Forest cover by state in India

The forest cover in India is measured by Forest Survey of India (an organisation under the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India) since 1987.

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-3 form of compartment history. The compartment history forms are to be maintained at the Forest range and Forest division offices[2]. The working Plan code-2014 mentions in the 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. The forest area with density more than 0.4 are considered good forest area and forest area with less than 0.4 tree density are considered degraded forest.

Forest cover

Forest cover is the total geographical area declared as forest by the government. As of 2019, the total forest cover in India is 712,249 Sq km (71.22 million hectares), which is 21.67 percent of the total geographical area. Whereas, the total forest and tree cover in India is 807,276 Sq km (80.73 million hectors), which is 24.56 percent of the total geographical area of the country.

Forest cover over the years
Year Total forest area (in sq km) % of forested area %change
2019[3] 712,249 21.67% 0.13%
2017[4] 708,273 21.54% 0.20%
2015[5] 701,673 21.34% 0.11%
2013[6] 697,898 21.23% 0.18%
2011[7] 692,027 21.05%

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]

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 / UTGeographical AreaVery denseModerately denseOpen forestTotal forest area% of forested area% change since 2015
Andhra Pradesh162,9681,95714,05112,13928,14717.27%+1.31%
Arunachal Pradesh83,74320,72130,95515,28866,96479.96%-0.23%
Assam78,4382,79710,19215,11628,10535.83%+0.72%
Bihar94,1633323,2603,7077,2997.75%+0.05%
Chhattisgarh135,1927,06432,21516,26855,54741.09%-0.01%
Delhi1,48375612919212.97%+0.25%
Goa3,7025385761,1152,22960.21%+0.51%
Gujarat196,2443785,2009,17914,7577.52%+0.02%
Haryana44,212284521,1081,5883.59%+0.02%
Himachal Pradesh55,6733,1106,7055,28515,10027.12%+0.71%
Jammu & Kashmir222,2364,0758,57910,58723,24110.46%+0.11%
Jharkhand79,7162,5989,68611,26923,55329.55%+0.04%
Karnataka191,7914,50220,44412,60437,55019.58%+0.57%
Kerala38,8521,6639,4078,25120,32152.30%+2.68%
Madhya Pradesh308,2526,56334,57136,28077,41425.11%-0.00%
Maharashtra307,7138,73620,65221,29450,68216.47%-0.01%
Manipur22,3279086,5109,92817,34677.69%+1.18%
Meghalaya22,4294539,3867,30717,14676.76%-0.52%
Mizoram21,0811315,86112,19418,18686.27%-2.52%
Nagaland16,5791,2794,5876,62312,48975.33%-2.71%
Odisha155,7076,96721,37023,00851,34532.98%+0.57%
Punjab50,36288061,0231,8373.65%+0.13%
Rajasthan342,239784,34012,15416,5724.84%+0.14%
Sikkim7,0961,0811,5756883,34447.13%-0.13%
Tamil Nadu130,0603,67210,97911,63026,28120.21%+0.06%
Telangana112,0771,5968,73810,08520,41918.22%+0.50%
Tripura10,4866565,2461,8247,72673.68%-1.56%
Uttar Pradesh240,9282,6174,0697,99314,6796.09%+0.12%
Uttarakhand53,4834,96912,8846,44224,29545.43%+0.04%
West Bengal88,7522,9944,1479,70616,84718.98%+0.02%
Andaman & Nicobar Islands8,2495,6786843806,74281.73%-0.11%
Chandigarh11411462218.91%-0.09%
Dadra & Nagar Haveli49108012720742.16%+0.20%
Daman & Diu11116132018.46%+0.79%
Lakshadweep30017102790.33%0.13%
Puducherry490018365410.95%-0.67%
Total3,287,46998,158308,318301,797708,27321.54%+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 / UTGeographical AreaVery denseModerately denseOpen forest
Andhra Pradesh162,96842114,35211,233
Arunachal Pradesh83,74320,80631,18115,167
Assam78,4381,42511,25614,857
Bihar94,1632483,3623,644
Chhattisgarh135,1927,00132,30516,253
Delhi1,4836.9457.15154.68
Goa3,7025365801,094
Gujarat196,2443785,1989,134
Haryana44,212284441,108
Himachal Pradesh55,6733,2256,3875,095
Jammu & Kashmir222,2364,0618,81510,112
Jharkhand79,7162,6019,69211,231
Karnataka191,7911,78320,17714,489
Kerala38,8521,5299,3288,421
Madhya Pradesh308,2526,58634,83736,003
Maharashtra307,7138,68520,79221,222
Manipur22,3277295,96410,390
Meghalaya22,4294179,5557,290
Mizoram21,0811355,80012,782
Nagaland16,5791,2844,6906,965
Odisha155,7076,98521,47022,005
Punjab50,36207331,038
Rajasthan342,239774,41411,615
Sikkim7,0964992,157697
Tamil Nadu130,0603,00510,47212,731
Telangana112,07746511,3408,049
Tripura10,4861104,6993,111
Uttar Pradesh240,9282,1714,0438,187
Uttarakhand53,4834,80413,6625,806
West Bengal88,7522,9434,1769,707
Andaman & Nicobar Islands8,2495,686685380
Chandigarh1141.3613.926.38
Dadra & Nagar Haveli491080126
Daman & Diu1111.45.8212.39
Lakshadweep30017.229.84
Puducherry490028.7828.17
Total3,287,46988,633312,739300,123
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See also

List of countries by forest area

List of forests in India

Indian Forest Service

References
  1. https://www.hunker.com/13428942/how-to-calculate-tree-density
  2. file:///G:/Tpf/Working%20plan%20preparation.pdf
  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. "India State of Forest Report, Forest Cover 2017" (PDF). Forest Survey of India. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
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