14th January 2022

 

 

Topic: Forest Cover in Punjab

 

 

Importance: Punjab PCS Mains

 

What is the news?

 

• Punjab green cover reduced to 3.67%

 

In comparison to 2019:

 

• Amid growing concerns about the environment, forest cover in Punjab decreased by 2 square kilometers in 2021 compared to 2019. Forest cover has decreased to 1,847 square kilometers from almost 1,849 square kilometers in 2019, out of a total of 50,362 square kilometers in the state.

 

Punjab forest coverage in relation to India:

 

• Forestry coverage is only 3.67% in Punjab compared to 21.71% in the country. In India, 7,13,789 square kilometers of area is under forest in the geographic area 32,87,469 square kilometers.

 

Who released the data?

 

• Apart from that, there are 95,748 square kilometers of forest cover, which represents 2.91% of the total geographical area, bringing the total coverage to 24.62%.
• The data was released on Thursday when a Union minister of environment, forest and climate change Bhupender Yadav released the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021.

 

Important for Exam:

 

• As per ISFR 2021, in Punjab, there is “Very Dense Forest” in 11 sq km, “Moderately Dense Forest” in 793 sq km while “Open Forest” is 1,043 sq km. Punjab has Reserved Forests (RF) of 44 square kilometers, Protected Forests (PF) of 1,137 sq km, unclassed 1,903 sq km and total recorded forest area 3,084 sq km which is 6.12% of the geographical area.

Important:

 

• The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on Thursday released the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021.
• The first survey was released in 1987, and the 2021 ISFR is the 17th.