Altitude Zones wise Forest Cover – 2013

November 7, 2014

Author: OGD PMU Team

Forest Cover refers to all lands more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status. Such lands may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm.

All Zones have 697898 square km of Total Forest in 2013. It constitutes 21.23% of total geographical area of the All Zones. “In terms of type of forest, it has 83502 square km of Very Dense Forest (VDF), 318745 square km of Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) and 295651 square km of Open Forest (OF).

Altitude Zone 0-500 Meter has 366002 sq. km of Total Forest. It constitutes 52.44% of total forest cover and 16.17% of total geographical area of the Altitude Zone. In terms of type of forest, it has 29212 sq. km of VDF, 156552 sq. km of MDF and 180238 sq. km of OF. Altitude Zone 500-1000 Meter has 196392 sq. km of Total Forest. It constitutes 28.14% of total forest cover and 32.42% of total geographical area of the Altitude Zone. In terms of type of forest, it has 21724 sq. km of VDF, 97324 sq. km of MDF and 77344 sq. km of OF. Altitude Zone 1000-2000 Meter has 76483 sq. km of Total Forest. It constitutes 10.96% of total forest cover and 65.48% of total geographical area of the Altitude Zone. In terms of type of forest, it has 14787 sq. km of VDF, 37140 sq. km of MDF and 24556 sq. km of OF. Altitude Zone 2000-3000 Meter has 40720 sq. km of Total Forest. It constitutes 5.83% of total forest cover and 70.86% of total geographical area of the Altitude Zone. In terms of type of forest, it has 14306 sq. km of VDF, 19288 sq. km of MDF and 7126 sq. km of OF. Altitude Zone 3000-4000 Meter has 17349 sq. km of Total Forest. It constitutes 2.49% of total forest cover and 7.17% of total geographical area of the Altitude Zone. In terms of type of forest, it has 3432 sq. km of VDF, 8139 sq. km of MDF and 5778 sq. km of OF. Altitude Zone Above 4000 Meter has 952 sq. km of Total Forest. It constitutes 0.14% of total forest cover and 0.39% of total geographical area of the Altitude Zone. In terms of type of forest, it has 41 sq. km of VDF, 302sq. km of MDF and 609sq. km of OF.

Note: Area Figures are in sq. km. Zone-wise geographical area worked out on the basis of SRTM DEM.