India State of Forest Report 2023

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Context (IE): The 18th biennial India State of Forest Report (ISFR-2023) was released by the Environment Minister.
The India State of Forest Report is released biennially (every two years) by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) and involves forest cover mapping of the country using satellite data.

Forest Survey of India is an organisation under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). It was established in 1981 and headquartered in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

Key Findings of India State of Forest Report 2023

Area-wise	Percentage-wise
Madhya Pradesh (85,724 km²)	Lakshadweep (92 percent)
Arunachal Pradesh (67,083 km²)	Mizoram (88.03 percent)
Maharashtra (65,383 km2)	Andaman & Nicobar Island (81.95 percent)

Area-wise	Percentage-wise
Madhya Pradesh (77,073 km²)	Lakshadweep (91.33 percent)
Arunachal Pradesh (65,882 km²)	Mizoram (85.34 percent)
Chhattisgarh (55,830.88 km²)	Andaman & Nicobar Island (81.62 percent)

Maximum rise in forest and tree cover	Maximum decrease in forest and tree cover
Chhattisgarh (683.62 sq km)	Madhya Pradesh (612.41 sq km)
Uttar Pradesh (559.19 sq km)	Karnataka (459.36 sq km)
Odisha (558.57 sq km)	Ladakh (159.26 sq km)
Rajasthan (394.46 sq km)	Nagaland (125.22 sq km)

The total Mangrove cover is 4,991.68 km2, which accounts for 0.15 % of the country’s total geographical area. This is a decrease of 7.43 sq km compared to 2021. It is present in 12 States/UTs (9 States and 3 UTs).
Except for Gujarat and A&N islands, Mangrove cover has increased in other States/UTs.
Mangrove cover by area:
1. West Bengal
2. Gujarat
3. A&N Islands
4. Andhra Pradesh
5. Maharashtra
6. Odisha
7. Tamil Nadu
8. Goa
9. Karnataka
10. Kerala
11. Daman & Diu
12. Puducherry

19 states/UTs have more than 33 per cent of the geographical area under forest cover.
Eight states/UTs, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, A&N Island, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Manipur, have forest cover above 75 per cent.
Total forest & tree cover in the Northeastern region is 67% of the geographical area of these states.
The northeastern states continued to record a declining trend in forest cover. Only Mizoram recorded an increase of 178 sq km.
An assessment of forest cover across the Western Ghats was done for the first time. It showed that the area earmarked as eco-sensitive by the Centre lost 58.22 sq km of forest cover since 2013.

Since 2021: 3,913 sq km
Since 2003 (Two decades): 24,651 sq km (more than 6.3% — of its dense forests).

Estimated to be 1,54,670 km² (increase of 5,227 compared to 2021).
Maximum bamboo bearing area: Madhya Pradesh > Arunachal Pradesh > Maharashtra > Odisha.

India’s carbon stock has reached 30.43 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent; which indicates that as compared to the base year of 2005, India has already reached 2.29 billion tonnes of additional carbon sink as against the target of 2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes by 2030.

Recorded Forest Area: Area recorded as forest in Government records.
Forest Cover: Includes land with a tree canopy density exceeding 10% irrespective of ownership and legal status; and includes orchards, bamboo, and palm and covering at least one hectare in area. It also includes plantations.
Tree Cover: Includes all patches of trees occurring outside the Recorded Forest Area which are of size less than 1 hectare, irrespective of canopy density.
Dense Forest: Areas with a canopy density of 40% and above.
Very Dense Forests (VDF): Lands with forest cover having a canopy density of 70% and above.
Open forests (OF): Lands with forest cover having a canopy density between 10-40%.
Trees Outside Forest (TOF): All trees growing outside recorded forest areas irrespective of patch size.