With 8,733sqkm of forests,Rajasthanhas the second-largest area under tree cover in the country, says the recently released forest survey report.Maharashtratops the list with 12,108 sqkm of tree cover. While tree cover is significant in Rajasthan, it is only 2.5% of the total geographical area of 3,42,239 sqkm.
The mandates that 33% of the geographical area of India should be under forest or tree cover. FSI has been assessing forest cover since 1987 and tree cover since 2001. For this purpose, isolated trees and small patches of trees which are less than 1 square-hectare in area and found outside recorded forest areas (RFA) are considered for assessment.
The total tree cover of the country has been estimated at 95,748 sqkm. There has been an increase of 721 sqkm in tree cover compared to the previous assessment of 2019.
Tree Cover andTrees Outside Forest(TOF) are two different entities but are closely related.TOFrefers to all trees outside RFA irrespective of size of the patch.
Tree cover, on the other hand, means patches of trees as well as isolated trees outside RFA on areas less than one hectare. TOF of Rajasthan has been calculated at 12,828 sq km.