New Delhi, March 13 The forest cover in the 13 states and Union territories of the Indian Himalayan region has decreased by 2.27 per cent between 2021 and 2023, Union Minister Kirti Vardhan Singh said.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, the minister stated that according to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, the forest cover in the region fell from 15,427.11 sq km in 2021 to 15,075.5 sq km in 2023.
Singh also said that the total carbon stock in the forests of the Indian Himalayan region has been assessed to be 3,273.10 million tonnes in 2023, compared to 3,272.68 million tonnes two years ago.
Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Assam, and West Bengal are part of the Indian Himalayan region.
"Forest health is influenced by multiple ecological and biophysical parameters, and not merely by the greenness of forest areas," he said.
The Forest Survey of India (FSI) collects data on various parameters of forest conditions, such as soil depth and soil erosion, characteristics of forest vegetation, and threats to forests, to assess forest health.
"These characteristics interact with each other and determine the state of forests at a given time, and this information has been published in the ISFR 2023," the minister said.