Forest Cover in the Country

Current Context : Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry  of forest released Forest cover report 2021.

• The total forest cover of the country is 7,13,789 square kilometer which is 21.71% of the geographical area of the country.
• The tree cover increased by 721 square kilometer during 2019 to 2021.
• There is no loss of tree cover during 2019 and 2021.
• Maximum forest area State – Madhya Pradesh has the forest cover in state with 77,493 square kilometres, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
• Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh had the least area under forest cover, a mere 23 square kilometres.
• Among the states, Haryana had the least forest cover (1603 sq km), followed by Punjab (1847 sq km).
• Himachal Pradesh has 15,443 square kilometres covering 27.73% of total geographical area.