The 2021 Theme for the International Day of Forests is “Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being”.

This global celebration of forests provides a platform to raise awareness of the importance of all types of woodlands and trees, and celebrate the ways in which they sustain and protect us. This year  highlights the importance of wood energy in improving people’s lives, powering sustainable development and mitigating climate change.

               LEARNING FROM HOME/WITHOUT CLASSES/ BASICS

                          FORESTS FACTS IN INDIA

Forest cover of India has increased by 5,081 square kilometer between 2013 and 2015. The India State Forest Report 2015 showed that the country’s carbon stock has also increased by 103 million tonnes.

Here are some points from the forest report:

India follows a policy of keeping one-third of the country’s total land area under forest and tree cover.

The forest cover of India has increased by 21.34 percent in the last two years.

Very dense forests in India cover 2.61 percent of the total forest area, moderately dense forests account for 9.59 percent while open forests stand at 9.14 percent.

Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in terms of area in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh.

In terms of percentage of forest cover with respect to total geographical area, Mizoram had the highest forest cover in terms of percentage of forest cover to Geographical area.

Among all the states and Union Territories, Mizoram has the highest forest cover with 88.93 percent of the total area, followed by Lakshadweep.

However, northeastern states have experienced a decline in forest cover except Manipur.

The mangrove cover in India has increased by 112 square kilometre following acute conservation in the Sundarbans and Bhitarkanika forest.

Although the total forest cover has seen an increase, around 2,510 square kilometre of very dense and mid-dense forests have been wiped out since 2013.

States of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana have suffered huge loss of forest cover.

Around 2,254 square kilometre of mid-dense forest cover has turned into non-forest lands in the past two years.