{"id":32670,"date":"2023-03-02T12:38:03","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T07:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=32670"},"modified":"2025-04-19T14:58:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T09:28:44","slug":"the-case-for-open-verifiable-forest-cover-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/the-case-for-open-verifiable-forest-cover-data\/","title":{"rendered":"The case for open, verifiable Forest Cover data"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Background<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How is data computed for the Report<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Forest Land Encroachment<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Loss of Old Forests<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Shrinking of Natural Forests<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>How to Expand India\u2019s Forest Cover?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>India is one of the few countries to have a scientific system of periodic forest cover assessment in the form of <strong>India State of Forest Report<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>India State of Forest Report is an <i><strong>assessment of India\u2019s forest and tree cover<\/strong><\/i>.\n<ul>\n<li>It is published every two years by the <strong>Forest Survey of India (FSI)<\/strong> under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.<\/li>\n<li>The first survey was published in <strong>1987<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How is data computed for the Report?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Data is computed through wall-to-wall mapping of India\u2019s forest cover through remote sensing satellites.<\/li>\n<li>Three categories of forests are surveyed \u2013\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Very Dense Forests<\/strong> (canopy density over 70%),<\/li>\n<li><strong>Moderately Dense Forests<\/strong> (40-70%) and <strong>Open Forests<\/strong> (10-40%),<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scrubs<\/strong> (canopy density less than 10%)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Forest Cover<\/strong> is defined as \u2013<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201c<\/strong><i><strong>An area more than 1 ha in extent and having tree canopy density of 10 percent and above<\/strong><\/i>\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tree Cover<\/strong> is defined as \u2013\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u201c<\/strong><i><strong>Tree patches outside recorded forest areas exclusive of forest cover and less than the minimum mappable area of one hectare<\/strong><\/i>\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/mdW4L9pMRTtHpdPU7gaTmpLUBv8Ab8zc6O-aOz-Xe3rGZp9iF-DuOIols8ffkqYKMUiSKofEsQ5fqjh-zCFQQs5zT0pQBkx0XklWCuu4FNicWTK4cLGhx7z7StxneX0kZlVoxVLS5soV\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Forest Cover in India<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The data is used in planning and formulation of policies in forest management as well as forestry and agroforestry sectors.<\/li>\n<li>Since 19.53% in the early 1980s, <i><strong>India\u2019s forest cover has increased to 21.71% in 2021<\/strong><\/i>.<\/li>\n<li>Adding to this a notional 2.91% tree cover estimated in 2021, the country\u2019s total green cover now stands at 24.62%, on paper.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Forest Land Encroachment<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Encroachment is a term used to describe the advancement of structures, roads, railroads, improved paths, utilities, and other development, into natural areas.<\/li>\n<li>The National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) under the Department of Space estimated <i><strong>India\u2019s forest cover using satellite imagery for periods 1971-1975 and 1980-1982 to report a loss of 2.79%<\/strong><\/i>. It declined from 16.89% to 14.10% \u2014 in just seven years.<\/li>\n<li>While reliable data on encroachment is unavailable, <u>government records show that 42,380 sq km \u2014 nearly the size of Haryana\u2014 of forest land was diverted for non-forest use between 1951 and 1980<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Loss of Old Forests<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In India, land recorded as forest in revenue records or proclaimed as forest under a forest law is described as <strong>Recorded Forest Area<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Over time, some of these Recorded Forest Areas lost forest cover due to encroachment, diversion, forest fire etc.\n<ul>\n<li>Meanwhile, tree cover improved in many places outside the Recorded Forest Areas due to agro-forestry, orchards etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In 2011, when the FSI furnished data on India\u2019s forest cover inside and outside Recorded Forest Areas, it came to light that <i><strong>nearly one-third of Recorded Forest Areas had no forest at all<\/strong><\/i>.<\/li>\n<li>In other words, <i><strong>almost one-third of India\u2019s old natural forests \u2014 over 2.44 lakh sq. km (larger than Uttar Pradesh) or 7.43% of India \u2014 were already gone<\/strong><\/i>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Shrinking of Natural Forests<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Even after extensive plantation by the forest department since the 1990s, dense forests within Recorded Forest Areas added up to cover only 9.96% of India in 2021.<\/li>\n<li>This loss remains invisible due to the inclusion of commercial plantations, orchards, village homesteads, urban housings etc as dense forests outside Recorded Forest Areas.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The steady replacement of natural forests with plantations are worrisome for the following reasons \u2013<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>First, natural forests have evolved naturally to be diverse and, therefore, support a lot more biodiversity.<\/li>\n<li>Secondly, plantation forests have trees of the same age, are more susceptible to fire, pests and epidemics, and often act as a barrier to natural forest regeneration.<\/li>\n<li>Thirdly, natural forests are old and therefore stock a lot more carbon in their body and in the soil.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How to Expand India\u2019s Forest Cover?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>As mentioned earlier, India\u2019s forest cover has increased to 21.71% in 2021.\n<ul>\n<li>Soon after its independence from Britain in 1947, India came out with its first national forest policy in 1952, which had a target of <strong>bringing 33 percent of India&#8217;s land under forest cover<\/strong> and since then, the target has remained as it is.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>In the present scenario, the possibility of a sizeable increase in forest cover is limited due to the inelasticity of forest land.<\/li>\n<li>However, the <i><strong>balance of 9 percent can be achieved through taking up plantation\/afforestation outside the forests and restocking\/plantation in degraded and scrub forests<\/strong><\/i>.<\/li>\n<li>This can be done by \u2013\n<ul>\n<li>Substantially increasing the tree cover outside forests by incentivising and promoting agro-forestry and farm forestry;<\/li>\n<li>Managing and expanding green spaces in urban and peri-urban areas to enhance citizens\u2019 well-being;<\/li>\n<li>Plantation of trees outside forests in partnership with local communities, land-owning agencies, and private enterprises;<\/li>\n<li>Creation, sustainable management and promotion of urban forests (woodlands, gardens, avenue plantations, herbal gardens, etc.) as an integral component of urban habitat planning and development;<\/li>\n<li>Afforestation\/reforestation in public-private partnership (PPP) mode;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Promotion of urban forests, which include woodlands, wetlands, parks, tree groves, tree garden, plantations in institutional areas, on avenues and around water bodies, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is meant by Tree Canopy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Tree canopy means <strong>the branches, leaves, or other foliage from woody vegetation exceeding five (5) feet in height<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong> <strong>What is the aim of Forest Survey of India?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><strong>To prepare State of Forest Report biennially, providing assessment of latest forest cover in the country and monitoring changes in these<\/strong>. To conduct inventory in forest and non-forest areas and develop database on forest tree resources. To prepare thematic maps on 1:50,000 scale, using aerial photographs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-climate\/india-forest-tree-cover-data-deforestation-explained-8474163\/#:~:text=Since%2019.53%25%20in%20the%20early,at%2024.62%25%2C%20on%20paper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The case for open, verifiable forest cover data<\/u><\/a><u>\u00a0<\/u>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Forest cover refers to an area more than 1 ha in extent and having tree canopy density of 10 percent and above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}