Good News! Greenery increased in India, UP did wonders in planting trees, ISFR report released

India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023: Union Forest and Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav released the India Forest Status Report 2023 (ISFR 2023) at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun on Saturday (December 21, 2024). The special thing is that the report has shown a better situation regarding the forest area in the entire country. Expressing happiness on this, the Union Environment Minister said that the total forest and tree cover of the country has increased by 1445 square kilometers, and UP is at second place with 559 square kilometers.

The India State of Forest Report (ISFR), released every two years by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), makes public all the information about the forest and tree resources of the country. According to the report, forest area in the country has increased by 156.41 square kilometers, while tree area has increased by 1289.40 square kilometers.

Increase in forest and tree areas
In this report, the current situation across the country on matters like vegetation cover, status of carbon stock and forest fire has also been explained. If we look at the current situation, there is a total of 827,357 square kilometers of forest and tree area in the country, which is 25.7% of the country’s geographical area. The great thing is that among the states increasing forest area, the top four states are Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan. At the same time, the situation in Uttarakhand is not good.

status of uttarakhand
Uttarakhand, which is known for its natural beauty and vegetation, has emerged as the most affected state in terms of forest fire incidents in this report. The incidents of forest fires have increased manifold compared to last year. Uttarakhand was at 13th position in 2022-23, while in 2023-24 it came to first position.
Due to increasing incidents of fire, the biodiversity of the state is under threat. The report emphasizes the need for improvement in forest fire management and monitoring.