CA 2020 01 Envi ISFR 2019 Lecture notes ALL PDF

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India State of Forest Report 2019 (ISFR 2019) 1.1. Forest Survey of India (FSI) ................................................................................................................... 2 Objectives of FSI ................................................................................................................................. 2 The major activities of FSI ................................................................................................................. 2 1.2. The summary of India State of Forest Report 2019 (ISFR 2019) ....................................................... 2 1.3. The summary of key findings of the ISFR 2019 .................................................................................. 3 1.4. Important Information from India State of Forest Report 2019 (ISFR 2019) .................................. 4 Forest Cover ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Forest Cover of India..................................................................................................................................................... 5 Forest Cover in the States/UTs in India ........................................................................................................................ 5 Change in forest cover .................................................................................................................................................. 8 Criticism of the definition of ‘Forest Cover’ .................................................................................................................. 9

Recorded Forest Area (RFA) .............................................................................................................. 9 Criticism of FSI’s approach ............................................................................................................................................ 9

Tree Cover ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Tress Outside Forests (TOF)............................................................................................................. 10 Forest and Tree cover of India in 2019 .......................................................................................... 11 Recorded Forest Areas (RFAs) in States and UTs .......................................................................... 11 India’s forests vis-a-vis forest resources in the world .................................................................. 13 Forest area for top ten countries in 2015 ................................................................................................................... 13 Countries reporting the greatest annual forest area gain (2010-15) .........................................................................13 Forest Carbon Stocks .................................................................................................................................................. 13 Growing Stock in Forests ............................................................................................................................................ 14

Sustainable Development Goals ..................................................................................................... 14 Mangrove Cover ............................................................................................................................... 15 Importance of mangroves .......................................................................................................................................... 15 Global Status of Mangrove Cover ............................................................................................................................... 16 Mangrove Cover Assessment 2019 (area in sq km) .................................................................................................... 16

Forest Types and Biodiversity ......................................................................................................... 21 Area under different Forest Type Groups of India ..................................................................................................... 21

Fire Proneness categories and criteria ........................................................................................... 27 National Forest Inventory ............................................................................................................... 28 Stock ........................................................................................................................................................................... 29 Bamboo Resources of the Country ............................................................................................................................. 29 Carbon Stock in India's Forests ................................................................................................................................... 30 Forests ........................................................................................................................................................................34

Only focus on the bolded words/sentences ‘Must Remember’ facts are marked in blue

1

•

Every two years, Forest Survey of India (FSI) undertakes assessment of country’s forest resources.

•

The results are presented as the 'India State of Forest Report (ISFR – biennial report)’.

•

Since 1987, 15 such assessments have been completed and the current assessment is the 16th in the series.

1.1. Forest Survey of India (FSI) •

Forest Survey of India (FSI) is a national organization under the Ministry of Environment.

•

FSI has headquarters at Dehradun.

•

It is responsible for assessment and monitoring of the forest resources of the country on regular basis.

•

It is established in 1981.

Objectives of FSI •

To prepare State of Forest Report biennially.

•

To conduct inventory in forest and non-forest areas and develop database on forest tree resources.

•

To function as a nodal agency for collection and dissemination of spatial database on forest resources.

•

To conduct training of forestry personnel in application of technologies related to remote sensing, GIS, etc.

•

To support State/UT Forest Departments (SFD) in forest resources survey, mapping and inventory.

The major activities of FSI •

Remote sensing based nation-wide forest cover mapping in biennial cycle,

•

National forest inventory,

•

Forest fire monitoring,

•

Forest carbon assessment,

•

Forest type mapping and several projects on emerging issues.

1.2. The summary of India State of Forest Report 2019 (ISFR 2019) •

Tree cover ➔ includes all patches of trees less than 1 ha.

•

Forest cover ➔ all patches of land with a ✓ tree canopy density of more than 10% and ✓ more than 1 ha in area, irrespective of land use, ownership and species of trees.

