Latest govt data on India's forests 'inflated', say experts

New Delhi: Several experts have claimed that the latest government data on India's forests is "inflated" as it includes bamboo plantations, coconut groves, and orchards among others as part of the forest cover.

The 'India State of Forests Report 2023' released on Saturday, after a delay of almost a year, said India's total forest and tree cover has increased by 1,445 sq km since 2021, reaching 25.17 per cent of the total geographical area in 2023.

However, the forest cover grew by just 156 sq km and most of the gain (149 sq km) occurred outside the Recorded Forest Area (RFA), which refers to areas designated as forests in government records.

The overall results could have been stronger, especially since the government included bamboo and smaller trees (5-10 cm diameter at breast height) in the tree cover estimates for ISFR 2023. The assessment also expanded to 751 districts, up from 636 in 2021.

Experts including Kerala's former principal chief conservator of forests Prakriti Srivastava, conservationist researcher Krithika Sampath and former National Board for Wildlife member Prerna Singh Bindra claimed that the government counted bamboo plantations, coconut groves, and orchards among others as part of the forest cover and produced "another faulty report with inflated data".

They argued that such areas do not offer any ecological value for biodiversity and wildlife conservation.

The increase in tree cover (1,289 sq km) is also mainly due to plantations of rubber, eucalyptus, acacia and mango, coconut, areca nut and shade trees in tea and coffee plantations.

Forest cover refers to all land that has a tree canopy density of more than 10 per cent and spans over an area of one hectare or more, regardless of the type of ownership or legal status. It includes natural forests as well as man-made plantations, orchards and tree patches in urban and rural areas that meet the size and canopy density criteria.

Tree cover is defined as patches of trees and isolated trees outside RFA that are less than one hectare.

"Mango contributes to 13.25 per cent of the tree cover," they pointed out.

They said according to government data, 1,488 sq km of unclassed forests have been lost between 2021 and 2023 but "there is no explanation for it" in the ISFR 2023.

'Unclassed forests' are non-notified forests under government ownership.

The experts also said the report does not establish a correlation between forest area (areas designated as forests in government records) and forest cover.

The report "clearly reflects that the data on both is not robust and therefore cannot be correlated", the experts said.

They claimed that the report failed to comply with the Supreme Court order in the Lafarge case which called for digitisation of forest maps, geo-referencing of Recorded Forest Areas (RFA), and documentation of diverted forest lands. The absence of these elements weakens the report's credibility.

They also said that forest lands diverted for dams, roads, railways and other such permanent constructions are lost forever, but are not deleted from records, thus "inflating the figures".

Debadityo Sinha, who leads the climate and ecosystems team at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, said India lost 30,808 sq km of open and scrub forests alongside 14,073 sq km of moderately dense forests and 1,816 sq km of dense forests to "non-forest" uses.

The report mentions the carbon sequestration potential of 406.05 million tonnes of carbon from these degraded lands but is silent on non-forest uses, Sinha posted on X.

"In my understanding, these areas are already home to some of the country's most significant engineering projects -- mines, highways, and strategic developments of national importance -- and many are being planned or approved following the latest amendments to the Forest Conservation Act," he said.

The experts expressed concerns that the forest cover in the hill districts is just 40 per cent of their geographical area against the Forest Policy mandated 66.6 per cent.

"This is very alarming as our soil health, ecological stability, ability to counter landslides, floods depends on forest cover in the hills," they said.

The increased number of landslides and floods can be traced to the loss of forest cover in the hills which is a poor reflection of efforts taken to ensure our ecological security, the experts said.

The FSI also analysed forest cover changes in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats over the past decade and found an overall loss of 58.22 sq km in forest cover.

In this region, the Nilgiris reported the steepest decline of 123 sq km. The mountain range, spread across Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, is known for its popular tourist spots.

The report showed a decrease of 327.30 sq km in forest cover in the northeastern region.

The country's total mangrove cover stands at 4,991.68 sq km, a net decrease of 7.43 sq km since 2021, according to the report.

Moderately dense forest and open forest categories saw declines of 1,043.23 sq km and 2,480.11 sq km, respectively, over the last decade, despite gains in very dense forest.