States and union
territories of India
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List of how many forests and percentage of forest cover in India by state.

Tree density

Tree density is the quantification of how closely the trees are growing in a hectare area. It is not the exact number of trees in the forest but, serves as an estimate to the foresters.[1].The tree density of an area should be mentioned by the working Plan officer (WPO) or Divisional Forest Officer (Working Plan) after his field inspection of the lowest possible forest unit or compartment in the CH-4 form of compartment history. The compartment history forms are to be maintained at the Forest range and Forest division offices. The working Plan code-2014 mentions in para 105 that the density should also be mentioned on the stock map prepared by the WPO/DFO in decimal figures. The crown density is similar to the tree density. A forest area with a density of more than 0.4 is considered a good forest area and a forest area with less than 0.4 tree density is considered degraded forest.

Forest cover

Forest cover is the total geographical area declared as forest by the government. As of 2021, the total forest cover in India is 80.9 million hectares, which is 24.62 per cent of the total geographical area.[2] There is a 1,540 sq.km increase in forest cover over 2019. Madhya Pradesh has the highest forest cover by area followed by Arunachal Pradesh. Mizoram has the highest forest cover in terms of percentage of total geographical area.

Ministry of the Environment, Forest and Climate Change used the mid-resolution satellite data on LISS-III data from Indian remote sensing satellite. Minister of environment forest and climate change Bhupendra Yadav released the Indian forest survey report 2021-22 on 13 January 2022.

As per the report, 17 Indian states have a forest cover of over 33%.

Forest cover over the years

Indian forest cover map as of 2015
Year Total forest area (in sq km) % of forested area %change
2021[2] 713,789 24.45% increase0.04%
2019[3] 712,249 21.67% increase0.13%
2017[4] 708,273 21.54% =increase0.20%
2015[5] 701,673 21.34% increase0.11%
2013[6] 697,898 21.23% increase0.18%
2011[7] 692,027 21.05%


2021

The forest cover in 2021 in India by state and union territory as published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) is shown in the table below.[2]

Very Dense= All lands with tree canopy density of 70 percent ( 0.7 tree density) and above.

Moderately Dense= All lands with tree canopy density of 40 percent and more but less than 70 percent ( 0.4 to 0.7 tree density).

Open Forest= All lands with tree canopy density of 10 percent and more but less than 40 percent (0.1 to 0.4 tree density). (Area in square kilometers)

State / UT Zone Geographical Area Very dense Moderately dense Open forest Total forest area % of the forested area % change since 2019
Andhra Pradesh Southern 162,968 1,994 13,929 13,861 29,784 18.28% 2.22%
Arunachal Pradesh North Eastern 83,743 21,058 30,176 15,197 66,431 79.33% -0.39%
Assam North Eastern 78,438 3,017 9,991 15,304 28,312 36.09% -0.05%
Bihar Eastern 94,163 333 3,286 3,762 7,381 7.84% 1.03%
Chhattisgarh Central 135,192 7,068 32,279 16,370 55,717 41.21% 0.19%
Delhi Northern 1,483 6.72 56.6 131.68 195 13.15% -0.23%
Goa Western 3,702 538 576 1,130 2,244 60.62% 0.31%
Gujarat Western 196,244 378 5,032 9,516 14,926 7.61% 0.46%
Haryana Northern 44,212 28 445 1,130 1,603 3.63% 0.06%
Himachal Pradesh Northern 55,673 3,163 7,100 5,180 15,443 27.73% 0.06%
Jharkhand Eastern 79,716 2,601 9,689 11,431 23,721 29.76% 0.47%
Karnataka Southern 191,791 4,533 20,985 13,212 38,730 20.19% 0.4%
Kerala Southern 38,852 1,944 9,472 9,837 21,253 54.7% 0.52%
Madhya Pradesh Central 308,252 6,665 34,209 36,619 77,493 25.14% 0.01%
Maharashtra Western 307,713 8,734 20,589 21,475 50,798 16.51% 0.04%
Manipur North Eastern 22,327 905 6,228 9,465 16,598 74.34% -1.48%
Meghalaya North Eastern 22,429 560 9,160 7,326 17,046 76% -0.43%
Mizoram North Eastern 21,081 157 5,715 11,948 17,820 84.53% -1.03%
Nagaland North Eastern 16,579 1,272 4,449 6,530 12,251 73.9% -1.88%
Odisha Eastern 155,707 7,213 20,995 23,948 52,156 33.5% 1.04%
Punjab Northern 50,362 11 793 1,043 1,847 3.67% -0.11%
Rajasthan Northern 342,239 78 4,369 12,208 16,655 4.87% 0.15%
Sikkim North Eastern 7,096 1,102 1,551 688 3,341 47.08% -0.03%
Tamil Nadu Southern 130,060 3,593 11,034 11,792 26,419 20.31% 0.21%
Telangana Southern 112,077 1,624 9,119 10,471 21,214 18.93% 3.07%
Tripura North Eastern 10,486 647 5,212 1,863 7,722 73.64% -0.05%
Uttar Pradesh Central 240,928 2,627 4,029 8,162 14,818 6.15% 0.08%
Uttarakhand Central 53,483 5,055 12,768 6,482 24,305 45.44% 0.01%
West Bengal Eastern 88,752 3,037 4,208 9,587 16,832 18.96% -0.41%
A & N Islands Southern 8,249 5,678 683 383 6,744 81.75% 0.01%
Chandigarh Northern 114 1.36 13.51 8.01 22.88 20.07% 3.86%
Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Western 602 1.4 85.56 140.79 227.75 37.83% 0.04%
Jammu and Kashmir Northern 54,624 4,155 8,117 9,115 21,387 39.15% 0.14%
Ladakh Northern 168,055 2 512 1,758 2,272 1.35% 0.8%
Lakshadweep Southern 30 0 16.09 11.01 27.1 90.33% 0%
Puducherry Southern 490 0 17.53 35.77 53.3 10.88% 1.7%
Total 3,287,469 99,779 306,890 307,120 713,789 24.45% 0.22%