•

Three canopy density classes are: 1. Very Dense Forest ➔ canopy density more than 70%, 2. Moderately Dense Forest ➔ canopy density between 40-70% and 3. Open Forest ➔ canopy density between 10-40%. 2

•

FSI undertakes National Forest Inventory to assess the growing stock in ✓ forests and Trees Outside Forests (TOF or outside Recorded Forest Area (RFA)), ✓ bamboo resource, ✓ carbon stock along with several other parameters.

1.3. The summary of key findings of the ISFR 2019 •

Total Forest cover ➔ 7,12,249 sq km (21.67% of the geographical area).

•

Total Tree cover ➔ 95,027 (2.89% of the geographical area).

•

Total Forest and Tree cover ➔ 8,07,276 sq km (24.56% of the geographical area).

•

Total Forest cover in the hill districts ➔ 2,84,006 sq km (40.30% of the area of these districts).

•

Total Forest cover in the tribal districts ➔ 4,22,351 sq km (37.54% of the area of these districts).

•

Total Forest cover in the North Eastern region ➔ 1,70,541 sq km (65.05% of its geographical area).

•

Total bamboo bearing area ➔ 1,60,037 sq km.

•

Total carbon stock in forest ➔ 7,124.6 million tonnes

•

As compared to ISFR 2017, 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.

•

As compared to ISFR 2017, Forest cover ✓ within the Recorded Forest Area (RFA) has shown a slight decrease of 330 sq km. ✓ within the RFA in the tribal districts has shown a slight decrease of 741 sq km. ✓ outside the Recorded Forest Area (RFA) has shown a slight increase of 4,306 sq km. ✓ outside the RFA in the tribal districts and in in hill districts has shown a slight increase. ✓ Forest cover in the North East has shown a decrease of forest cover to the extent of 765 sq km (0.45%). ✓ Except Assam and Tripura, all the States in the region show decrease in forest cover.

•

21.40% of the forest cover of the country is highly to extremely fire prone.

•

Mangrove cover in the country has increased by 54 sq km (1.10%).

•

There is an increase of 3,229 sq km in bamboo bearing area.

•

There is an increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock.

•

Soil Organic Carbon (SOC – 4,004 million tonnes) represents the largest pool of carbon stock in forests.

•

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 of the country.

•

The total number of wetlands located within the RFA is 8.13% of the total number of wetlands in India. 3

•

Gujarat has largest area of wetlands within RFA in the country followed by West Bengal.

•

The top five States in terms of increase in forest cover are: 1. Karnataka (1,025 sq km), 2. Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km), 3. Kerala (823 sq km), 4. Jammu & Kashmir (371 sq km) and 5. Himachal Pradesh (334 sq km).

•

The total growing stock of wood in the country is estimated 5,915.76 million cum comprising ✓ 4,273.47 million cubic meters (million cum) inside RFA and ✓ 1,642.29 million cum outside recorded forest areas (TOF).

•

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.

1.4. Important Information from India State of Forest Report 2019 (ISFR 2019) Forest Cover •

Forest cover includes all tree patches which have ✓ canopy density more than 10% and ✓ area of 1 ha or more in size, ✓ irrespective of their legal status and species composition.

Class

Description

Very Dense Forest

All lands with tree canopy density of 70% and above.

Moderately Dense Forest

All lands with tree canopy density of 40% and more but less than 70%.

Open Forest

All lands with tree canopy density of 10% and more but less than 40%.

Scrub

Forest lands with canopy density less than 10%.

