India's green cover increased by 1,445 sq km from 2021 to 2023: Govt report

 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, according to the latest government data.

The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, released on Saturday, said that the country's total forest cover increased from 7,13,789 sq km in 2021 to 7,15,343 sq km in 2023, reaching 21.76 per cent of its geographical area.

The tree cover increased by 1,289 sq km and now constitutes 3.41 per cent of the country's geographical area, it said.

Together, the forest and tree cover amount to 8,27,357 sq km or 25.17 per cent of India's geographical area. This marks an overall increase of 1,445 sq km from 2021, with forest cover alone rising by 156 sq km.

According to the Forest Survey of India (FSI), 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.

This 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 the Reserved Forest Area (RFA) that are less than one hectare.

Madhya Pradesh continues to lead in total forest and tree cover, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Maharashtra, according to the report.

Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan recorded the largest gains in forest and tree cover while Mizoram, Gujarat and Odisha showed the highest increases in forest cover specifically.

Northeastern states, particularly Mizoram, demonstrated notable improvements. Mizoram alone saw a rise of 242 sq km in forest cover, reversing some of the declines reported in ISFR 2021.