India State of Forest Report (ISFR)

Let’s begin with a simple question —
“How does India know whether its forests are increasing, decreasing, or changing in quality?”

The answer lies in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) — a biennial report (that means published every two years) prepared by the Forest Survey of India (FSI).

• The first ISFR came out in 1987.

So, you can imagine — every two years, the government takes a “photograph” of India’s forests through satellites and surveys to see how the forest situation is changing.

🏢 Forest Survey of India (FSI)

Now, who prepares this report?
It is done by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), which works under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
It was established in 1981 at Dehradun — the heart of India’s forest research institutions.

🎯 Objectives of FSI

You can remember its objectives through a simple logic — FSI does everything related to forest data, training, and technology.

Main Objectives:

1. Prepare the State of Forest Report (ISFR) every two years.
2. Conduct inventory assessments of forests and non-forest areas.
3. Develop and maintain databases of forest resources.
4. Serve as the nodal agency for all spatial (map-based) forest data.
5. Train forest officers in modern tools like Remote Sensing and GIS.
6. Assist State Forest Departments (SFDs) in surveys, mapping, and inventories.

🛰️ Major Activities of FSI

FSI’s work is not just paperwork — it’s highly technological.
It does five major things:

1. Forest Cover Mapping using remote sensing (satellite images) — every two years.
2. National Forest Inventory — detailed data on tree species, volume, etc.
3. Forest Fire Monitoring — detecting and managing forest fires.
4. Forest Carbon Assessment — measuring how much carbon our forests store.
5. Forest Type Mapping and research on new issues like invasive species.

🌍 Link with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and REDD+

Now, India’s forest monitoring is not just for internal record — it’s also linked to global environmental commitments like REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), under UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).

According to UNFCCC guidelines, every country must have:

• A National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) based on satellites, and
• A National Forest Inventory for ground-level data.

The main goal?
👉 To assess growing stock (the volume of living trees), bamboo, soil carbon, non-timber forest products (NTFP), and invasive species.

📘 Key Definitions in ISFR

Now comes the most important conceptual section — the definitions.
These are frequently asked in UPSC and are confusing for most students.

(a) Recorded Forest Area (RFA)

• It is the legal extent of forest as recorded by the government.
• It includes:
  • Reserved Forests (RF)
  • Protected Forests (PF)
    (both declared under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 or State Acts)

👉 Important point:
RFA is based on legal notification, not on whether trees actually exist there or not.

So, a Recorded Forest Area may or may not have forest cover!

For example:

A desert patch in Rajasthan may be notified as “Reserved Forest,” even if it has no trees — it will still count as part of the Recorded Forest Area.

Boundaries of RFA are given by State Forest Departments (SFDs).
And since 1996, States have the right to decide which lands qualify as RFA — the Centre cannot overrule their criteria.

(b) Deemed Forests

Now, these are tricky.
Deemed forests are not officially notified as forests but look and behave like forests — that is, they have tree growth, wildlife, and ecosystem characteristics of forests.

They cover roughly 1% of India’s forest land.
Because they are not legally notified, there is often controversy about their ownership and protection.

(c) Forest Cover (FC)

This is where actual vegetation comes in.
Forest Cover includes all patches of land (public or private) having:

• Tree canopy density ≥10%
• Area ≥1 hectare
• Any type of trees (even plantations or agroforestry)

So, it doesn’t matter who owns it or what species are there — if it looks like a forest from the sky (based on canopy density), it counts!

Forest Cover is divided into 3 classes:

1. Very Dense Forest (VDF): canopy density ≥ 70%
2. Moderately Dense Forest (MDF): canopy density 40–70%
3. Open Forest (OF): canopy density 10–40%

(d) Tree Cover (TC)

Tree cover includes smaller patches of trees (<1 hectare),
outside the Recorded Forest Area (RFA),
irrespective of canopy density.

So, trees in your garden, along roads, or in farmlands come under Tree Cover.

Together, Forest Cover + Tree Cover = Forest and Tree Cover (FTC),
and this total is used to measure progress towards the National Forest Policy target —
➡️ “33% of India’s geographical area under forest and tree cover.”

(e) Trees Outside Forests (TOF)

TOF refers to all trees outside Recorded Forest Area,
irrespective of their patch size or canopy density.

So basically —
🟢 Tree Cover is a subset of TOF (because Tree Cover is <1 ha).

Examples:

• A large mango orchard outside forest limits → TOF
• A small roadside plantation (<1 ha) → Tree Cover (also TOF)

Comparison — The Crux Table

Category	Definition	Area condition	Location	Key Point
Recorded Forest Area (RFA)	Land legally recorded as forest under any Act	No condition	Inside govt records	May or may not have trees
Forest Cover (FC)	Area with canopy density ≥10%	≥1 ha	Anywhere (public/private)	Actual tree cover seen on ground
Tree Cover (TC)	Trees <1 ha outside RFA	<1 ha	Outside RFA	Small patches of trees
Trees Outside Forests (TOF)	All trees outside RFA	Any size	Outside RFA	Tree Cover ⊂ TOF

⚖️ A Very Important Concept — “A Change in Forest Cover ≠ Change in RFA”

Students often assume that if forest cover increases, the government added more forest land — but that’s not true.

• Forest Cover and Recorded Forest Area overlap but are not identical.
• Some parts of RFA may have no trees or very low canopy (<10%).
• And some areas outside RFA (say, private land with dense plantations) may show high forest cover.

Hence,

An increase in forest cover could be due to plantation outside RFA (like social forestry or agroforestry), not necessarily due to more legal forest land.