The desert state has recorded a negligible increase of 25sqkm forest area, according toIndia State of Forest Report(ISFR), 2021.
Out of the total geographical area of 3,42,239sqkm, the present forest cover is 16,655sqkm, which is 4.87%. The forest cover in the state two years ago was 16,630sqkm.
According to the report, the states forest cover has seen a marginal increase of 0.15sqkm compared to 2019. While the moderate forest cover area has increased by 27sqkm, the open forest cover area has witnessed a slight reduction of 2sqkm in the last two years.
In the previous report, the open forest was reduced from 12,210sqkm to 12,208sqkm. In 2019, the states forest cover had seen marginal increase of 57.51sqkm compared to 2017, when the moderate forest cover area and open forest cover area declined, though the former has started to show improvement.
According to the report, while very dense forest (VDF) area remained unchanged from 2019 with 78sqkm, themoderately dense forest(MDF) witnessed a small increase from 4,342sqkm in 2019 to 4,369sqkm in 2021.