Has India’s forest cover actually increased over the years?

CLAIM

India’s forest cover has steadily increased over the years. 

FACT

Misleading. The current definition of ‘forest cover’ in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) does not differentiate between natural forests and plantations. It has led to the inclusion of tea estates, coconut plantations, and even tree-lined avenues getting classified as forests.

WHAT THEY SAY

According to Government data for 2021, India’s forest cover has increased by about 1,540 sq km between 2019 and 2021. The total forest cover in 2021 was 21.71% of the total geographical area of India as opposed to 21.67% in 2019. Further, the overall increase in forest cover in the last decade is 21,762 sq. km. 

WHAT WE FOUND

The forest cover data that has been put forward in the public domain as ‘India State of Forest Report’ is a biennial publication of Forest Survey of India (FSI) an organization under the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change Government of India. As per the latest 2021 report, India’s forest cover has increased by about 1,540 sq km between 2019 and 2021. 

According to the ‘India State of Forest Report’, forest cover is defined as: “All lands, more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status. Such lands may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. lt also includes orchards, bamboo and palm.”

In 2019, it was reported that a technical assessment by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of India’s submission on forest cover had raised concerns about the country’s definition of forests, which experts say exaggerates forest cover and hides deforestation to achieve climate targets.

Meanwhile, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, has recently said in the Rajya Sabha that India has “no plan”, at present, to change the definition of “forest cover and very dense forest”. 

Distinction

As per the definition itself, it is clear that the forest cover report has made no distinction on the basis of species, origin of the crop, land ownership and land use pattern. Any kind of plantation is considered a forest, be it natural or not. In the report, the commercial plantations are also mapped as forest areas. Fruit orchards are not the same as dense canopy forests, thus the distinction is vital. 

“A tree plantation, whether of mono or multi-species is not and cannot be called a forest or its equivalent. Both are very different ecosystems with different roles to play vis-a-vis climate impacts,” said Manoj Misra, Forestry-Wildlife expert and former IFS Officer. He is also the convener of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan. 

There are different forest types with diverse tree cover patterns and not identifying the differences might be counterproductive in the long run.

“A forest is not a homogenous entity or a uniform term for a diverse nation like India with at least 16 broad forest types identified from different parts of the country. These forest types have different tree cover patterns ranging from no tree (cold and hot deserts) at one extreme to evergreen high tree density (Andaman & Nicobar islands) forests at another extreme,” Misra further said. 

The actual numbers

It has been found that the small growth in India’s forest cover is mainly due to the increase in the area under open forests and this is primarily led by commercial plantations. At the same time, the moderately dense forests or the areas close to human habitations declined between 2021 and 2019. In a decade (2021-2011), India lost 4.3% of the area under moderately dense forests. 

While ‘dense forests’ are defined as areas with a tree canopy density of 70% or above, ‘moderately dense forests’ are areas with a tree canopy density between 40-70%. ‘Open forests’ consist of tree canopy density of 10% or above but less than 40%. Scrubs are areas with tree densities less than 10%. 

As per the forest cover report, in India, ‘open forest’ areas have the largest chunk ( 9.34%) of the total forest cover which is about 307,120 sq km. Whereas, ‘natural forests’ consist of just 3.04% (99,779 sq km) of forest cover having the least share. Moderately dense forests consist of 9.33% (307,120 sq km) of total forest cover in India. 

A rise in just 501 sq km of area in the natural forest (very dense forest) category has been seen in the last two years. While there is a loss of 1,582 sq km of moderately dense forest, the open forest cover area increased by 2,612 sq km. Further, the scrub area has increased by 5,320 sq km which indicates the complete degradation of forests in these areas.

Limitations of satellite imagery

There is heavy reliance on satellite imagery for the assessment of forest cover in case of India. Experts point out that the methodology of data collection by being reliant on satellites does not assess forests from the social and ecological perspective. 

The forest cover report itself mentions limitations like ‘an area less than 23.5m on the ground cannot be captured’. The report alerts us about various difficulties while capturing satellite pictures like “…interpretational changes in classifications also pertains to areas where Forest Cover either went undetected due to snow or cloud cover, hill shadow effect, poor reflectance from trees due to leaf fall, or poor image quality the time of previous assessment or classified as forest due to poor tonal variation.”

“Remote satellite-based assessments are prone to generalizations and interpretative mistakes unless backed up by almost 100 percent ground truthing. Also, differences from one assessment to another are also subject to changes/improvements in assessment accuracies and presence-absence of cloud cover at the time of assessment,” said Misra. 

Forest land diversion 

Many authorities divert the forest land for development projects like highways, irrigation and mining. During this process in some instances, they do not change the legal status of the land. This land continues to be forest land on paper. 

“There are reports about natural forests being diverted for developmental projects like mines, hydro-electric projects, infrastructural projects, urbanization projects, etc and no one really knows for sure what the state or status of the so-called compensatory plantations carried out in lieu of them. At the risk of repetition, this is to assert that any tree plantation even if successful is not and cannot be called a forest or fulfill the ecological role of natural forests,” Misra further said. 

Tree canopy density criteria

Experts point out that the sole criteria of ‘tree canopy density’ fails to highlight and include the unique compositions of forest biodiversity, its wildlife and other resources. For example, forests in central India are less dense than those in the Western Ghats but are very rich in biodiversity and wildlife. A senior researcher, Kanchi Kohli highlighted that the loss and gain in forest cover can’t be assessed by looking at the tree density. This is because monoculture plantations have more density than open forests. 

Under the above circumstances, we conclude that India’s forests continue to diminish in both quantity and quality and it is misleading if not exactly wrong by anyone to claim that India’s forests are increasing in extent and in quality. 

(with inputs from Aayushi Sharma)