The India State of Forest Report 2015 is the 14th report in the series.

It is based on interpretation of LISS III sensor data of indigenous

Resourcesat-II(2) satellite.
GOi is planning to implement Bharat IV norms by 2017, Bharat V norms
by 2019 and Bharat VI norms by the year 2021.
Indias forest and tree cover has increased by 5,081 sq km.(forest cover
by 3775 sq km and tree by 1306 sq km)
The total forest and tree cover is 79.42 million hectare, which is 24.16
percent of the total geographical area.
The total carbon stock in the countrys forest is estimated to be 7, 044
million tones, an increase of 103 million tonnes, which is an increase of
1.48 in percentage terms over the previous assessments
Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri
Prakash Javadekar said that the increase in the carbon stock is an
assurance to the negotiators at COP 21 that India remains committed to
increase the carbon sink.
The INDC target for forestry sector envisages creation of additional
carbon sink of 2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes of CO2. Intended Nationally
Determined Contributions (INDC).
Majority of the increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest
category mainly outside forest areas,followed by Very Dense Forest.
Open Forest area has increased by 4,744 sq km, which is 9.14 per cent
of the geographical area.
Very Dense Forest has increased by 2,404 sq kms, which is 2.61% of the
geographical area.
The increase in total forest cover also includes an increase in the
mangrove cover.
40 per cent forest cover is in 9 big patches of 10, 000 sq km and more.
GOi make sure that the forest cover goes up from 24 per cent to 33 per
cent of the total geographical area.
The maximum increase in forest cover has been observed in Tamil Nadu
-2, 501 sq km followed by kerala.
Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover of 77, 462 sq km in the
country, followed by Arunachal Pradesh.
Mizoram, with 88.93 percentage of forest cover has the highest forest
cover in percentage terms, followed by Lakshadweep.
The ISFR 2015 states that 15 States/Union Territories have above 33 per
cent of the geographical area under forest cover.
 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.
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(west bengal) and
Bhitarkanika forest (odisha).
Around 2,254 square kilometre of mid-dense forest cover has turned into
non-forest lands in the past two years.
The cover of branches and Foliage formed by the crown of trees is called
Canopy.
The percentage area of land covered by the canopy of trees is called
Canopy density.
All lands which are more than 1 hectare in area and with a Canopy
density of more than 10% irrespective of the ownership and legal status
is called Forest Cover.
The area recorded as forests in the Government records is called Forest
Area or Recorded Forest Area.
The patches within the forest area which have little or no trees are called
Forest Blank.
E-Watch is a web based GIS application developed for monitoring various
activities funded under CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund
Management and Planning Authority).
CAMPA is meant to promote afforestation activities in order to
compensate for forest land diverted to non-forest uses.
Carbon Stock:It is defined as the amount of carbon stored in the
ecosystem of the forest especially in living biomass and soil.
Best Season to get Satellite Data of Forests:October December is the
best season.
The degraded forest lands which have a Canopy density of less than 10%
are called Scrubs.
The Lands with Canopy density of 10-40% are called Open Forests.
The Land with forest cover having a canopy density of 40-70% is called
the Moderately Dense Forest (MDF).
 The Lands with forest cover having a canopy density of 70% and more
are called Very Dense Forests (VDF).
Total tree cover in India: 92,572 sq km (increase of 1306 sq km).
Total tree cover as percentage of geographical area : 2.82 per cent.
Out of the total forest cover, the maximum share is of Moderate Dense
Forests, followed by Open Forests.
The very dense forests in India are in just around 2.5% of total
geographical area of the country.
Tamil Nadu shows the maximum considerable improvement in their
forest cover.
The states where forest cover has decreased substantially are Mizoram
,Telangana etc.
North east constitutes only 7.98% of geographical area of the country but
it occupies one fourth of the forest cover.
In worlds total mangrove vegetation, Indias share stands at 3%
Currently Mangrove cover in India is 4740 km2 which is 0.14 % of the
countrys geographical area.
Sundarbans in West Bengal accounts for almost half of the total area
(Mangrove).