Forest Survey of India, an organisation under the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change releases a biennial Indian State of Forest Report to assess the health and wealth of forests in the country. One of the salient findings of IFSR 2021 released recently was that the total forest cover in the country was 7,13,789 sq km i.e. 21.71% of the total geographical area. Further, there was an increase of 1,450 sq km (0.22%) in forest cover from 2019. Something to be elated about, especially when you know how serious climate change is? Well, not really!
So, the definition of forest is very different from what you and I think a forest is. The ‘forest cover’ as reported in the IFSR includes all patches of land with a tree canopy density of more than 10% and with an area of more than 1 ha, irrespective of land use, ownership or species of trees. Simply put, they would consider any land a forest cover if it has an area of more than 1 ha, and has trees planted on more than 10% of the land. So by this definition tea estates, coconut plantations, mango orchards, homestead gardens and even tree-lined avenues in densely built cities, are now considered ‘forests’. While there is no harm in mapping plantations, estates or open forests, they still can’t be put into the same category as natural forests due to their immense ecological cultural, and economic value.
What comes to your mind when you think of forests? Many and many birds, animals, insects, trees and plant species. Extremely tall trees, dense canopies, rivers flowing amidst, and how forests are extremely essential in maintaining ecological balance. However, only 60–65% of the forests in the country paint this picture. So what about the rest?
For starters, there are two types of forests — recorded forest area, under the forest department and the other outside of this area, unaccounted for and not digitally mapped. The latter could include non-forest plantations, open forest and mono-plantations that do not yield similar benefits even remotely. Very dense forests just account for 3% of the total land area and should be preserved and protected for ecological security, biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration. Further, India’s ambitious target to bring 33% of its geographical area under forest cover by 2030, cannot be achieved by manipulating data and methodologies.
So is it really a forest cover up?
Until next time.
