T1. Extent of Forests and Other Wooded Lands

The information on “extent of forests” is necessary for assessment of state and change in forest resources (including goods and services provided by forests) on a global basis. It helps to develop trends of expansion or deforestation of forests and review the sustainability of forests. It facilitates establishing links between national and global classification of extent of forests.

A. Global Classification and Definitions (FRA 2005)

Forest	Land under forestry or no land use, spanning more than 0.5 hectares; with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ.
Other Wooded Land	Land under forestry or no land use, spanning more than 0.5 hectares; with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of 5-10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ; or with a combined cover of shrubs, bushes and trees above 10 percent.
Other Land with Tree Cover	The lands primarily not under forests having more than 0.5 hectares with a canopy cover of more than 10 percent of trees able to reach a height of 5 m at maturity. It includes trees outside forests.
Other Land	Land not classified as “forest”, “other wooded land” or “other land with tree cover”.
Inland Water bodies	Inland water bodies generally include major rivers and lakes.

Source: FAO. 2004. Terms and Definition FRA-2005. FRA Working paper 73. Rome

B. National Data Sources

Forest Survey of India (FSI) is an Government of India organization under the Ministry of Environment & Forests. Since 1965, it is regularly conducting assessment of forest resources at an interval of about 2 years and publishing the information in the “State of Forest Report” (SFR). Following SFRs form the basis of information for this global table.

Information Year	Source
1990	SFR, 1993. State of Forest Resources 1993. Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
1992	SFR, 1995. State of Forest Resources 1995. Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
1994	SFR, 1997. State of Forest Resources 1997. Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
1997	SFR, 1999. State of Forest Resources 1999. Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.
2000	SFR, 2001. State of Forest Resources, 2001. Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India.

The first SFR was published as SFR 1987 using 1981-83 remotely sensed images and the latest published report is SFR 2001, which used satellite images for the year 2000. Each successive assessment used better quality of data with higher resolution and scale and with more intensive ground verification and by using superior techniques of interpretation. While in the first assessment, resolution of data used was 80m x 80m and scale of interpretation was 1:1 million the same in the last assessment is 23.5m x 23.5m and 1:50,000, respectively.

C. National Classification and Definitions

The following table provides the classification and sub-classification and their definitions in use at Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Environment and Forest, India.

Forest Cover	Al lands, more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10percent. Such lands may not be statutorily notified as forest area.
Dense Forest	All lands, with a forest cover with canopy density of 40 percent and above.
Open Forest	All lands, with forest cover with canopy density of 10 to 40 percent.
Mangrove Cover	(Forests) Area covered under mangrove vegetation as interpreted digitally from remote sensing data. It is also classified into dense cover (canopy density more than 40 percent) and open cover (canopy density from 10 to 40 percent).
Mangrove	Salt tolerant forest ecosystem found mainly in tropical and sub-tropical coastal and/or inter-tidal regions.
Scrub	All lands, generally in and around forest areas, having bushes and or poor tree growth chiefly small or stunted trees with canopy density less than 10 percent.
Trees Outside Forests	Tree wealth existing outside recorded Forest Areas
Tree Cover	Notional land area, covered by crown of trees, that is small (less than 1 hectare) to be delineated by digital interpretation of remote sensing data of forest cover.
Non Forest Land	Lands without any forest cover.

(Source: SFR 2001)

D. National Data

The following table presents the national data on forest cover in India. This information has been respective State of Forest Report (SFR) developed by FSI as mentioned in the note below the table.

Categories	Land Cover in “000” ha
	1990	1992	1994	1997	2000
Forests	63938.600	63887.900	63339.700	63729.300	67553.800
Non Forest
(i) Scrub	5894.300	6052.000	5270.000	5189.600	4731.800
(ii) Other Non Forest	258893.400	258786.400	260116.600	259807.400	256440.700
Total (Country Area)	328726.300	328726.300	328726.300	328726.300	328726.300

Note: 1. Other non forest area includes 31407 (000 ha)of Inland water bodies and 8147 (000 ha) of Tree cover in blocks of less than 1 hectare as mentioned in SFR 2001

FSI, includes area of TOF (Trees out side recorded forests) (10.485 million ha) occurring in blocks of more than 1 hectare and canopy cover more than 10 percent under “forest” cover. It does not provide data on the land use on which TOF exists.

Similarly, FSI assess that TOF (Trees outside recorded forest areas”, occurring in blocks of less than 1 hectare, cover about 8.147 million ha. and calls it “tree cover”. The area is notional (statistical) in nature because it has been computed based on notional density of trees per hectare to provide a canopy cover of more than 70 percent. The FSI does not include this in its land cover estimates. In reality, this area at places may be more than 0.5 ha and at other places below 0.5 ha. It is assumed that at least 10 percent of this notional area consist of blocks greater than 0. 5 hectares i.e. can be classified as “Other land with trees” of FRA 2005.

FSI does not provide area of “Inland Water bodies” and includes it with the Non-Forest Area. The figures of total area of the country by FSI and UN Statistical Division perfectly match (see section “E”), hence, the area figures of 31.407 million ha. of “Inland Water bodies” with UN division will be used as national data. This figure is same 1990 and 2000, therefore same figure is being assumed for 2005.

E. Calibration

The land area figures for the whole country match (see below) with the land area figure with UN Statistical Division at New York USA. Hence no need to calibrate the national data.

Agency	Total Land Area of the country in “000”ha
	1990	1992	1994	1997	2000
FSI, India	328726.300	328726.300	328726.300	328726.300	328726.300
UN Statistical Division	328726.300	328726.300	328726.300	328726.300	328726.300

F. Estimation and Forecasting

The FSI provides information for 1990 and 2000 therefore there is no need for estimating figures for 1990 and 2000. The figures for 2005 were forecasted using regression estimates.

Category of Land cover	Forecasted Land cover in 2005 (“000”ha)
Forests	67700.518
Scrub	4110.390

G. Reclassification into FRA 2005 Classes

Table: Reclassification (Percentage allocation) into FRA 2005 classes (excluding Inland water)

National Land use	Percentage of a National class belonging to a FRA Class
Classes	Forests	Other Wooded Land	Other Land with Tree Cover	Other Land
Forests	100
Non Forest
(i) Scrub		100
(ii) Tree Cover			10	90
(iii) Other Non Forest				100

H. National Information for FRA 2005 Global Tables

Table: Input to Global Reporting Table T1

FRA 2005 Classes	Extent in "000"ha
	1990	2000	2005
Forests	63938.600	67553.800	67700.518
Other Wooded Lands (Scrub)	5894.300	4731.000	4110.390
Other land with Trees	81.472	81.472	81.472
Other land	227404.628	224952.728	225426.620
Inland water	31407.000	31407.000	31407.000
Total Area	328726.000	328726.000	328726.000