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Tree cover, forest cover – How are the two different?
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%.
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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.