Page 230 - economic_survey_2021-2022

204 Economic Survey 2021-22

Figure 6: Top Ten Countries by Forest Area in 2020

900000
815,312
800000
700000
Forest Area ('000 Ha) 500000 496,620 346,928 309,795
600000

400000
300000
200000
100000 219,978 134,005 126,155 92,133 72,330 72,160
0
Russia Brazil Canada USA China Australia DRC Indonesia Peru India
Source: India State of Forest Report 2021
Note: DRC: Democratic Republic of the Congo
6.12 Forests covered 24 per cent of India’s total geographical area accounting for two per cent
of the world’s total forest area in 2020. Figure 7 shows the top ten countries by forest area as
per cent of the total geographical area of the country and per cent of world forest area. The top
10 countries account for 66 per cent of the world’s forest area. Of these countries, Brazil (59 per
cent), Peru (57 per cent), Democratic Republic of Congo (56 per cent) and Russia (50 per cent)
have half or more of their total geographical area under forests.

Figure 7: Top Ten Countries by Forest Area in 2020 w.r.t Country and World Forest Area

70
59 % of Country Area
60 57 56
50 49 % of World Forest Area
Forest as % of Area 40 39 34 24 23
50

30

20
12 20 17
10 9 8 5
2 3 2 2 3
0
Brazil Peru DRC Russia Indonesia Canada USA India China Australia
Source: India State of Forest Report 2021
Note: DRC: Democratic Republic of the Congo
6.13 India has increased its forest area significantly over the past decade. It ranks third globally
in average annual net gain in forest area between 2010 to 2020, adding an average 2,66,000 ha
of additional forest area every year during the period, or adding approximately 0.38 per cent of
the 2010 forest area every year between 2010 to 2020 (Figure 8).