Special article
Forest cover increases by 1,540 square kilometers between ISFR 2019 and ISFR 2021
by PIB Delhi
Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover biennially, since 1987 and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). As per latest ISFR 2021, the total forest cover of the country is 7,13,789 square kilometer which is 21.71% of the geographical area of the country. The forest cover has increased by 1,540 square kilometer between ISFR 2019 and ISFR 2021 assessment. The State/UTs wise details of forest cover as per ISFR 2021 are given in Annexure I.
In order to restore ecosystems and increase the forest cover in the country, afforestation and tree plantation activities are undertaken by States/UTs. The Ministry provides financial assistance to States/UTs under various Centrally Sponsored Schemes namely Green India Mission (GIM) to support and supplement the efforts of States and Union Territories. GIM activities were started in the Financial Year 2015-16. During the last five years, the amount of Rs. 570.70 Crores has been released to sixteen States and one union territory for taking up the afforestation activities.
The Ministry is implementing Nagar Van Yojana (NVY) since the year 2020 which envisages creation of 600 Nagar Vans and 400 Nagar Vatika in the country during the period 2020-21 to 2024-25 under the funds available under Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA). The Nagar Van Yojana aims to enhance the green cover in the urban and peri-urban areas including biological diversity, provide ecological benefits and improve the quality of life of city dwellers. So far, the Ministry has approved 270 projects under Nagar Van Yojana with the total cost of Rs.238.64 Crore.
The Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA fund) is being utilized by States/UTs for taking up compensatory afforestation as per approved Annual Plan of Operations for compensating the loss of forest & tree cover due to diversion of forest land for developmental projects as per provisions of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 (CAF Act) and CAF Rules, 2018. During the last five years, an amount of Rs. 55,394.16 Crore has been released to State/UT Forest Department under CAMPA funds.
Afforestation activities are also taken up under various programmes and schemes of line Ministry such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, National Bamboo Mission, Sub-Mission on Agroforestry etc. and under schemes of State Government/UT Administration through different departments, Non-Government Organizations, Civil Society, Corporate bodies etc. The multi departmental efforts have yielded good results in conserving and enhancing forest cover in the country.
Conservation and Protection of forests is primarily undertaken under the provisions of Indian Forest Act, 1927, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and rules made there under, and also under State Specific Acts and Rules.
Annexure-I
State/UTs details of Forest Cover as per ISFR 2021
| (Area in square kilometer) | |||||||||||||||
| S. No. | State/UT | Geo-graphical Area (GA) | Total Forest Cover | Percentage of Geographical area | Change in Forest Cover w.r.t. ISFR 2019 | Change Percentage
w.r.t. 2019 assessment |
Scrub | ||||||||
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 1,62,968 | 29,784 | 18.28 | 647 | 2.22 | 8,276 | ||||||||
| 2 | Arunachal Pradesh | 83,743 | 66,431 | 79.33 | -257 | -0.39 | 797 | ||||||||
