India State of Forest Report 200930th November, 2009

Report Highlights

• India among the few countries to have comprehensive operational system of forest cover monitoring

• Eleventh Report in the biennial series

• Change in title – bears the year of release now

• Assesses decadal change in forest cover assessed

• New Features

� Forest cover mapping based on a new enhanced methodology

� Forest cover in different altitude zones

� Distribution of forest cover by forest types

� State-wise growing stock with improved precision

Key Information in India SFR 2009

• Forest Cover of India and its change compared to previous assessment

• down up to the district level

• forest cover in tribal districts

• forest cover in hill districts

• forest cover in north eastern States

• forest cover in different altitude zones

• forest cover in different forest types

• Mangrove Cover

• Tree Cover

• Growing Stock

• Accuracy of forest and tree cover assessment

• Forest & tree resources in States & UTs

Forest and Tree Cover of India in 2007Class Area

(million ha)% of Geographic

AreaForest CoverVery Dense Forests 8.35 2.54Moderately Dense Forests 31.90 9.71Open Forests 28.84 8.77Total Forest Cover 69.0969.09 21.0221.02Tree Cover* 9.28 2.82Total Forest & Tree Cover

78.3778.37 23.8423.84

Scrub 4.15 1.26Other Non-forest 246.21 74.90Total Geographic Area 328.73328.73 100.00100.00* Tree cover is defined as tree patches less than 1 hectare with canopy density above 10%

Key ResultsForest and Tree Cover in 2007

Class 2005 Assessment 2007 Assessment Change

km2 % km2 % km2

VDF 83,472 2.54 83,510 2.54 +38 (+0.05%)

MDF 319,948 9.74 319,012 9.70 -936 (-0.29%)

OF 286,751 8.72 288,377 8.78 +1,626 (+0.57%)

Total 690,171 21.00 690,899 21.02 +728 (+0.11%)

There is a net increase of 728 km2 of forest cover in the country as compared to the previous assessment

Key ResultsChange in Forest Cover between 2005 and 2007

Year of Assessment 1997 2007 Change*

Forest Cover (million ha) 65.96* 69.09 3.13 million ha

(4.75%)Satellite data period 1994 2006

Satellite data (sensor) IRS 1B, LISS II IRS P6, LISS III

Resolution 36.25 m 23.5 m

Scale of mapping 1:250,000 1:50,000

Minimum mappable area 25 ha 1 ha

Mode of interpretation visual digital

area figures obtained by applying the correction factors to account for themethodological changes

Key ResultsDecadal Change in Forest Cover

FOREST COVER MAP OF INDIA

Very Dense Forest

Dense Forest

Open Forest

Scrub

Non Forest

Water Bodies

District Boundaries

Very Dense Forest

Dense Forest

Open Forest

Scrub

Non Forest

Water Bodies

District Boundaries

NEPAL

CHINA

ARABIAN SEA

BAY OF BENGAL

BHUTAN

AFGANISTAN

BANGLADESH

LAKSHADWEEPISLANDS

Forest Cover Map of India

Gain & Loss of Forest Cover in States and UTs (2005-2007)

States Gain in Forest Coverw.r.t. 2005

Assessment(km2)

Main Reasons

Mizoram 640 regrowth in shifting cultivation areas

Manipur 328 regrowth in shifting cultivation areas

Jharkhand 172 plantations, effective protection by VFPCs

Meghalaya 116 Afforestation and regrowth in shifting cultivation areas

Orissa 100 effective protection by VFPCs, regrowth in shifting cultivation areas

Kerala 40 rubber plantations

Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, West Bengal each

24 effective protection

Gujarat 16 Mangrove plantations

Punjab 4 plantations

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Puducherry

2 effective protection

Key Results States Showing Gain in Forest Cover (2005-2007)

States Loss in Forest Coverw.r.t. 2005 Assessment

(km2)

Main Reasons

Nagaland -201 shifting cultivation

Andhra Pradesh -129 departmental felling of eucalyptus plantations by APFDC

Arunachal Pradesh -119 shifting cultivation, biotic pressure

Tripura -100 shifting cultivation

Assam -66 encroachment, shifting cultivation

Chhattisgarh -59 mining, encroachment

Madhya Pradesh -39 submergence

Maharashtra -11 felling by FDCM

Haryana, Karnataka -10 mining, encroachment

Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli -5 mining, encroachment

Bihar, J&K -3 felling in TOF areas, biotic pressure

A&N Islands -1 after effects of tsunami

Key Results States Showing Loss in Forest Cover (2005-2007)

Hill Districts• There are 124 hill districts in the country • 39.82% of their geographical area is under forest cover• forest cover in hill districts has increased by 663 km2

Tribal Districts• There are 188 tribal districts in the country• 37.32% of their geographical area is under forest cover• forest cover in tribal districts has increased by 690 km2

Key Results Forest Cover in Hill and Tribal Districts

• The region, which has only 7.76% of the geographic area of the country, accounts for nearly one fourth of its forest cover

• Forest cover in the region is about 66.81% of the geographic area as against the national average of 21.02%

• As compared to the 2005 assessment, gain of 598 km2 of forest cover has been observed in the region

Key Results Forest Cover in North-Eastern States

• Distribution of forest cover in different forest types is being presented for the first time

• Nearly one third of India’s forest cover falls in the Tropical Moist Deciduous type, followed by Tropical Dry Deciduous (30.16%)

• Tropical Wet Evergreen type group occupies 8.75% of the country’s forest cover

Key Results Forest Cover in Different Forest Types

• Forest cover in different altitude zones assessed for the first time

• Geographical area in the 1000-2000m altitude zone has got the maximum forest cover (72.19%)

• More than half of the forest cover of the country occurs in 0–500m altitude zone

Key Results Forest Cover in Different Altitude Zones

• Total extent of mangrove cover, spread in12 States & UTs of the country is 4,639 km2

• West Bengal has nearly half of the mangrove cover of the country

• An increase of 58 km2 of mangrove cover at the national level

Key Results Mangrove Cover

Growing Stock

2007(million cum)

Forest 4,499

TOF 1,599

Total 6,098

• gives volume of woody biomass of trees above 10 cm diameter and includes branches up to 5 cm

Growing Stock

Classification Ground truth

  Forest Non-Forest Total

Forest2591 76 2667

Non-Forest108 1527 1635

Total 2699 1603 4302Accuracy %

(for each class) 96.00 95.26

Overall Accuracy 95.72 %

Simplified error matrix (2 classes)

Key Results Accuracy of Assessment of Forest Cover