2017

The forest cover in 2017 in India by state and union territory as published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) is shown in the table below.[8][9]

Very Dense= All lands with tree canopy density of 70 percent ( 0.7 tree density) and above.

Moderately Dense= All lands with tree canopy density of 40 percent and more but less than 70 percent ( 0.4 to 0.7 tree density).

Open Forest= All lands with tree canopy density of 10 percent and more but less than 40 percent (0.1 to 0.4 tree density).

Scrub= All forest lands with poor tree growth mainly of small or stunted trees canopy density less than 10 percent (Less than 0.1 tree density).

(Area in square kilometers)

State / UT Geographical Area Very dense Moderately dense Open forest Total forest area % of forested area % change since 2015
Andhra Pradesh 162,968 1,957 14,051 12,139 28,147 17.27% +1.31%
Arunachal Pradesh 83,743 20,721 30,955 15,288 66,964 79.96% -0.23%
Assam 78,438 2,797 10,192 15,116 28,105 35.83% +0.72%
Bihar 94,163 332 3,260 3,707 7,299 7.75% +0.05%
Chhattisgarh 135,192 7,064 32,215 16,268 55,547 41.09% -0.01%
Delhi 1,483 7 56 129 192 20.6% +0.25%
Goa 3,702 538 576 1,115 2,229 60.21% +0.51%
Gujarat 196,244 378 5,200 9,179 14,757 7.52% +0.02%
Haryana 44,212 28 452 1,108 1,588 3.59% +0.02%
Himachal Pradesh 55,673 3,110 6,705 5,285 15,100 27.12% +0.71%
Jammu & Kashmir 222,236 4,075 8,579 10,587 23,241 10.46% +0.11%
Jharkhand 79,716 2,598 9,686 11,269 23,553 29.55% +0.04%
Karnataka 191,791 4,502 20,444 12,604 37,550 19.58% +0.57%
Kerala 38,852 1,663 9,407 8,251 20,321 52.30% +2.68%
Madhya Pradesh 308,252 6,563 34,571 36,280 77,414 25.11% -0.00%
Maharashtra 307,713 8,736 20,652 21,294 50,682 16.47% -0.01%
Manipur 22,327 908 6,510 9,928 17,346 77.69% +1.18%
Meghalaya 22,429 453 9,386 7,307 17,146 76.76% -0.52%
Mizoram 21,081 131 5,861 12,194 18,186 86.27% -2.52%
Nagaland 16,579 1,279 4,587 6,623 12,489 75.33% -2.71%
Odisha 155,707 6,967 21,370 23,008 51,345 32.98% +0.57%
Punjab 50,362 8 806 1,023 1,837 3.65% +0.13%
Rajasthan 342,239 78 4,340 12,154 16,572 4.84% +0.14%
Sikkim 7,096 1,081 1,575 688 3,344 47.13% -0.13%
Tamil Nadu 130,060 3,672 10,979 11,630 26,281 20.21% +0.06%
Telangana 112,077 1,596 8,738 10,085 26969 18.22% +0.50%
Tripura 10,486 656 5,246 1,824 7,726 73.68% -1.56%
Uttar Pradesh 240,928 2,617 4,069 7,993 14,679 6.09% +0.12%
Uttarakhand 53,483 4,969 12,884 6,442 24,295 45.43% +0.04%
West Bengal 88,752 2,994 4,147 9,706 16,847 18.98% +0.02%
Andaman & Nicobar Islands 8,249 5,678 684 380 6,742 81.73% -0.11%
Chandigarh 114 1 14 6 22 18.91% -0.09%
Dadra & Nagar Haveli 491 0 80 127 207 42.16% +0.20%
Daman & Diu 111 1 6 13 20 18.46% +0.79%
Lakshadweep 30 0 17 10 27 90.33% 0.13%
Puducherry 490 0 18 36 54 10.95% -0.67%
Total 3,287,469 98,158 308,318 301,797 708,273 21.54% +0.21%

