NEW DELHI: According to data from the Government of India, five northeast states have the highest percentage of forest cover when compared to the entire geographical area of the country. According to the India State of Forest Report 2021, the top five states in terms of forest cover as a percentage of total geographical area are Mizoram (84.53 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (79.33 per cent), Meghalaya (76 per cent), Manipur (74.34 per cent), and Nagaland (73.90 per cent).
These states were in the top five in 2019, however there has been a modest drop this year. According to the current study, Madhya Pradesh has the country’s greatest forest cover, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Maharashtra in terms of area. Furthermore, forests cover more than 33% of the geographical area in at least 17 states/UTs. However, Andhra Pradesh (647 sq km), Telangana (632 sq km), and Odisha (632 sq km) have had the greatest growth in forest cover (537 sq km). Karnataka (1,025 sq km), Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km), and Kerala were the top three states with increased forest cover in 2019.