In many ecologically sensitive northeastern States where more than 70% of the area is covered by forests, a substantial decline in forest area was recorded in the past decade. Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Assam recorded more than 1,000 hectares of forest land diverted for non-forest purposes in the past decade. Meanwhile, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram recorded the maximum increase in forest land encroachments over the past two decades among all Indian States.
Forest cover
The chart depicts a State’s forest cover as % of its geographical area. Except for Assam, in the other northeastern States (marked in orange), more than 70% of the geographical area is under forest cover as of 2021.
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Change in forest cover
The charts show the total forest cover (in square kilometers) in the northeastern States over the past decade. Except for Assam, forest area has declined by varying degrees, in all the other States.
Forest land diverted
The chart shows the forest land diverted (in hectares) in northeastern States for non-forest use under the Forest Conservation Act over the past decade.
Encroachment of forest land
The chart shows the absolute increase in the encroachment of forest land (in hectares) between 2002 and 2022. For instance, in Assam, forest encroachment increased by 1.22 lakh ha in the past two decades.
Source: Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha
Also read: Is India’s forest cover really increasing? Official maps don’t tell you the whole truth