| 3 | Assam | 78,438 | 28,312 | 36.09 | -15 | -0.05 | 228 | ||||||||
| 4 | Bihar | 94,163 | 7,381 | 7.84 | 75 | 1.03 | 236 | ||||||||
| 5 | Chhattisgarh | 1,35,192 | 55,717 | 41.21 | 106 | 0.19 | 615 | ||||||||
| 6 | Delhi | 1,483 | 195.00 | 13.15 | -0.44 | -0.23 | 0.38 | ||||||||
| 7 | Goa | 3,702 | 2,244 | 60.62 | 7 | 0.31 | 0 | ||||||||
| 8 | Gujarat | 1,96,244 | 14,926 | 7.61 | 69 | 0.46 | 2,828 | ||||||||
| 9 | Haryana | 44,212 | 1,603 | 3.63 | 1 | 0.06 | 159 | ||||||||
| 10 | Himachal Pradesh | 55,673 | 15,443 | 27.73 | 9 | 0.06 | 322 | ||||||||
| 11 | Jharkhand | 79,716 | 23,721 | 29.76 | 110 | 0.47 | 584 | ||||||||
| 12 | Karnataka | 1,91,791 | 38,730 | 20.19 | 155 | 0.40 | 4,611 | ||||||||
| 13 | Kerala | 38,852 | 21,253 | 54.70 | 109 | 0.52 | 30 | ||||||||
| 14 | Madhya Pradesh | 3,08,252 | 77,493 | 25.14 | 11 | 0.01 | 5,457 | ||||||||
| 15 | Maharashtra | 3,07,713 | 50,798 | 16.51 | 20 | 0.04 | 4,247 | ||||||||
| 16 | Manipur | 22,327 | 16,598 | 74.34 | -249 | -1.48 | 1,215 | ||||||||
| 17 | Meghalaya | 22,429 | 17,046 | 76.00 | -73 | -0.43 | 663 | ||||||||
| 18 | Mizoram | 21,081 | 17,820 | 84.53 | -186 | -1.03 | 1 | ||||||||
| 19 | Nagaland | 16,579 | 12,251 | 73.90 | -235 | -1.88 | 824 | ||||||||
| 20 | Odisha | 1,55,707 | 52,156 | 33.50 | 537 | 1.04 | 4,924 | ||||||||
| 21 | Punjab | 50,362 | 1,847 | 3.67 | -2 | -0.11 | 34 | ||||||||
| 22 | Rajasthan | 3,42,239 | 16,655 | 4.87 | 25 | 0.15 | 4,809 | ||||||||
| 23 | Sikkim | 7,096 | 3,341 | 47.08 | -1 | -0.03 | 296 | ||||||||
| 24 | Tamil Nadu | 1,30,060 | 26,419 | 20.31 | 55 | 0.21 | 758 | ||||||||
| 25 | Telangana | 1,12,077 | 21,214 | 18.93 | 632 | 3.07 | 2,911 | ||||||||
| 26 | Tripura | 10,486 | 7,722 | 73.64 | -4 | -0.05 | 33 | ||||||||
| 27 | Uttar Pradesh | 2,40,928 | 14,818 | 6.15 | 12 | 0.08 | 563 | ||||||||
| 28 | Uttarakhand | 53,483 | 24,305 | 45.44 | 2 | 0.01 | 392 | ||||||||
| 29 | West Bengal | 88,752 | 16,832 | 18.96 | -70 | -0.41 | 156 | ||||||||
| 30 | A & N Islands | 8,249 | 6,744 | 81.75 | 1 | 0.01 | 1 | ||||||||
| 31 | Chandigarh | 114 | 22.88 | 20.07 | 0.85 | 3.86 | 0.38 | ||||||||
| 32 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu |
602 | 227.75 | 37.83 | 0.10 | 0.04 | 4.85 | ||||||||
| 33 | Jammu & Kashmir | 2,22,236 | 21,387 | 39.15 | 29 | 0.14 | 284 | ||||||||
| 34 | Ladakh | 2,272 | 1.35 | 18 | 0.80 | 279 | |||||||||
| 35 | Lakshadweep | 30 | 27.10 | 90.33 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||||||||
| 36 | Puducherry | 490 | 53.30 | 10.88 | 0.89 | 1.70 | 0.00 | ||||||||
| Total | 32,87,469 | 7,13,789 | 21.71 | 1,540 | 0.22 | 46,539 | |||||||||
This information was given by Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha
Government providing financial assistance to States and Union Territories for implementation of Project Tiger and Project Elephant
Posted On: 06 APR 2023 8:07PM by PIB Delhi
The Government of India has taken several steps for conservation of biodiversity which includes survey, inventorization, taxonomic validation and threat assessment of floral and faunal resources; assessment to develop an accurate data base for planning and monitoring as well as conservation and protection of forests; establishment of a protected area network of National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, conservation and community reserves; designating Biosphere Reserves for conservation of representative ecosystems; undertaking of species oriented programmes, such as Project Tiger, Project Elephant, Project Dolphin; complemented with ex-situ conservation efforts.