Non-forest

Lands not included in any of the above classes. (includes water)

4

Forest Cover of India Class

Area (sq km)

% of GA

Very Dense Forest

99,278

3.02

Moderately Dense Forest

3,08,472

9.39

Open Forest

3,04,499

9.26

Total Forest Cover

7,12,249

21.67

Scrub

46,297

1.41

Non-Forest

25,28,923

76.92

Total Geographical Area

32,87,469

100.00

Forest Cover in the States/UTs in India 5

6

State/UT

2019 Forest Cover in sq km VDF

MDF

OF

Total

% of GA

% Change

Scrub

1

Andhra Pradesh

1,994

13,938

13,205

29,137

17.88

3.52

8255

2

Arunachal Pradesh

21,095

30,557

15,036

66,688

79.63

-0.41

229

3

Assam

2,795

10,279

15,253

28,327

36.11

0.79

173

4

Bihar

333

3,280

3,693

7,306

7.76

0.1

250

5

Chhattisgarh

7,068

32,198

16,345

55,611

41.13

0.12

610

6

Delhi

7

56

132

195

13.18

1.57

0.3

7

Goa

538

576

1,123

2,237

60.43

0.36

0

8

Gujarat

378

5,092

9,387

14,857

7.57

0.68

2994

9

Haryana

28

451

1,123

1,602

3.62

0.88

154

10

Himachal Pradesh

3,113

7,126

5,195

15,434

27.72

2.21

315

11

UT of J&K

4,203

7,952

8,967

21,122

39.66

1.68

250

UT Ladakh

78

660

1,752

2,490

1.47

0.93

298

J& K Total

4,281

8,612

10,719

23,612

10.62

1.6

548

12

Jharkhand

2,603

9,687

11,321

23,611

29.62

0.25

688

13

Karnataka

4,501

21,048

13,026

38,575

20.11

2.73

4484

14

Kerala

1,935

9,508

9,701

21,144

54.42

4.05

13

15

Madhya Pradesh

6,676

34,341

36,465

77,482

25.14

0.09

6002

16

Maharashtra

8,721

20,572

21,485

50,778

16.5

0.19

4256

17

Manipur

905

6,386

9,556

16,847

75.46

-2.88

1181

18

Meghalaya

489

9,267

7,363

17,119

76.33

-0.16

600

19

Mizoram

157

5,801

12,048

18,006

85.41

-0.99

1

20

Nagaland

1,273

4,534

6,679

12,486

75.31

-0.02

635

21

Odisha

6,970

21,552

23,097

51,619

33.15

0.53

4327

22

Punjab

8

801

1,040

1,849

3.67

0.65

33

23

Rajasthan

78

4,342

12,210

16,630

4.86

0.35

4760

24

Sikkim

1,102

1,552

688

3,342

47.1

-0.06

307

25

Tamil Nadu

3,605

11,030

11,729

26,364

20.27

0.32

715

26

Telangana

1,608

8,787

10,187

20,582

18.36

0.8

3615

27

Tripura

654

5,236

1,836

7,726

73.68

0

29

28

Uttar Pradesh

2,617

4,080

8,109

14,806

6.15

0.87

587 7

29

Uttarakhand

5,047

12,805

6,451

24,303

45.44

0.03

383

30

West Bengal

3,019

4,160

9,723

16,902

19.04

0.33

146

31

A & N Islands

5,678

684

381

6,743

81.74

0.01

1

32

Chandigarh

1

14

6

22

19.32

2.18

0.1

33

Dadra & Nagar Haveli

0

80

127

207

42.16

0

5

34

Daman & Diu

1

6

13

20

18.46

0

0.19

35

Lakshadweep

0

16

11

27

90.33

0

0

36

Puducherry

0

18

35

52

10.7

-2.35

0

99,278

3,08,472

3,04,499

7,12,249

21.67

0.56

46297

Total •

In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are 1. Mizoram (85.41%), 2. Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), 3. Meghalaya (76.33%), 4. Manipur (75.46%) and 5. Nagaland (75.31%). Top 10 States with largest forest cover

Rank State

Forest Cover in sq km

1

Madhya Pradesh

77,482

2

Arunachal Pradesh

66,688

3

Chhattisgarh

55,611

4

Odisha

51,619

5

Maharashtra

50,778

6

Karnataka

38,575

7

Andhra Pradesh

29,137

8

Assam

28,327

9