Forest cover classes

Geography glossary

Also called: Very dense, moderately dense and open forest · Topic: Natural Vegetation and Forests of India · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Forest cover classes are the three groups the Forest Survey of India (FSI) uses to sort all land over 1 hectare whose tree canopy density is above 10%, whoever owns it. The groups are very dense forest (70% canopy and above), moderately dense forest (40–70%) and open forest (10–40%). Land with less than 10% canopy is called scrub, and it is not counted as forest.

These classes show the quality of India's forests, not just their size. They help us see whether thick natural forest is being lost while thin, planted cover grows.

Explanation

How canopy density decides the class

  • Canopy means the roof of leaves and branches formed by tree crowns.
  • Canopy density is the share of the ground shaded by tree crowns when you look down from above.
  • Forest cover is any land over 1 hectare with canopy density above 10%.
  • Its owner does not matter. It can belong to the government, a community or a private person.

  • Its legal status does not matter either. It can lie inside or outside recorded forest.

  • How FSI measures it:

  • Satellite image → a computer sorts each patch by canopy density → a field team checks it on the ground → maps of forest cover are made for each state and district.
  • FSI uses images from Indian Remote Sensing satellites. The main sensor is LISS-III, at a map scale of about 1:50,000 (verify current).
  • The mapping is repeated every two years, and the results are published in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR).

The four canopy groups

Class Canopy density Counted as forest cover?
Very dense forest (VDF) 70% and above Yes
Moderately dense forest (MDF) 40–70% Yes
Open forest (OF) 10–40% Yes
Scrub Below 10% (damaged land with scattered trees) No
  • VDF is mostly thick natural forest. It holds the most plants, animals and stored carbon.
  • MDF is forest that is still fairly thick but more broken up.
  • OF is thin forest. Plantations, orchards and young regrowth often show up here.
  • Scrub is land that has lost most of its trees. It is shown in the report but left out of the forest cover total.

What the classes include, and what they leave out

  • They include orchards and plantations. Mango or coconut orchards, tea and coffee shade trees, village woodlots and even urban parks count, as long as the patch is over 1 ha with canopy above 10%.
  • Tree cover is counted separately. It means tree patches under 1 ha outside recorded forest, such as rows of trees along roads, canals and farm edges.
  • Forest cover + tree cover = "green cover". This is the figure checked against the 33% target of the National Forest Policy, 1988. In hills and mountains the target is two-thirds of the land.
  • ISFR 2023 figures:
  • Forest cover: 715,343 sq km (21.76%) of India's geographical area [1].
  • Tree cover: 112,014 sq km (3.41%) [1].
  • Total green cover: 827,357 sq km (25.17%) [1].
  • Forest cover rose from 698,712 sq km (ISFR 2013) to 715,343 sq km (ISFR 2023) [1].

Why the split between classes matters

  • A rise in the total can hide a fall in quality.
  • VDF can be cleared while OF grows from new plantations.

  • The total stays the same or goes up, but the forest gets poorer.

  • The classes guide restoration. Turning open and degraded forest back into dense forest matters as much as planting new trees.

  • The classes feed carbon accounts.
  • India's forest and tree cover store 30.43 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent. That is 2.29 billion tonnes more than in 2005 [1].
  • India's NDC (its climate pledge under the Paris Agreement) aims for an additional 2.5–3.0 billion tonnes by 2030 [1].

Where it occurs

  • Who measures it: the Forest Survey of India, based in Dehradun (Uttarakhand), works under the MoEFCC. It was set up on 1 June 1981 and took over from the PISFR (1965) [2].

  • Its regional offices are in Shimla, Kolkata, Nagpur and Bengaluru [2].

  • Where the results are published: the ISFR, released every two years since 1987. ISFR 2023 (released December 2024) is the 18th edition [1].

  • Volume I gives the national picture. Volume II gives forest cover for each state and UT, down to districts and forest divisions [1].

  • Forest boundaries have been digitised (turned into computer maps) in 25 States/UTs. This shows how much cover lies inside or outside recorded forest [1].

  • High forest cover:

  • The north-eastern hill states, the Western Ghats and the islands. These areas get heavy rain and have steep slopes.

  • Lakshadweep and Mizoram have the highest share of their area under forest (ISFR 2023; verify current).

  • Largest forest cover by area: Madhya Pradesh > Arunachal Pradesh > Chhattisgarh (ISFR 2023).

  • Low forest cover: Punjab and Haryana, where the land is farmed heavily, and the dry north-west (Rajasthan).
  • Where VDF is being lost: in the north-east, very dense forest is cleared for shifting cultivation (jhum: clearing a forest patch, farming it for a few years, then moving on), roads and development.

Don't confuse with

  • Forest area (recorded forest): this is a legal status in government records, and the land can have no trees on it. Forest cover classes depend only on the actual canopy seen by satellite, whoever owns the land.
  • Tree cover: tree patches under 1 ha outside recorded forest. Forest cover classes apply only to patches over 1 ha.
  • Scrub: land with below 10% canopy. It appears in the ISFR, but it is not forest cover.
  • Natural forest: forest cover classes make no difference between natural forest and plantations. A dense orchard and an old natural forest can fall into the same class.

Prelims Hooks

  • Canopy classes: VDF ≥70%; MDF 40–70%; OF 10–40%. Scrub (<10%) is NOT forest cover. This is a common trap.
  • Forest cover means land over 1 ha with canopy above 10%, whatever its ownership or legal status. So orchards and plantations count.
  • Tree cover = patches under 1 ha outside recorded forest. Forest cover + tree cover = green cover.
  • ISFR 2023: forest cover 21.76%, tree cover 3.41%, total 25.17% [1].
  • FSI: headquarters in Dehradun, set up on 1 June 1981, works under MoEFCC [2]. The ISFR is biennial, and ISFR 2023 is the 18th edition [1].
  • Largest forest cover by area: Madhya Pradesh > Arunachal Pradesh > Chhattisgarh. Highest share of area: Lakshadweep and Mizoram.

Mains Points

  • Definitions shape the numbers (GS-III):
  • A canopy-only definition that ignores ownership counts plantations, orchards and thin open forest as "forest".
  • So the headline rise (698,712 → 715,343 sq km, 2013–2023) [1] can hide a loss of very dense natural forest.

  • Reform: report natural forest separately from plantations, and show VDF trends region by region.

  • The north-east problem (GS-I distribution, GS-III environment):

  • The north-eastern states have the highest share of forest cover. Yet they keep losing VDF to jhum, roads and other land-use change, while OF grows.

  • Policy answer: secure land rights for communities, give jhum farmers better alternatives, and track canopy classes district by district.

  • Closing the 33% gap (GS-III):

  • Green cover is 25.17% [1], about 8 percentage points short of the target. Recorded forest has hardly grown since 1960-61.
  • So gains must come from trees outside forests (agroforestry, Nagar Van Yojana, MISHTI for mangroves) [1].
  • Gains must also come from raising open forest to denser classes through the Green India Mission, CAMPA and Joint Forest Management [1].

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1PIB Backgrounder, "India's Green Recovery: Forest and Tree Cover Grows, Fire Incidents Fall" (MoEFCC, 27 Dec 2024)static.pib.gov.in · tier 1
  2. 2MoEFCC, "Forest Survey of India"moef.gov.in · tier 1