Forest report in, shows increase in cover: Baalu

The forest cover now stands at 20.55 per cent of the country’s total geographical area with the target set at 25 per cent by 2007. The total forest and tree cover is estimated at 7.57 lakh square km constituting 23.03 per cent of the total area.

Releasing the latest state of forest report, Baalu said the assessment has been arrived at by using the digital image processing techniques using 1:50,000 scale against the 1:2,50,000 scale used earlier.

‘‘The ministry is working on schedule for the targeted 25 per cent area of the country under forests in 2007 and 33 per cent in 2012, accordingly 10th plan allocations have been increased to Rs 1,600 crore from Rs 900 crore in the previous plan,’’ the minister said. Meanwhile, Government officials said the increased forest cover by an estimated 38,245 square km should not be linked to actual expansion alone but also to the increased accuracy with which the area was mapped.