Examine the status of forest resources of India and its resultant impact on climate change.

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Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

India's forest and tree cover is growing slowly but remains thin in quality, which limits its role as a carbon sink and climate buffer. ISFR 2023 recorded cover at 25.17% of India's area and an additional carbon sink of 2.29 billion tonnes since 2005.

**Introduction**

ISFR 2023, the latest survey, recorded forest and tree cover at 25.17% of India's area, well short of the National Forest Policy (1988) goal of one-third. The quality of this cover decides how far forests can blunt climate change.

**Status of India's Forest Resources**

1. **Slow gains in extent**: Cover grew by 1,445.81 sq km over 2021, led by Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, largely through plantations and trees outside forests.
2. **Thin quality**: Very dense forest is only about 3% of the area, and the North-East lost 327.30 sq km of forest in ISFR 2023.
3. **Pressures**: Diversion for projects such as Great Nicobar, jhum, fires and invasive Lantana erode the stock.

**Impact on Climate Change**

SKETCH: flow-cycle | Forest-Climate Feedback Loop
- Forest loss
- Carbon released
- Hotter, drier climate
- Fires and pests
- Weaker regrowth

1. **Carbon sink**: ISFR 2023 put the additional sink since 2005 at 2.29 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, against the NDC target of 2.5-3 billion tonnes by 2030.
2. **Adaptation buffer**: Villages behind the Bhitarkanika mangroves suffered fewer deaths in the 1999 Odisha super cyclone, and hill forests regulate rainfall and slopes.
3. **Feedback risk**: Degraded forests turn from sinks into sources, and warming raises fires and pests.

**Way Forward**

1. **Restore quality**: Steer CAMPA funds and the Green India Mission towards native-species restoration of degraded forest.
2. **Community and coasts**: Use community forest rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and expand MISHTI for mangroves.

**Conclusion**

India's forests are growing slowly in area but thinning in quality. Restoring dense, native forests is India's cheapest climate insurance and central to its net-zero 2070 pledge.

Examine the status of forest resources of India and its resultant impact on climate change.

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