A3. CHANGES IN FOREST COVER OF THE STATES

A3.1 General

The geographic area of the state is 275,068 sq.km of which 63,814 sq.km is recorded as forest area. Actual forest cover of the state is 43,290 sq.km which constitutes 15.74 per cent of the geographic area (Fig.3.1). There has been a loss of 3,822 sq.km of forest cover in 1997 assessment as compared to the previous assessment in 1993. This loss of forest cover is spread over a period of four years from 1993 assessment (data period 1989) to 1997 assessment (data period 1993). In addition to this, a loss of 144 sq.km, which also pertains to the same period, was reported in the 1995 assessment because of partial assessment. Thus, the total loss is 3,966 sq.km during the said period. Decrease in dense forest cover is 1,960 sq.km and in open forest is 2,011 sq.km, mangrove vegetation increased by 5 sq.km

The change matrix of Andhra Pradesh (Table 3.1) shows that 2,167 sq.km of dense forest category has changed to open forest, 245 sq.km to scrub and 283 sq.km to non-forest. Further from open forest category 350 sq.km changed to dense forest, 1,883 sq.km to scrub and 2,747 sq.km to non-forest. Similarly, 490 sq.km of scrub area and 312 sq.km of non-forest changed to open forest. In addition, 385 sq.km of non-forest changed to dense forest and 5 sq.km to mangrove.

The state has a geographic area of 83,743 sq.km and recorded forest area of 51,540 sq.km. The actual forest cover is 68,602 sq.km which constitutes 81.90 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.2). There is a net decrease of 19 sq.km in the forest cover in 1997 assessment compared to 1995 assessment. The decrease in dense forest area is 21 sq. km, while open forest recorded an increase of 2 sq.km An area of 75 sq.km of forest has gone to non-forest/scrub mainly due to shifting cultivation, at the same time an area of 56 sq.km has come under the forest cover mainly due to the regeneration in the abandoned shifting cultivation areas.

The changes in different categories are given in the matrix in Table 3.2. The matrix shows that from the dense forest 126 sq.km changed to open forest and 20 sq.km to non-forest. Further from open forest category 125 sq.km area improved its density and moved to dense forest, while 9 sq.km changed to scrub and 46 sq.km to non-forest. An area of 24 sq.km of scrub and 32 sq.km of non-forest changed to open forest.

The state has a geographic area of 78,438 sq.km, of which 30,708 sq.km area is recorded as forest while the actual forest cover is 23,824 sq.km which constitutes 30.4 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.2). There is a net decrease of 237 sq.km in the forest cover in 1997 assessment compared to 1995 assessment. The dense forest registered a decrease of 146 sq.km and open forest had a decrease of 91 sq.km

The change matrix for different categories is given in Table 3.3. Analysis of this matrix shows that from the dense forest 73 sq.km changed to open forest, 1 sq.km to scrub and 131 sq.km to non-forest. From the open forest 59 sq.km shifted to dense forest while 8 sq.km was lost to scrub and 276 sq.km to non-forest categories. An area of 5 sq.km of scrub and 174 sq.km of non-forest changed to open forest.

The geographic area of the state is 173,877 sq.km of which 29,226 sq.km is recorded as forest. Actual forest cover of the state is 26,524 sq.km which constitutes 15.3 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.3). There is a net decrease of 37 sq.km in 1997 assessment compared to 1995 assessment. A decrease of 43 sq.km in dense forest category and an increase of 6 sq.km in open forest category was recorded.

The change matrix, given in Table 3.4, reveals that out of the overall decrease of 91 sq.km in dense forest area, 17 sq.km moved to open forest, 18 sq.km to scrub and 56 sq.km to non-forest. In the open forest category though there is an improvement of density in 48 sq.km 13 sq.km changed to scrub and 72 sq.km to non-forest. An area of 29 sq.km of scrub and 93 sq.km of non-forest has gone to open forest category.

The geographic area of the state is 1,483 sq.km of which 42 sq.km is recorded as forest. Actual forest cover of the state is 26 sq.km which constitutes 1.7 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.5). No change in the extent of forest cover has been observed in 1997 assessment as compared to the previous assessment.

The geographic area of the state is 3,702 sq.km of which 1,424 sq.km is recorded as forest. Actual forest cover of the state is 1,252 sq.km which constitutes 33.8 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.8). There is an increase of 5 sq.km in the forest cover of Goa. This increase is due to change of 5 sq.km of non-forest to 3 sq.km of open forest and 2 sq.km to mangrove category. The change matrix is given in Table 3.5.

