Gujarat Leads India in Tree Cover Growth: FSI 2023 Report

Gandhinagar, Gujarat – According to the Forest Survey of India- FSI 2023 report recently released by the Central Government, Gujarat is leading the country with a  significant increase of 241.29 sq. km in tree cover outside notified forest areas, the Gujarat Forest Department has said.

According to the FSI-2023 report, in the year 2021, the total tree cover, including both forest cover and tree cover, in Gujarat was 2.80 percent, which increased to 3.38 percent in the year 2023. While the total green cover of the state was 10.41 percent in the year 2021, which has increased to 11.03 percent in the year 2023.

Furthermore, according to the India State of Forest Report -2023, the total recorded forest area in Gujarat is 21,870 sq km. i.e. 11.14 percent of the total geographical area of ​​the state. While the forest cover is 15,016.64 sq km. i.e. 7.65 percent and the tree cover is 6632.29 sq km. i.e. 3.38 percent. Thus, the total green cover of the state is 21,648.93 sq km i.e. 11.03 percent.

In addition, under the ‘Ek Pad Maa Ke Naam’ campaign launched across the country under the leadership of Prime Minister  Narendra Modi in the year 2024-25, a record-breaking 17.48 crore trees have been planted in Gujarat, second only to Uttar Pradesh in the country. During the current year 2025, the work of planting trees under ‘Ek Pad Maan Ke Naam’ 2.0 is in progress.

Apart from this, the ‘Green Aravalli Project’ has also been launched on ‘World Environment Day’ this year by the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the field of social forestry in Gujarat, work is being done through Vankavach, Harit Vanpath, Panchvati Gram Vatika and plantation schemes around Amrit Sarovar as well as through Sadbhavna Trust under PPP model, so that the tree cover of the state will increase further in the future.

It is worth mentioning here that, according to the National Forest Policy, 1988, the forest cover and tree cover i.e. green cover in the country should be 33 percent of the total geographical area. The assessment of forest cover and tree cover of the country and the states is carried out by the Forest Survey of India, Dehradun under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and published in a report every two years. 

The total recorded forest area in the country is 7,75,377 sq km, which is 23.59 percent of the total geographical area of ​​the country. While the forest cover is 7,15,342.61 sq km. i.e. 21.76 percent and the tree cover is 1,12,014.34 sq km. i.e. 3.41 percent. Thus, the total green cover of the country is 8,27,356.95 sq km. i.e. 25.17 percent, as stated in the report.