India State of Forest Report 2019 - Highlights &

Important Facts - TripuraExam

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The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2019 is published by the

Forest Survey of India (FSI) which has been mandated to assess
the forest and tree resources of the country including wall-to-wall
forest cover mapping in a biennial cycle. Starting 1987, 16
assessments have been completed so far. ISFR 2019 is the
16threport in the series. India is among few countries in the world
where forest cover is consistently increasing.

Major Highlights of ISFR 2019

The total forest cover of the country is 7,12,249 sq km which

is 21.67% of the geographical area of the country.
The tree cover of the country is estimated as 95,027 sq km
which is 2.89% of the geographical area.
The total Forest and Tree cover of the country is 8,07,276 sq
km which is 24.56% of the geographical area of the country.
 The current assessment shows an increase of 3,976 sq km
(0.56%) of forest cover, 1,212 sq km(1.29%) of tree cover
and 5,188 sq km (0.65%) of forest and tree cover put
together, at the national level as compared to the previous
assessment i.e. ISFR 2017.

TOP 5 States in terms of increase in forest cover:

1. Karnataka (1,025 sq km)

2. Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km)
3. Kerala (823 sq km)
4. Jammu & Kashmir (371 sq km)
5. Himachal Pradesh(334 sq km)

Forest cover in the hill districts of the country is 2,84,006 sq

km, which is 40.30% of the total geographical area of these
districts. The current assessment shows an increase of 544 sq
km(0.19%) in 140 hill districts of the country.
The total forest cover in the tribal districts is 4,22,351 sq km,
which is 37.54% of the geographical area of these districts. The
current assessment shows a decrease of 741 sq km of forest
cover within the RFA/GW in the tribal districts and an increase
of 1,922 sq km outside.
Mangrove cover in the country has increased by 54 sq km
(1.10%) as compared to the previous assessment.
The total growing stock of wood in the country is estimated
5,915.76 million cum comprising4,273.47 million cum inside
forest areas and 1,642.29 million cum outside recorded forest
areas(TOF). The average growing stock per hectare in forest
has been estimated as 55.69 cum.
 Total bamboo bearing area of the country is estimated as
1,60,037 sq km. There is an increase of 3,229 sq km in bamboo
bearing area as compared to the estimate of ISFR 2017.
Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) represents the largest pool of
carbon stock in forests, which has been estimated 4,004
million tonnes. The SOC contributes 56% to the total forest
carbon stock of the country.
There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.83% of the area within
the RFA/GW of the country. The total number of wetlands
located within the RFA/GW is 8.13%.
Amongst the States, Gujarat has largest area of wetlands
within RFA in the country followed by West Bengal.
Dependence of fuelwood on forests is highest in the State of
Maharashtra, whereas, for fodder, small timber and bamboo,
dependence is highest in Madhya Pradesh. It has been assessed
that the annual removal of the small timber by the people
living in forest fringe villages is nearly 7% ofthe average
annual yield of forests in the country.

TOP 5 States with largest forest cover (Area-wise)

Madhya Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Chhattisgarh
Odisha
Maharashtra.

TOP 5 States in terms of forest cover as a percentage of total

geographical area
Mizoram (85.41%)
Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%)
Meghalaya (76.33%)
Manipur (75.46%)
Nagaland (75.31%)

Total Mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km. An

increase of 54 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as
compared to the previous assessment of 2017.
Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are
Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and
Odisha (8 sq km).
The total growing stock of India’s forest and TOF is estimated
5,915.76 million cum of which 4,273.47 million cum is inside
the forests and 1,642.29 million cum outside. There is an
increase of 93.38 million cum of total growing stock, as
compared to the previous assessment.
The extent of bamboo bearing area of the country has been
estimated 16.00 million hectare. There is an increase of 0.32
million hectare in bamboo bearing area as compared to the
last assessment of ISFR 2017. The total estimated green weight
of bamboo culms is 278 million tonnes, slowly an increase of
88 million tonnes as compared to ISFR 2017.
Total carbon stock in country’s forest is estimated 7,124.6
million tonnes and there an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in
the carbon stock of country as compared to the last assessment
of 2017. The annual increase in the carbon stock is 21.3 million
tonnes, which is 78.2 million tonnes CO2 eq.