New Delhi : Forest Survey of India (FSI), Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry, carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in India State of Forest Report (ISFR). The forest cover assessment is a wall-to-wall mapping exercise based on remote sensing supported by intensive ground verification and field data from National Forest Inventory. As per the latest ISFR 2021, the total forest cover of the country has increased by 12,294 square kilometres in the last seven years (ISFR 2015 to ISFR 2021).
The details of forest cover of the country in the last seven years (ISFR 2015 to ISFR 2021) and change in forest cover w.r.t. previous assessments are given in the table below:-
(Area in square kilometres)
| ISFR Years | Total Forest Cover | Changes in forest cover w.r.t. previous ISFR | Change in percentage |
| ISFR 2015 | 7,01,495 | – | – |
| ISFR 2017 | 7,08,273 | 6,778 | 0.21 |
| ISFR 2019 | 7,12,249 | 3,976 | 0.56 |
| ISFR 2021 | 7,13,789 | 1,540 | 0.22 |
This information was given by Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change in Rajya Sabha today.
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