India State of Forest Report 2017 | Environment for UPSC 2024 (Pre & Mains) PDF Download

 Page 1


 
INDIA STATE OF FOREST 
REPORT (ISFR) 2017 
Page 2


 
INDIA STATE OF FOREST 
REPORT (ISFR) 2017 
INTRODUCTION 
India State of Forest Report 2017 (ISFR) is a biennial publication of Forest 
survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment 
Forest, & Climate Change, Government of India, engaged in the 
assessment of the country's forest resources.  
The first State of Forest Report was brought out in 1987. 
The ISFR report is published every two years.  
The India State of Forest Report 2017 is the 15th such report in the series. 
 
Page 3


 
INDIA STATE OF FOREST 
REPORT (ISFR) 2017 
INTRODUCTION 
India State of Forest Report 2017 (ISFR) is a biennial publication of Forest 
survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment 
Forest, & Climate Change, Government of India, engaged in the 
assessment of the country's forest resources.  
The first State of Forest Report was brought out in 1987. 
The ISFR report is published every two years.  
The India State of Forest Report 2017 is the 15th such report in the series. 
 
WHAT IS BEING SURVEYED 
The report contains information on - 
Forest cover 
Tree cover 
Mangrove cover 
Growing stock inside and outside the forest areas 
Carbon stock in India’s forests  
Forest cover in different patch size classes.  
Special thematic information on forest cover in hill, tribal 
districts, and north eastern region has also been given 
separately in the report . 
 
 
Page 4


 
INDIA STATE OF FOREST 
REPORT (ISFR) 2017 
INTRODUCTION 
India State of Forest Report 2017 (ISFR) is a biennial publication of Forest 
survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment 
Forest, & Climate Change, Government of India, engaged in the 
assessment of the country's forest resources.  
The first State of Forest Report was brought out in 1987. 
The ISFR report is published every two years.  
The India State of Forest Report 2017 is the 15th such report in the series. 
 
WHAT IS BEING SURVEYED 
The report contains information on - 
Forest cover 
Tree cover 
Mangrove cover 
Growing stock inside and outside the forest areas 
Carbon stock in India’s forests  
Forest cover in different patch size classes.  
Special thematic information on forest cover in hill, tribal 
districts, and north eastern region has also been given 
separately in the report . 
 
 
FOREST COVER AND TREE COVER 
The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change defines ‘forest 
cover’ in India as “all lands, more than one hectare in area with a tree 
canopy density of more than 10%”,  
and ‘tree cover’ as “tree patches outside recorded forest areas exclusive of 
forest cover and less than the minimum mappable area of one hectare”. 
Between these two is a third measure, called ‘trees outside forest’, or TOF. 
It is defined as “trees existing outside the recorded forest area in the form 
of block, linear & scattered size of patches”. 
Since tree cover measures only non-forest patches that are less than 1 
hectare, it is only a part of TOF. 
 
 
Page 5


 
INDIA STATE OF FOREST 
REPORT (ISFR) 2017 
INTRODUCTION 
India State of Forest Report 2017 (ISFR) is a biennial publication of Forest 
survey of India (FSI), an organization under the Ministry of Environment 
Forest, & Climate Change, Government of India, engaged in the 
assessment of the country's forest resources.  
The first State of Forest Report was brought out in 1987. 
The ISFR report is published every two years.  
The India State of Forest Report 2017 is the 15th such report in the series. 
 
WHAT IS BEING SURVEYED 
The report contains information on - 
Forest cover 
Tree cover 
Mangrove cover 
Growing stock inside and outside the forest areas 
Carbon stock in India’s forests  
Forest cover in different patch size classes.  
Special thematic information on forest cover in hill, tribal 
districts, and north eastern region has also been given 
separately in the report . 
 
 
FOREST COVER AND TREE COVER 
The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change defines ‘forest 
cover’ in India as “all lands, more than one hectare in area with a tree 
canopy density of more than 10%”,  
and ‘tree cover’ as “tree patches outside recorded forest areas exclusive of 
forest cover and less than the minimum mappable area of one hectare”. 
Between these two is a third measure, called ‘trees outside forest’, or TOF. 
It is defined as “trees existing outside the recorded forest area in the form 
of block, linear & scattered size of patches”. 
Since tree cover measures only non-forest patches that are less than 1 
hectare, it is only a part of TOF. 
 
 
FOREST COVER AND FOREST AREA 
The term ‘Forest Cover‘ refers to all lands more than one hectare in area with a 
tree canopy of more than 10%, irrespective of land use, ownership and legal 
status. 
 It may include even orchards, bamboo, palm etc and is assessed through remote 
sensing.  
On the other hand, the term ‘Recorded Forest Area’ or ‘Forest Area’ refers to all 
the geographic areas recorded as ‘Forests’ in government records, Recorded 
forest area mainly consists of Reserved Forests (RF) and Protected Forests (PF), 
which have been notified under the provisions of Indian Forest Act, 1927 or its 
counterpart State Acts.  
Besides RFs and PFs, the recorded forest area may also include all such areas, 
which have been recorded as forests in the revenue records or have been 
constituted so under any state Act or local laws.