India ranks third globally in forest area gain: Survey

What is the news?

The Economic Survey 2022 has provided data regarding forest area in India.

What are the key highlights from the survey?

India has increased its forest area in the past decade and ranks third globally in average annual net gain in forest area from 2010-2020.

Forests covered 24% of India’s total geographical area, accounting for 2% of the world’s total forest area in 2020.

Globally, the top 10 countries account for 66% of the world’s forest area. Of these, Brazil (59%), Peru (57%), Democratic Republic of Congo (56%) and Russia (50%) have half or more of their total geographical area under forests.

Among Indian States, Madhya Pradesh with 11% of India’s total forest cover had the largest area under forests in 2021, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (9%), Chhattisgarh (8%), Odisha (7%) and Maharashtra (7%).

Mizoram (85%), Arunachal Pradesh (79%), Meghalaya (76%), Manipur (74%) and Nagaland (74%) were the top five States in terms of the highest proportion of forest cover to the geographical area of the State in 2021.

Much of India’s increase in forest cover from 2011-21 is attributed to enhancement in very dense forest cover, which rose by approximately 20% during the period. 

Source: This post is based on the article “India ranks third globally in forest area gain: Survey” published in The Hindu on 3rd Feb 2022.