The geographic area of the state is 196,024 sq.km of which 19,393 sq.km is recorded as forest. Actual forest cover of the state is 12,578 sq.km which constitutes 6.4 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.4). An increase of 258 sq.km is observed in the forest cover of Gujarat in 1997 assessment. Though there is a decrease of 32 sq.km in dense forest and 12 sq.km in open forest, an increase of 302 sq.km of mangrove resulted in a net increase in the forest cover.

Table 3.6 gives change matrix of forest cover of Gujarat. From dense forest 32 sq.km changed to open forest while 44 sq.km of open forest changed to scrub. However, an area of 302 sq.km of non-forest changed to mangrove.

The loss of forest cover is seen in the districts of Bharuch (46 G/6, 10, 13, 14), Panchmahal (46 E/11,16, 46 F/5,11,16), Vadodara (46 F, B, 46 J/3), The Dang (46 H/13), Bhavnagar (46 C/2,4), Banaskantha (45 D/7), Sabarkantha (45 H/4), Valsad (46 H/7) and Ahmedabad (46 B/1,4).

The geographic area of the state is 44,212 sq.km of which 1,673 sq.km is recorded as forest. Actual forest cover of the state is 604 sq.km which constitutes 1.4 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.5). There is an increase of 1 sq.km in 1997 assessment. The change matrix is given in Table 3.7. Though there is a loss of 2 sq.km from open forest to non-forest but an increase of 3 sq.km in open forest coming from non-forest resulted in a net increase in cover.

The geographic area of the state is 55,673 sq.km of which 35,407 sq.km is recorded as forest. Actual forest cover of the state is 12,521 sq.km which constitutes 22.5 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.6). An increase of 20 sq.km in the forest cover of the state has been observed in 1997 assessment. Though there is a decrease of 5 sq.km in dense forest cover but open forest showed an increase of 25 sq.km The change matrix given in Table 3.8 reveals that 28 sq.km of dense forest area changed to open forest while from the open forests, 23 sq.km showed improvement in density and 5 sq.km degraded to scrub (2 sq.km) and non-forest (3 sq.km). On the other hand, 17 sq.km of scrub and 8 sq.km of non-forest improved to open forest category.

The geographic area of the state is 222,235 sq.km of which 20,182 sq.km is recorded as forest. Actual forest cover of the state is 20,440 sq.km which constitutes 9.2 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.7). There is an increase of 7 sq.km in the extent of forest cover in 1997 assessment. The change matrix given in Table 3.9 shows that the increase in forest cover is due to change of 7 sq.km of scrub to open forest.

The geographic area of the state is 191,791 sq.km of which 38,724 sq.km is recorded as forest. Actual forest cover of the state is 32,403 sq.km which constitutes 16.9 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.8). An increase of 21 sq.km in forest cover has been observed in 1997 assessment. Though the dense forest decreased by 5 sq.km but there is an increase of 25 sq.km in open forest and 1 sq.km in mangrove.

The change matrix given in Table 3.10, reveals that from the dense forest category 2 sq.km changed to open forest and 25 sq.km degraded to non-forest. From the open forest, 22 sq.km improved to dense forest and 19 sq.km degraded to scrub (3 sq.km) and non-forest (16 sq.km). On the other hand 45 sq.km of scrub and 19 sq.km of non-forest moved of the open forest category. An area of 1 sq.km of non-forest changed to mangrove.

The geographic area of the state is 38,863 sq.km of which 11,221 sq.km is recorded as forest. Actual forest cover of the state is 10,334 sq.km which constitutes 26.6 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.9). A decrease of 2 sq.km was registered in forest cover in 1997 assessment. Both, dense and open forests registered decrease of 1 sq.km each. The matrix of change, given in Table 3.11, shows that while 1 sq.km of dense forest changed to open forest, 2 sq.km of open forest changed to non-forest.

The largest state of the country has a geographic area of 443,446 sq.km of which 154,497 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover is however 131,195 sq.km which constitutes 29.6 per cent of the geographic area (Fig.3.10). There has been a loss of 3,969 sq.km of forest cover in 1997 assessment. The dense forest has decreased by 12,408 sq.km while open forest increased by 8,439 sq.km.

