New Delhi (NVI): India’s forest and tree cover has increased by 5188 sq kms as against the area found covered in the Forest Survey of 2017, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said today while releasing the India State of Forest Report here.
Out of this, the increase in the forest cover has been 3,976 sq kms and that in tree cover 1,212 sq kms.
In the present assessment, the total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.73 million hectares, which is 24.56 per cent of the geographical area of the country, Javadekar said.
Top three states showing increase in the forest cover are Karnataka (1,025 sq km) followed by Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km), the Minister said.
Mangrove cover has been separately reported as 4,975 sq km, an
increase of 54 sq kms as compared to 2017.
Top 3 states showing increase are Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km), Javadekar said.
