Experts claim latest govt data on India's forests 'inflated'

Experts criticize India's forest data, claiming inflated figures due to bamboo plantations and non-ecological areas included in cover.

Several experts have claimed that the latest government data on India's forests is "inflated" as it includes bamboo plantations, coconut groves, and orchards among others as part of the forest cover.

The 'India State of Forests Report 2023' released on Saturday, after a delay of almost a year, said India's total forest and tree cover has increased by 1,445 sq km since 2021, reaching 25.17% of the total geographical area in 2023.

However, the forest cover grew by just 156 sq km and most of the gain (149 sq km) occurred outside the Recorded Forest Area (RFA), which refers to areas designated as forests in government records.

The overall results could have been stronger, especially since the government included bamboo and smaller trees (5-10 cm diameter at breast height) in the tree cover estimates for ISFR 2023. The assessment also expanded to 751 districts, up from 636 in 2021.

Experts including Kerala's former principal chief conservator of forests Prakriti Srivastava, conservationist researcher Krithika Sampath and former National Board for Wildlife member Prerna Singh Bindra claimed that the government counted bamboo plantations, coconut groves, and orchards among others as part of the forest cover and produced "another faulty report with inflated data".

They argued that such areas do not offer any ecological value for biodiversity and wildlife conservation.

The increase in tree cover (1,289 sq km) is also mainly due to plantations of rubber, eucalyptus, acacia and mango, coconut, areca nut and shade trees in tea and coffee plantations.