2015

According to Forest Survey of India (FSI), the forest cover by State/UT in India in 2015 is listed below.[8]

Very Dense= All lands with tree canopy density of 70 percent and above.

Moderately Dense= All lands with tree canopy density of 40 percent and more but less than 70 percent.

Open Forest= All lands with tree canopy density of 10 percent and more but less than 40 percent.

(Area in square kilometers)

State / UT Geographical Area Very dense Moderately dense Open forest
Andhra Pradesh 162,968 421 14,352 11,233
Arunachal Pradesh 83,743 20,806 31,181 15,167
Assam 78,438 1,425 11,256 14,857
Bihar 94,163 248 3,362 3,644
Chhattisgarh 135,192 7,001 32,305 16,253
Delhi 1,483 6.94 57.15 154.68
Goa 3,702 536 580 1,094
Gujarat 196,244 378 5,198 9,134
Haryana 44,212 28 444 1,108
Himachal Pradesh 55,673 3,225 6,387 5,095
Jammu & Kashmir 222,236 4,061 8,815 10,112
Jharkhand 79,716 2,601 9,692 11,231
Karnataka 191,791 1,783 20,177 14,489
Kerala 38,852 1,529 9,328 8,421
Madhya Pradesh 308,252 6,586 34,837 36,003
Maharashtra 307,713 8,685 20,792 21,222
Manipur 22,327 729 5,964 10,390
Meghalaya 22,429 417 9,555 7,290
Mizoram 21,081 135 5,800 12,782
Nagaland 16,579 1,284 4,690 6,965
Odisha 155,707 6,985 21,470 22,005
Punjab 50,362 0 733 1,038
Rajasthan 342,239 77 4,414 11,615
Sikkim 7,096 499 2,157 697
Tamil Nadu 130,060 3,005 10,472 12,731
Telangana 112,077 465 11,340 8,049
Tripura 10,486 110 4,699 3,111
Uttar Pradesh 240,928 2,171 4,043 8,187
Uttarakhand 53,483 4,804 13,662 5,806
West Bengal 88,752 2,943 4,176 9,707
Andaman & Nicobar Islands 8,249 5,686 685 380
Chandigarh 114 1.36 13.92 6.38
Dadra & Nagar Haveli 491 0 80 126
Daman & Diu 111 1.4 5.82 12.39
Lakshadweep 30 0 17.22 9.84
Puducherry 490 0 28.78 28.17
Total 3,287,469 88,633 312,739 300,123

See also

References

  1. ^ "How to Calculate tree density - Hunker.com".
  2. ^ a b c "India State of Forest Report 2021".
  3. ^ "FSI 2019 Summary" (PDF).
  4. ^ "FSI 2017 Forest Cover" (PDF).
  5. ^ "FSI 2015 Summary" (PDF).
  6. ^ "FSI 2013 Summary" (PDF).
  7. ^ "FSI 2011 Summary" (PDF).
  8. ^ a b "India State of Forest Report, Forest Cover 2017" (PDF). Forest Survey of India. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  9. ^ Jasjeev, G. "Forest department: Delhi's green cover doubled since 2001 | Delhi News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
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