India State of Forest Report 2009
30th November, 2009
Report Highlights
India among the few countries to have comprehensive operational system of forest cover monitoring
Eleventh Report in the biennial series
Change in title bears the year of release now
Assesses decadal change in forest cover assessed
New Features
Forest cover mapping based on a new enhanced
methodology
Forest cover in different altitude zones
Distribution of forest cover by forest types
State-wise growing stock with improved precision
Key Information in India SFR 2009
Forest Cover of India and its change compared to previous assessment
down up to the district level
forest cover in tribal districts
forest cover in hill districts
forest cover in north eastern States
forest cover in different altitude zones
forest cover in different forest types
Mangrove Cover
Tree Cover
Growing Stock
Accuracy of forest and tree cover assessment
Forest & tree resources in States & UTs
Forest and Tree Cover of India in 2007Class Area
(million ha)
% of Geographic
Area
Forest CoverVery Dense Forests 8.35 2.54
Moderately Dense Forests 31.90 9.71
Open Forests 28.84 8.77
Total Forest Cover 69.0969.09 21.0221.02
Tree Cover* 9.28 2.82
Total Forest & Tree Cover
78.3778.37 23.8423.84
Scrub 4.15 1.26
Other Non-forest 246.21 74.90
Total Geographic Area 328.73328.73 100.00100.00
* Tree cover is defined as tree patches less than 1 hectare with canopy density above 10%
Key Results
Forest and Tree Cover in 2007
Class 2005 Assessment 2007 Assessment Change
km2 % km2 % km2
VDF 83,472 2.54 83,510 2.54 +38 (+0.05%)
MDF 319,948 9.74 319,012 9.70 -936 (-0.29%)
OF 286,751 8.72 288,377 8.78 +1,626 (+0.57%)
Total 690,171 21.00 690,899 21.02 +728 (+0.11%)
There is a net increase of 728 km2 of forest cover in the
country as compared to the previous assessment
Key Results
Change in Forest Cover between 2005 and 2007
Year of Assessment 1997 2007 Change*
Forest Cover (million ha) 65.96* 69.09 3.13 million
ha (4.75%)Satellite data period 1994 2006
Satellite data (sensor) IRS 1B, LISS II IRS P6, LISS III
Resolution 36.25 m 23.5 m
Scale of mapping 1:250,000 1:50,000
Minimum mappable area 25 ha 1 ha
Mode of interpretation visual digital
area figures obtained by applying the correction factors to account for the
methodological changes
Key Results
Decadal Change in Forest Cover
Very Dense Forest
Dense Forest
Open Forest
Scrub
Non Forest
Water Bodies
District Boundaries
Very Dense Forest
Dense Forest
Open Forest
Scrub
Non Forest
Water Bodies
District Boundaries
Forest Cover Map of India
Gain & Loss of Forest Cover in States and UTs
(2005-2007)
States Gain in Forest Cover
w.r.t. 2005
Assessment
(km2)
Main Reasons
Mizoram 640 regrowth in shifting cultivation areas
Manipur 328 regrowth in shifting cultivation areas
Jharkhand 172 plantations, effective protection by VFPCs
Meghalaya 116 Afforestation and regrowth in shifting cultivation areas
Orissa 100 effective protection by VFPCs, regrowth in shifting cultivation areas
Kerala 40 rubber plantations
Rajasthan, Tamilnadu,
West Bengal each
24 effective protection
Gujarat 16 Mangrove plantations
Punjab 4 plantations
Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Puducherry
2 effective protection
Key Results
States Showing Gain in Forest Cover (2005-2007)
States Loss in Forest Cover
w.r.t. 2005 Assessment
(km2)
Main Reasons
Nagaland -201 shifting cultivation
Andhra Pradesh -129 departmental felling of eucalyptus plantations by APFDC
Arunachal Pradesh -119 shifting cultivation, biotic pressure
Tripura -100 shifting cultivation
Assam -66 encroachment, shifting cultivation
Chhattisgarh -59 mining, encroachment
Madhya Pradesh -39 submergence
Maharashtra -11 felling by FDCM
Haryana, Karnataka -10 mining, encroachment
Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli -5 mining, encroachment
Bihar, J&K -3 felling in TOF areas, biotic pressure
A&N Islands -1 after effects of tsunami
Key Results
States Showing Loss in Forest Cover (2005-2007)
Hill Districts
There are 124 hill districts in the country
39.82% of their geographical area is under forest cover
forest cover in hill districts has increased by 663 km2
Tribal Districts
There are 188 tribal districts in the country
37.32% of their geographical area is under forest cover
forest cover in tribal districts has increased by 690 km2
Key Results
Forest Cover in Hill and Tribal Districts
The region, which has only 7.76% of the geographic area of
the country, accounts for nearly one fourth of its forest cover
Forest cover in the region is about 66.81% of the geographic
area as against the national average of 21.02%
As compared to the 2005 assessment, gain of 598 km2 of forest cover has been observed in the region
Key Results
Forest Cover in North-Eastern States
Distribution of forest cover in different forest types is being
presented for the first time
Nearly one third of Indias forest cover falls in the Tropical
Moist Deciduous type, followed by Tropical Dry Deciduous (30.16%)
Tropical Wet Evergreen type group occupies 8.75% of the countrys forest cover
Key Results
Forest Cover in Different Forest Types
Forest cover in different altitude zones assessed for the first
time
Geographical area in the 1000-2000m altitude zone has got
the maximum forest cover (72.19%)
More than half of the forest cover of the country occurs in 0
500m altitude zone
Key Results
Forest Cover in Different Altitude Zones
Total extent of mangrove cover, spread in12 States & UTs of the country is 4,639 km2
West Bengal has nearly half of the mangrove cover of the
country
An increase of 58 km2 of mangrove cover at the national level
Key Results
Mangrove Cover
Growing Stock
2007(million cum)
Forest 4,499
TOF 1,599
Total 6,098
gives volume of woody biomass of trees above 10 cm diameter
and includes branches up to 5 cm
Growing Stock
Classification Ground truth
Forest Non-Forest Total
Forest2591 76 2667
Non-Forest108 1527 1635
Total 2699 1603 4302
Accuracy %(for each class) 96.00 95.26
Overall Accuracy 95.72 %
Simplified error matrix (2 classes)
Key Results
Accuracy of Assessment of Forest Cover
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