As per the India State of Forest
Report (ISFR) 2011, the Forest and Tree Cover of the country is 23.81% of the
geographical area of the country. The forest cover of the country has
registered a marginal decline of 0.05% as compared to the previous assessment
published in ISFR 2009.
Minister of State (I/C) for
Environment and Forests Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan further stated in Rajya
Sabha today that in the India State of Forest Report,
the forests are classified into three categories such as Very Dense Forest
(VDF), Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) & Open Forests not as degraded
forests. The area covered by Very Dense
Forests (VDF) is 83,471 km2 (2.54%), that with Moderately Dense
Forests (MDF) is 320,736 km2 (9.76%) and Open Forests is 287,820 km2
(8.75%).
She said forests are defined legally
in accordance to the provisions of Indian Forest Act, 1927 such as Reserve
Forests, Protected Forests and Village Forests.
The Minister, however, clarified that
the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has extended the
scope of forest and “forest” must be understood according to its dictionary
meaning. This description cover all
statutorily recognized forests, whether designated as reserved, protected or
otherwise, including any area recorded as forest in the Government records
irrespective of the ownership, for the purpose of Section 2 (i) of the Forest Conservation Act.
In
India State of Forest Report, the different categories of forests are defined
for assessment of forest cover on the basis of tree canopy density which are as follows:-
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1.
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Very Dense Forest
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All
lands with tree canopy density of 70% and above
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2.
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Moderately Dense Forest
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All
lands with tree canopy density between 40% and 70%
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3.
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Open Forest
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All
land with tree canopy density between 10% - 40%
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