The interpretation of the forest cover for this state is being done digitally since 1995 assessment. In 1997 assessment, besides digital image processing, the area calculation has also been done digitally leading to refinement in the assessment. Table 3.12 gives the change matrix which shows that from dense forest 11,357 sq.km of area changed to open forest, 101 sq.km to scrub and 2,199 sq.km to non-forest. Further, from open forest, 1,017 sq.km changed to dense forest, 528 sq.km to scrub and 2,673 sq.km to non-forest. From scrub area, 23 sq.km changed to dense forest and 191 sq.km to open forest. Similarly, from non-forest, 209 sq.km changed to dense forest and 1,109 sq.km to open forest.

Maharashtra, the third largest state of the country, has a geographic area of 307,690 sq.km of which 63,842 sq.km is recorded as forest area (Fig.3.11). The actual forest cover is 46,143 sq.km which constitutes 15.0 per cent of the geopgraphical area. This includes 3,498 sq.km of tree farmland. An increase of 2,300 sq.km of forest cover is observed in 1997 assessment. Though there is a decrease in the dense forest cover by 2,051 sq.km, an increase of 4,382 sq.km has been seen in open forest. Mangrove forests decreased by 31 sq.km

The interpretation for this state has been done digitally since 1995 assessment. In 1997 assessment, besides digital image processing, the area calculation has also been done digitally leading to refinement in the assessment. The change matrix of forest cover given in Table 3.13 reveals that from dense forest, 3,481 sq.km changed to open forest, 25 sq.km to scrub and 339 sq.km to non-forest. From open forest cover, 1,133 sq.km improved in density while 206 sq.km changed to scrub and 813 sq.km to non-forest. From mangrove 65 sq.km changed to non-forest. However, from scrub, 131 sq.km changed to dense forest, 1,250 sq.km to open forest and from non-forest, 343 sq.km changed to dense forest, 1,803 sq.km to open forest and 34 sq.km to mangrove.

The geographic area of the state is 22,327 sq.km of which 15,154 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 17,418 sq.km which constitutes 78.0 per cent of the geographic area (Fig.3.2). A decrease of 140 sq.km is noticed in the forest cover in the present assessment. The dense forest decreased by 381 sq.km while the open forest increased by 241 sq.km The decrease in forest cover due to shifting cultivation is 603 sq.km However, an area of 463 sq.km of scrub/non-forest showed regeneration, thereby compensating the loss of forest cover to some extent.

The change matrix is given in Table 3.14. It reveals that out of an overall change of 747 sq.km in dense forest area 693 sq.km changed to open forest and 54 sq.km to non-forest. From open forest area, 366 sq.km changed to dense forest while 549 sq.km degraded to scrubs (20 sq.km) and non-forest (529 sq.km). An area of 237 sq.km from scrub and 226 sq.km from non-forest shifted to open forest.

The geographic area of the state is 22,429 sq.km of which 9,496 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 15,657 sq.km which constitutes 69.8 per cent of the geographic area (Fig 3.2). A net decrease of 57 sq.km in forest cover is recorded in 1997 assessment as compared to 1995 assessment. The dense forest registered a decrease of 1 sq.km and open forest a decrease of 56 sq.km

The change matrix of forest cover given in Table 3.15. shows that 2 sq.km from dense forest and 75 sq.km from the open forest changed to non-forest. An area of 1 sq.km of open forest improved to dense forest. Further 20 sq.km non-forest improved to open forest.

The geographic area of the state is 21,081 sq.km of which 15,935 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 18,775 sq.km which constitutes 89.1 per cent of the geographic area (Fig.3.2). An increase of 199 sq.km of forest cover has been observed in 1997 assessment compared to the previous assessment. Dense forest showed an increase of 67 sq.km, while open forest increased by 132 sq.km As against a decrease of 292 sq.km of forest cover mainly due to shifting cultivation, there has been an increase of 491 sq.km of forest cover due to regeneration in abandoned shifting cultivation areas.

The change matrix shown in Table 3.16 indicates that from the dense forest, an area of 313 sq.km changed to open forest and 3 sq.km to non-forest. Further from open forest 374 sq.km changed to dense forest 96 sq.km to scrub and 193 sq.km to non-forests. From scrub 6 sq.km improved to dense forests and 226 sq.km to open forests. Similarly from non-forest, 3 sq.km moved to dense forest and 256 sq.km to open forest.

The loss in forest cover is noticed in toposheets 83 D, 84 A, B, C, E and F.

