Tamil Nadu’s forest cover increased over the last decade

Anna University claims a 42 percent degradation of forest covers. Forest Survey of India data differs.

Archan Kundu

Chennai: On March 11th the Climate Change and Disaster Management wing of Anna University launched an online application to assist the Tamil Nadu Forest Department “to restore forest cover in all 39 districts” of Tamil Nadu. While a Times of India report states that the app was introduced in the wake of 42 percent degradation of forests in the state, Tamil Nadu’s Forest Survey reports for the last decade beg to differ.

Forest Survey of India (FSI) distinctly defines ‘Forest Area’ and ‘Forest Covers’. Forest area is a legal terminology to characterise a piece of land as forest land. On the other hand, Forest Covers refer to all land which is more than one hectare and has a tree canopy density of a minimum of 10 percent. This essentially quantifies the presence of trees in an area.

This graph shows a gradual increase in Forest Cover from 2011 till 2021 [Source: Forest Survey of India]

According to the latest India Forest Survey Report (IFSR) of 2021, the Forest Cover in Tamil Nadu was at 26,419 square kilometres, forming 20.31 percent of the total geographical land area of the state. In the survey report from 2019, the forest cover of the state was almost the same at 20.27 percent. In 2011, the forest cover area of the state was 18.16 percent of the entire state’s geographical area. Graph 1 above shows an upward trend for forest covers in Tamil Nadu. There was almost a two per cent increase in the forest cover of the state in the past decade instead of the 42 percent degradation of forests as claimed by Anna University in the TOI report.

Moreover, Table 1 brings in the element of ‘Non-Forest Land’ In its last column. ‘Non-Forest Land’, as defined by FSI, is the portion of the geographical area of the country, any state, or union territory, which does not have any Forest Cover. Table 1 shows a slow but constant decline in the Non-forest land of the entire Tamil Nadu. This implies an increase in the forest area of the state.