A total of 1,02,718 species of fauna and 54,733 species of flora have been documented in the 10 biogeographic zones of the country. For ensuring protection of flora and fauna within protected areas, management plans are prepared by State Forest Departments which inter alia include a schedule of activities to be take-up over a period of ten years. The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 provides for diligence to be taken before approval of any activity is accorded by the State Government with in a protected area to ensure conservation and protection of biodiversity.
The Central Government provides financial assistance to States and Union Territories under Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as: Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitat; Project Tiger, and Project Elephant for better protection and conservation of wildlife and their habitat.
In India, the total forest cover is 21.71% of the total geographical area, while forest and tree cover is 25%. 998 Protected areas, which cover 5.3% geographical area including Wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, marine protected areas etc., have been designated. Further, 22 flagship species are under Ecosystem-based conservation.Towards the conservation of Wetlands, the number of Ramsar sites (Wetlands ofInternational Importance) in India has increased to 75. India has the largest number of Ramsar sites in South Asia.
Furthermore, the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 has also been enacted with the aim to conserve biological resources of the country and regulation of access to these resources to ensure equitable sharing of benefits arising out of their use. Some of the measures taken towards implementation of the Biological Diversity Act includes: formation of State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils (UTBCs) in all States and UTs, declaration of 36 Biodiversity Heritage Sites (BHS), notification of threatened species which are on the verge of extinction for 18 states and 2 UTs (Assam, Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar and Diu & Daman), establishment of 2.77 lakh Biodiversity Management Committees and preparation of 2.67 lakh People’s Biodiversity Registers in 28 States and 7 UTs.
The Government of India has taken several initiatives for protection of biodiversity and conservation like National Action Plan for Desertification & Drought; National Action Plan for Climate Change; National Mission on Sustainable Habitat; National Water Mission; National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem; Green India Mission; National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture; National Plan for Conservation of Aquatic ecosystems and Water Resources programme for Repair, Renovation & Restoration of Water bodies with Domestic /External Assistance.
NCAP targets to achieve reductions up to 40% of PM 10 concentrations by 2025-26
Posted On: 06 APR 2023 8:13PM by PIB Delhi
MoEFCC provides financial assistance to States/ UTs under National Ambient Air Quality Programme (NAMP) for monitoring of ambient air quality in towns and cities. Presently 1340 Monitoring Stations have been set up for monitoring ambient air quality in 489 cities and towns of the country. Details of Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations in 489 cities/towns, are provided at Annexure I.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in January, 2019 with an aim to improve air quality in 131 cities (non-attainment cities and Million Plus Cities in 24 States by engaging all stakeholders. The Programme envisages to achieve reductions up to 40% or achievement of National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter10 (PM 10) concentrations by 2025-26. Under the Programme, Cities are required to take measures to improve air quality inter-alia include solid waste management, control of pollution from biomass burning and air pollution from construction & demolition activities.
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the scheme ‘Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban 2.0’ which aims at setting up of setting up of solid waste management processing facilities, remediation of all legacy waste dumpsites in all cities, C&D waste management and procurement of mechanical road sweepers in 152 cities/towns which includes 131 cities covered under NCAP.
MoEFCC has notified Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 which provide statutory framework for the management of solid waste in the country. Rules mandate the local authorities and village panchayats of census towns and urban agglomerations, to allow only the non-usable, non-recyclable, non-biodegradable, non-combustible and non-reactive inert waste and pre-processing rejects and residues from waste processing facilities to go to sanitary landfill sites.
To address the issue of plastic pollution with effective measures, MoEFCC notified the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2016. MoEFCC issued notification in August, 2021 for phasing out of 12 Single-Use Plastics (SUP) items w.e.f. 1st July, 2022. Plastic packaging waste, which is not covered under the phase out of identified single use plastic items, is to be collected and managed in an environmentally sustainable way through Guidelines for Extended Producer Responsibility notified by MoEFCC on 16th February 2022.