mission for a Green India

(GIM) and no new targets have been taken up under NAP. Accordingly, no amount has been released to the States/UTs including State of Uttar Pradesh under the NAP during the last five years and the current year.

*****Annexure-I Annexure referred to in reply of (a) & (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1173 due for answer on 08.12.2025 regarding ‘Steps to increase Forest Cover’ asked by Shri Rajeev Rai and others State-wise/UT wise details of Forest Cover from ISFR 2019 to ISFR 2023 (In square kilometer) S.N State/UT Forest Tree Forest Forest Tree Forest Ch Chang o. Cover Cov & Cover Cover and Tree ang e in (ISFR er Tree (ISFR (ISFR Cover e in Forest

2019) (ISF Cover 2023) 2023) (2023) For & R (2019) est Tree 2019 Cov Cover ) er 1 Andhra 29,137. 3,91 33,051 30,084. 5,340.0 35,424.98 947. 2,373.

Pradesh 00 4 .00 96 2 96 98 2 Arunacha 66,688. 848 67,536 65,881. 1,201.6 67,083.20 - - l Pradesh 00 .00 57 3 806. 452.80 43 3 Assam 28,327. 1,40 29,735 28,313. 2,101.4 30,415.02 - 680.01 00 8 .00 555 6 13.4 5 4 Bihar 7,306.0 2,00 9,309. 7,532.4 2,370.2 9,902.66 226. 593.66 0 3 00 5 1 45 5 Chhattisg 55,611. 4,24 59,859 55,811. 6,538.7 62,350.45 200. 2,491.

arh 00 8 .00 75 0 75 45 6 Delhi 195.44 129 324.44 195.28 176.03 371.31 - 46.87

0.16 7 Goa 2,237.0 272 2,509. 2,265.7 257.82 2,523.54 28.7 14.54 0 00 2 2 8 Gujarat 14,857. 6,91 21,769 15,016. 6,632.2 21,648.93 159. - 00 2 .00 64 9 64 120.07 9 Haryana 1,602.0 1,56 3,167. 1,614.2 1,693.0 3,307.28 12.2 140.28 0 5 00 6 2 6 10 Himachal 15,434. 829 16,263 15,580. 855.07 16,435.42 146. 172.42 Pradesh 00 .00 35 35 11 Jharkhan 23,611. 2,65 26,268 23,765. 3,637.5 27,403.33 154. 1,135.

d 00 7 .00 78 5 78 33 12 Karnatak 38,575. 6,25 44,832 39,254. 7,779.1 47,033.42 679. 2,201. a 00 7 .00 27 5 27 42 13 Kerala 21,144. 2,93 24,080 22,059. 2,905.9 24,965.30 915. 885.30 00 6 .00 36 4 36 14 Madhya 77,482. 8,33 85,821 77,073. 8,650.1 85,723.58 - -97.42 Pradesh 00 9 .00 44 4 408.

56 15 Maharash 50,778. 10,8 61,584 50,858. 14,524. 65,383.41 80.5 3,799. tra 00 06 .00 53 88 3 41 16 Manipur 16,847. 173 17,020 16,585. 209.82 16,795.28 - - 00 .00 46 261. 224.72 5417 Meghalay 17,119. 710 17,829 16,966. 720.56 17,687.40 - - a 00 .00 84 152. 141.60 16 18 Mizoram 18,006. 441 18,447 17,990. 567.80 18,558.26 - 111.26 00 .00 46 15.5 4 19 Nagaland 12,486. 362 12,848 12,222. 394.02 12,616.49 - - 00 .00 47 263. 231.51 53 20 Odisha 51,619. 4,64 56,267 52,433. 6,163.4 58,597.01 814. 2,330.

00 8 .00 56 5 56 01 21 Punjab 1,849.0 1,59 3,441. 1,846.0 1,475.1 3,321.24 - - 0 2 00 9 5 2.91 119.76 22 Rajasthan 16,630. 8,11 24,742 16,548. 10,841. 27,389.33 - 2,647.

00 2 .00 21 12 81.7 33 9 23 Sikkim 3,342.0 36 3,378. 3,358.4 48.33 3,406.73 16.4 28.73 0 00 0 0 24 Tamil 26,364. 4,83 31,194 26,450. 5,370.7 31,820.94 86.2 626.94 Nadu 00 0 .00 22 2 2 25 Telangan 20,582. 2,51 23,096 21,179. 3,517.6 24,696.70 597. 1,600.

a 00 4 .00 04 6 04 70 26 Tripura 7,726.0 231 7,957. 7,584.7 247.56 7,832.33 - - 0 00 7 141. 124.67 23 27 Uttar 14,806. 7,34 22,148 15,045. 8,950.9 23,996.72 239. 1,848.

Pradesh 00 2 .00 80 2 80 72 28 Uttarakha 24,303. 841 25,144 24,303. 1,231.1 25,534.97 0.83 390.97 nd 00 .00 83 4 29 West 16,902. 2,00 18,908 16,832. 2,938.1 19,770.45 - 862.45 Bengal 00 6 .00 33 2 69.6 7 30 A&N 6,743.0 41 6,784. 6,732.9 26.97 6,759.89 - -24.11 Islands 0 00 2 10.0 8 31 Chandiga 22.03 25 47.03 25 21.18 46.18 2.97 -0.85 rh 32 Dadra & 227.49 33 260.49 225.62 36.83 262.45 - 1.96 Nagar 1.87 Haveli and Daman & Diu 33 Jammu & 21,122. 7,94 29,066 21,346. 3666.97 25,013.36 224. - Kashmir 00 4 .00 39 39 4,052.

64 34 Ladakh 2,490.0 - 2,490. 2,285.9 893.02 3,178.94 - 688.94 0 00 2 204.

08 35 Lakshad 27.1 0.29 27.39 27.06 0.20 27.26 - -0.13 weep 0.04 36 Puducher 52.41 23 75.41 44.31 28.89 73.20 - -2.21 ry 8.10Grand 7,12,24 95,0 8,07,2 7,15,34 1,12,01 8,27,356.9 3,09 20,080 Total 9.00 27 76 2.61 4.34 6 3.61 .20