Eco-Development
Activities
The
Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests is implementing a National Afforestation Programme (NAP) for afforestation and eco-restoration of degraded
forests and adjoining areas in a participatory mode.
Since
the inception of NAP during the 10th five year plan, an area of about 1.8
million ha has been targeted till date by incurring an investment of about
rupees 2762 crore.
Minister
of State for Environment and Forests, Jayanthi Natarajan, has stated that in
order to improve eco-system services and to gear up afforestation and
regeneration of degraded forest tracts, an area of about 10 million ha is
envisaged to be tackled under Green India Mission (GIM) during 12th and 13th
Five Year Plan period.
The
12th five year plan outlay of NAP has proposed funds to the tune of rupees
10,000 crore against the outlay of rupees 2000 crore during the 11thfive year
plan. In addition, the various state governments are also implementing schemes
for improvement of degraded forests by utilizing state funds and externally aided
projects.
The
Forest Report, 2011
As
per the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2011, the Forest and Tree Cover of
the country is 23.81% of the geographical area of the country. The forest cover
of the country has registered a marginal decline of 0.05% as compared to the
previous assessment published in ISFR 2009.
India's
Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jayanthi Natarajan, stated in
Rajya Sabha on 27th March that in the ISFR, the forests are classified into
three categories such as Very Dense Forest (VDF), Moderately Dense Forest (MDF)
and Open Forests not as degraded forests.
The
area covered by Very Dense Forests (VDF) is 83,471 km2(2.54%), that
with Moderately Dense Forests (MDF) is 320,736 km2(9.76%) and Open
Forests is 287,820 km2 (8.75%).
She
said forests are defined legally in accordance to the provisions of Indian
Forest Act, 1927, such as Reserve Forests, Protected Forests and Village
Forests.
The Minister, however, clarified that
the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has extended the scope of forest and
“forest” must be understood according to its dictionary meaning. This
description cover all statutorily recognized forests, whether designated as
reserved, protected or otherwise, including any area recorded as forest in the Government
records irrespective of the ownership, for the purpose of Section 2 (i) of the
Forest Conservation Act.
In India State of Forest Report, the different categories of forests are defined for assessment of forest cover on the basis of tree canopy density which are as follows:
· Very Dense Forests: All lands with tree
canopy density of 70% and above
· Moderately Dense Forests: All lands
with tree canopy density between 40% and 70%
· Open Forests: All land with tree canopy
density between 10% - 40%
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