India State of Forest Report 2009

30th 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

Area

Forest CoverVery Dense Forests 8.35 2.54

Moderately Dense Forests 31.90 9.71

Open Forests 28.84 8.77

Total Forest Cover 69.0969.09 21.0221.02

Tree Cover* 9.28 2.82

Total Forest & Tree Cover

78.3778.37 23.8423.84

Scrub 4.15 1.26

Other Non-forest 246.21 74.90

Total 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 Results

Forest 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 Results

Change 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 the

methodological changes

Key Results

Decadal Change in Forest Cover

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

Forest Cover Map of India

Gain & Loss of Forest Cover in States and UTs

(2005-2007)

States Gain in Forest Cover

w.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 Cover

w.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 Indias 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 countrys 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 4302

Accuracy %(for each class) 96.00 95.26

Overall Accuracy 95.72 %

Simplified error matrix (2 classes)

Key Results

Accuracy of Assessment of Forest Cover