India State of Forest Report

Geography glossary

Also called: ISFR, India State of Forest Report 2023, ISFR 2023 · Topic: Natural Vegetation and Forests of India · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) is a report published every two years (biennial) by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun. It measures India's forest cover and tree cover using satellite images checked in the field. ISFR 2023 found forest and tree cover on 25.17% of India's geographical area [1].

It is India's official count of how much land is green. The government uses it to track progress towards the 33% target of the National Forest Policy, 1988. India also uses its carbon data in reports under the Paris Agreement.

Explanation

Who makes it and how

  • FSI is India's national body for surveying and assessing forests. It works under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). Its headquarters is in Dehradun (Uttarakhand).
  • How FSI began:
  • 1965: the Pre-Investment Survey of Forest Resources (PISFR) started with help from the FAO and UNDP [2]. Its job was to find how much wood was available for wood-based industries.
  • 1976: the National Commission on Agriculture recommended a national body to survey forests regularly.

  • 1 June 1981: FSI was set up to replace PISFR [2].

  • How the forest is measured:

  • Satellite images come from Indian Remote Sensing satellites (LISS-III sensor, about 1:50,000 scale; verify current).
  • A computer sorts the images by canopy density (how much of the ground is shaded by tree crowns when seen from above).

  • Teams check the results on the ground. Then maps are made for each state and district.

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

  • The National Forest Inventory measures sample plots on the ground. Its first five-year cycle is now complete [1].

What the report contains

  • The first ISFR came out in 1987.
  • ISFR 2023 (released December 2024) is the 18th edition [1].
  • It has two volumes [1]:
  • Volume I (national): forest cover, mangrove cover, forest fires, growing stock (the volume of wood in standing trees), carbon stock, agroforestry (trees grown on farms along with crops) and change over ten years.

  • Volume II (state): forest cover for each state and UT, down to districts and forest divisions, with field data.

  • It also reports bamboo area, fire-prone areas, and forest cover in hill, tribal and north-eastern districts.

Forest cover classes and key definitions

  • Forest cover means any land over 1 hectare with canopy density above 10%. Who owns it, or what the records say, does not matter.
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% (poor land with scattered trees) No
  • Tree cover means tree patches under 1 ha outside recorded forest. Examples are rows of trees along roads, canals and farm edges.
  • Forest cover + tree cover = "green cover". This total is what is measured against the 33% target.

ISFR 2023: the main numbers

  • Forest and tree cover: 827,357 sq km, or 25.17% of India's area [1].
  • Forest cover: 715,343 sq km, or 21.76% [1].

  • Tree cover: 112,014 sq km, or 3.41% [1].

  • Ten-year trend: forest cover went from 698,712 sq km (ISFR 2013) to 715,343 sq km (ISFR 2023) [1].

  • Fire: 203,544 fire hotspots in 2023-24, down from 223,333 in 2021-22 [1]. FSI tracks fires with an upgraded Forest Fire Alert System [1].
  • Carbon sink: forest and tree cover hold 30.43 billion tonnes of CO₂ equivalent [1].
  • This is 2.29 billion tonnes more than in 2005 [1].
  • India's NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution, India's climate promise under the Paris Agreement) aims for an extra 2.5–3.0 billion tonnes by 2030 [1].

Where it occurs

  • Who runs it: the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun, under MoEFCC. FSI was set up on 1 June 1981 [2].
  • FSI regional offices (4): Shimla (north), Kolkata (east), Nagpur (central) and Bengaluru (south) [2].
  • Coverage: the whole of India, broken down by state, UT, district and forest division.
  • Largest forest cover by area (ISFR 2023): Madhya Pradesh > Arunachal Pradesh > Chhattisgarh.
  • Highest forest cover as a share of area: Lakshadweep and Mizoram lead (verify current).
  • High cover: the north-eastern hill states, the Western Ghats and the islands, where rain is heavy and slopes are steep.
  • Low cover: Punjab and Haryana, where land is farmed heavily, and the dry north-west (Rajasthan).
  • Use at the global level: India sends FSI's carbon numbers to the UNFCCC [2].

Don't confuse with

  • Recorded forest area (forest area): this is land listed as "forest" in government records under laws like the Indian Forest Act, 1927 [1]. It can have no trees at all. Forest cover in the ISFR is real tree canopy seen from satellites, on any land.
  • Tree cover: patches under 1 ha outside recorded forest. Forest cover needs more than 1 ha with canopy above 10%.
  • Scrub: land with canopy below 10%. It is shown on ISFR maps but is not counted as forest cover.
  • National Forest Policy, 1988: this is the policy that sets the 33% target (two-thirds in hills). The ISFR only measures progress towards it.

Prelims Hooks

  • FSI headquarters: Dehradun (Uttarakhand). Set up on 1 June 1981 from PISFR (1965, FAO–UNDP support). It works under MoEFCC [2].
  • ISFR is biennial. The first came out in 1987. ISFR 2023 (released Dec 2024) is the 18th edition [1].
  • Canopy classes: VDF ≥70%, MDF 40–70%, OF 10–40%. Scrub (<10%) is NOT forest cover. This is a common trap.
  • ISFR 2023: forest cover 21.76% + tree cover 3.41% = 25.17% [1].
  • Largest forest cover by area: Madhya Pradesh > Arunachal Pradesh > Chhattisgarh. Highest share of area: Lakshadweep and Mizoram.
  • "Forest cover includes orchards and plantations" and "recorded forest can be treeless" are both true.

Mains Points

  • The definition shapes the numbers (GS-III):
  • Any land over 1 ha with more than 10% canopy counts. So plantations, orchards (mango, coconut), tea and coffee shade trees and even city parks are counted as "forest".
  • These have less biodiversity (variety of plants and animals) than natural forest.

  • So the rise from 698,712 to 715,343 sq km (2013–2023) [1] can hide falling forest quality. ISFR should report natural forest apart from plantations, and show VDF trends by region.

  • North-east paradox (GS-I and GS-III):

  • The north-eastern states have a very high share of forest cover.
  • But they keep losing very dense forest to shifting cultivation (jhum: clearing a forest patch, farming it for a few years, then moving on), roads and development. Meanwhile, open forest grows from plantations and regrowth.

  • Answer: secure land rights for communities, give jhum farmers better options, and monitor forests district by district.

  • Closing the 33% gap (GS-III):

  • Green cover is 25.17%, about 8 percentage points short of 33% [1]. Recorded forest has hardly grown since 1960-61.
  • So new gains must come from trees outside forests and from restoring degraded forest already on record.
  • Schemes [1]: Green India Mission (Feb 2014, through Joint Forest Management Committees), Nagar Van Yojana (2020, urban forests), MISHTI (2023–2028, mangroves), CAMPA (compensatory afforestation: planting trees to make up for forest land used for other purposes) and Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam (5 June 2024).

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