Why in news?
- The Economic Survey of Delhi 2018-19, released last week, states that the capital’s forest cover has increased from 12.72% of its geographical area in 2015 to 12.97% in 2017 while its tree cover has increased from 7.48% to 7.62%.
More about the news
Tree Cover & Forest Cover:
-
The MoEFCC defines ‘forest cover’ in India as all lands, more than one hectare in area with a tree canopy density of more than 10%.
-
The ‘tree cover’ is defined as tree patches outside recorded forest areas exclusive of forest cover and less than the minimum mappable area of one hectare.
-
Trees outsides Forest:
-
Between these two is a third measure, called trees outside forest.
-
The India State of Forest Report 2017 defines TOF 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.
State wise cover:-
The India Report, as well as the Delhi Survey, cites state-wise figures, which show that Goa has the highest tree cover as a percentage of geographical area, at 8.73%, followed by Delhi and Kerala, both at 7.62%.
-
Forest cover highs are in Lakshadweep (90.33%) and Mizoram (86.27%). India has 93,815 hectares, or 2.85% of its area, under tree cover, and 7.08 lakh ha (21.54%) under forest cover.
-