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| Green on Paper, But How Healthy? Rethinking Forest Data in India | | | Dr Vijay Garg | 4/22/2026 11:08:23 PM |
| India often celebrates its rising forest cover, citing encouraging statistics in national and global reports. With forests and tree cover together accounting for nearly a quarter of the country’s land area and steady gains in global rankings, the narrative appears positive and reassuring. Yet, beneath these numbers lies a deeper and more complex reality: measuring forests merely by area and numerical growth is no longer sufficient to understand their true ecological health.
The dominant metric in India’s forest discourse has been “forest cover”—a satellite-based estimate of land under tree canopy. While useful, this measure often blurs critical distinctions between natural forests, plantations, and scattered trees outside forests. A monoculture plantation of eucalyptus may count the same as a biodiverse rainforest, despite vast differences in ecological value. This limitation raises an important question: are we measuring forests, or simply counting trees?
Recent findings indicate that while overall forest cover has increased modestly over the past decade, the growth has been uneven. In some cases, dense natural forests have declined even as total green cover rises, often due to compensatory afforestation or expansion of plantations. Such trends highlight the inadequacy of relying solely on quantitative expansion without assessing forest quality. Another critical dimension often overlooked is biodiversity. India is one of the world’s most biodiverse countries, yet current forest metrics rarely capture species richness, ecosystem complexity, or habitat integrity. A forest rich in native flora and fauna provides irreplaceable ecological services—pollination, water regulation, and climate resilience—that cannot be replicated by uniform plantations. Ignoring biodiversity in forest assessment risks undervaluing the very essence of what makes forests ecologically significant. Carbon storage has emerged as a key metric in recent years, especially in the context of climate change. India’s forests play a vital role as carbon sinks, with increasing carbon stock observed in recent assessments. However, even this metric has its limitations. Rising temperatures and climate stress have begun to affect the productivity of forests, with some studies showing declining net primary productivity despite apparent “greening.” This suggests that greener landscapes do not necessarily translate into healthier or more resilient ecosystems. Economic valuation of forests also needs a broader perspective. Traditionally, forests have been valued for timber and non-timber forest products. However, newer studies emphasize the immense economic worth of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, flood control, and soil conservation—often exceeding the short-term gains from deforestation. Yet, these services remain underrepresented in policy and accounting frameworks. Moreover, current metrics often fail to capture regional variations and local realities. Forests in the Northeast, Western Ghats, and Himalayan regions differ vastly in structure, function, and vulnerability. A uniform national metric cannot adequately reflect these differences. Policymaking based on aggregated data risks overlooking critical ecological hotspots and local conservation needs. The way forward lies in developing multidimensional forest metrics. Instead of focusing solely on “how much forest we have,” India must ask “what kind of forests we have” and “how well they function.” This requires integrating indicators such as biodiversity indices, forest density quality, carbon dynamics, ecosystem services, and community dependence. Technological advancements offer promising solutions. Remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and ground-based ecological surveys can together provide more nuanced and accurate forest assessments. Combining scientific data with indigenous knowledge can further enrich our understanding of forest ecosystems. In conclusion, India’s forest story cannot be told through numbers alone. While increasing forest cover is important, it is not enough. The real challenge lies in preserving the quality, diversity, and resilience of forests in the face of climate change and developmental pressures. Moving beyond cover and counts is not just a scientific necessity—it is an ecological imperative for a sustainable future.
Author is a Retired Principal Educational columnist Eminent Educationist street kour Chand MHR Malout Punjab
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