Thread by @yamunajiye

Some thoughts. India State of Forest Report, (ISFR) 2021.
Caveat. Going to be long. Largely generic for its quality aspects hv already been widely reported.
a) There should be a well defined objective behind carrying out any such effort. Forest is an ecosystem+

with several ecological roles & services to play. Just to focus on whether d forests in d country r on an increasing or decreasing trend within political or artificial units like tiger/lion reserves etc cannot be a good enough objective to spend huge amounts of public funds on.

Interestingly the ecological needs of Lion r open forests.😂
Also devoting one full chapter to 'growing stock' which looks at forests as merely a commercial entity is anachronistic to say the least & betrays our continuing colonial mindset vis a vis forests.

b) if simply increase/decrease of forest area is to b assessed then d unit shud actually b catchment area of major rivers which is a well defined ecological unit & d status of its health in terms of vegetative cover can then help determine d nation's water security potential

and locations where due to catchment deforestation flood risks have increased. Such river basin wide assessments can then be utilized to convert d assessments into political or artificially drawn boundaries like different states or tiger, lion, elephant reserves etc.

This is because there is no part of d nation which is not part of one or d other major river basin.
c) There r 16 forest types as per d Champion & Seth classification of Indian forests. Each of these amongst other differences between them r distinct in their major tree/vegetation

associations & hence their canopy formation is also unique & different. Now to club all of them as either just #dense or #open forests is too simplistic a method & expresses our poor understanding of d natural diversity of our forest systems wherein some forest types

might b naturally dense or open & their ecological characteristics would b ignored if each of them is assessed on whether d canopy density is good or poor and then actions called for to convert all to a dense status? Such an approach also ignores the wilderness values+

of natural grasslands, wetlands & largely tree-less areas like cold (Ladakh & Lahaul) and warm deserts (Thar & Rann of Kutch) etc.
d) As a matter of fact each forest type deserves a separate well analyzed chapter in any such survey report. At present different

forest types r mentioned more in passing than in any serious manner in d report except in Chapter 9 & 11, which deal with d Carbon stock & Climate Hot spots respectively.
e) Shouldn't such a survey exercise also focus on forest lands diverted for non forestry purposes, their

current status & d status of d Compensatory Afforestation carried out in lieu of those lost forests?
Same applies to forest patches parceled out under d provisions of FRA?
f) Such an effort should not limit itself just to surveying & assessing d forests & tree cover but also +

enlarge its mandate to look at d health of all natural systems including wetlands, rivers, deserts, grasslands, coasts and marine systems as critical natural ecosystems in d land. This is because such an official assessment is not being done by any other government agency and

if FSI does not enlarge its mandate then d long term security of these ecosystems shall remain unaddressed. Of course with such an enlargement of mandate the material and human resources at FSI (or whatever it is renamed as) would require suitable enhancement and upgradation.

g)Two year is too small a time period to assess changes, if any in State of Forests anywhere what to talk of a vast & diverse land like ours. This periodic assessment shud be held over not less than 4 years duration if not more for a realistic assessment & useful results. Thnx

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