The geographic area of the state is 16,579 sq.km of which 8,629 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 14,221 sq.km which constitutes 85.8 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.2). There is a net decrease of 70 sq.km of forest cover in 1997 assessment as compared to 1995 assessment. The decrease is due to loss of forest cover in 573 sq.km area affected by shifting cultivation. However, 503 sq.km of non-forest area changed to open forest due to regeneration.

The change matrix given in Table 3.17, shows that the dense forest remained unaffected. However, from open forest area, an area of 573 sq.km degraded to non-forest. On the other hand as an area of 503 sq.km changed to open forest from non-forest.

The geographic area of the state is 155,707 sq.km of which 57,184 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 46,941 sq.km which constitutes 30.1 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.12). A decrease of 166 sq.km in forest cover of Orissa is found in the present assessment. There is a decrease of 1,062 sq.km in dense forest area while open forest and mangrove increased by 880 sq.km and 16 sq.km respectively.

An analysis of the change matrix given in Table 3.18 reveals that 1,062 sq.km of dense forest changed to open forest. From open forest 733 sq.km degraded to non-forest category and 8 sq.km changed to mangrove. From scrub 559 sq.km changed to open forests and 10 sq.km of non-forest changed to mangrove.

The geographic area of the state is 50,362 sq.km of which 2,901 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 1,387 sq.km which constitutes 2.8 per cent of the geographic area (Fig.3.5). There has been a net increase of 45 sq.km in the forest cover of Punjab in 1997 assessment. Dense forest showed an increase of 30 sq.km and open forest by 15 sq.km.

The change matrix given in Table 3.19 shows that 2 sq.km of dense forest changed to scrub. From the open forest 28 sq.km changed to dense forest and 2 sq.km degraded to scrub and 4 sq.km to non-forest. From non-forest area, 4 sq.km improved to dense forest and 49 sq.km to open forest.

Rajasthan, the second largest state of the country, has a geographic area 342,239 sq.km of which 31,700 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 13,353 sq.km which constitutes 3.9 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.13). A net increase of 73 sq.km in the forest cover is observed in 1997 assessment. The dense forest increased by 6 sq.km and open forest increased by 67 sq.km

The matrix of change given in Table 3.20 reveals that 10 sq.km of dense forest was degraded to open forest. Further from the open forest 16 sq.km improved in density and moved to dense forest but 9 sq.km changed to scrub and 12 sq.km changed to non-forest categories. From scrub area 55 sq.km and from non-forest 39 sq.km changed to open forest during this period.

The geographic area of the state is 7,096 sq.km of which 2,650 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 3,129 sq.km which constitutes 44.1 per cent of the geographic area (Fig.3.14). There is a net increase of 2 sq.km in the forest cover in the present assessment. Dense forest showed a decrease of 1 sq.km while open forest reflected an increase of 3 sq.km.

The change matrix given in Table 3.21 reveals that 5 sq.km of dense forest changed to open forest while 4 sq.km of open forest changed to dense forest. In addition, 1 sq.km of scrub and 1 sq.km of non forest improved to open forest category.

The geographic area of the state is 130,058 sq.km of which 22,628 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 17,064 sq.km which constitutes 13.1 per cent of geographic area (Fig 3.15). There has been a net increase of 19 sq.km in forest cover in 1997 assessment. While dense forest registered a decrease of 23 sq.km, open forest increased by 42 sq.km An area of 721 sq.km was found to be under tea gardens during the present assessment. Thus, while incorporating the interpretational corrections, this area (721 sq.km) was excluded from the forest cover falling in the districts of Tirunelveli, Madurai, Coimbatore and Nilgiri, which was shown as forest cover (719 sq.km under dense forest and 2 sq.km under open forest) in earlier assessments has been shifted to non-forest category in the present assessment.

The change matrix, shown in Table 3.22 reveals that from dense forest category 32 sq.km changed to open forest and 13 sq.km to non-forest. From the open forest 22 sq.km changed to dense forest, 20 sq.km to scrub and 16 sq.km to non-forest. An area of 25 sq.km of scrub and 43 sq.km of non-forest changed to open forest. There is no change in mangrove.

The geographic area of the state is 10,486 sq.km of which 6,292 sq.km is recorded as forest. The actual forest cover of the state is 5,546 sq.km which constitutes 52.9 per cent of geographic area (Fig.3.2). The state recorded a net increase of 8 sq.km in the forest cover in the present assessment. The open forest registered all the increase.

The change matrix given in Table 3.23 shows that there was no change in the dense forest but open forest showed a change of 3 sq.km to non-forest. However, 11 sq.km of non-forest area changed to open forest.