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India Travel Forum 
Tours
Exploring
Indian Wildlife
Tiger Conservation In India
Forest
Cover - India
Forest Cover - India
India is one of the 12 mega diversity countries
having a vast variety of flora and fauna, commands 7% of world's biodiversity
and supports 16 major forest types, varying from the alpine pastures in
the Himalayas to temperate, sub-tropical forests, and mangroves in the
coastal areas.
According to the State of Forest Report, published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) in 1997, India has a recorded forest area of 76.5 million hectare or 23.3% of the total geographic area of the country. But the actual forest cover is 63.34 million ha (19.27% of the country's area) of which 26.13 million ha are degraded. There is another 5.72 million ha scrub in addition to the reported forest cover of 63.34 million ha. Thus, in total, 31.85 million ha forests in the country are degraded or open.
There are other woodlands established in small blocks (less than 25 ha) on non-forest lands which are not included in the forest cover estimates of the FSI because of limitation of interpretation of satellite data. FSI has taken up the Ground Survey of such areas under Tree Cover and it has already completed survey work in the state of Haryana. Based on the data of Ground Survey in Haryana, it has been estimated that an area equivalent to about 6.6 per cent of non-forest land is under Tree Cover. On extrapolation of this trend, one can arrive at the fact that an area equivalent to 17.5 million ha (6.6% of 265 million ha non-forest land of the country) non-forest land in the country are under Tree Cover. State of the World's Forests, 1995 published by the FAO has reported such wooded land in India as 17.7 million ha, which is very close to 17.5 million ha estimated above. Since tree plantation activities on private lands in some parts of the country are not as intensive as in Haryana, we can safely take this figure as 16 million ha. Having taken this area as 16 million ha together with Forest Cover assessed by the FSI, the total area under forest and Tree Cover in the country comes out as 79.34 million ha or 24.13% of the total area of the country, which is less than the National Goal of 33% area under forest or Tree Cover set by the National Forest Policy, 1988.
According to the State of Forest Report, published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) in 1997, India has a recorded forest area of 76.5 million hectare or 23.3% of the total geographic area of the country. But the actual forest cover is 63.34 million ha (19.27% of the country's area) of which 26.13 million ha are degraded. There is another 5.72 million ha scrub in addition to the reported forest cover of 63.34 million ha. Thus, in total, 31.85 million ha forests in the country are degraded or open.
There are other woodlands established in small blocks (less than 25 ha) on non-forest lands which are not included in the forest cover estimates of the FSI because of limitation of interpretation of satellite data. FSI has taken up the Ground Survey of such areas under Tree Cover and it has already completed survey work in the state of Haryana. Based on the data of Ground Survey in Haryana, it has been estimated that an area equivalent to about 6.6 per cent of non-forest land is under Tree Cover. On extrapolation of this trend, one can arrive at the fact that an area equivalent to 17.5 million ha (6.6% of 265 million ha non-forest land of the country) non-forest land in the country are under Tree Cover. State of the World's Forests, 1995 published by the FAO has reported such wooded land in India as 17.7 million ha, which is very close to 17.5 million ha estimated above. Since tree plantation activities on private lands in some parts of the country are not as intensive as in Haryana, we can safely take this figure as 16 million ha. Having taken this area as 16 million ha together with Forest Cover assessed by the FSI, the total area under forest and Tree Cover in the country comes out as 79.34 million ha or 24.13% of the total area of the country, which is less than the National Goal of 33% area under forest or Tree Cover set by the National Forest Policy, 1988.
Tiger Conservation activities in Various National Park
Project Tiger
Wildlfe Conservation
Activities in National Parks
Tigers India - Fact File
Tiger Distribution in India
Forest Distribution in India
