Annual Reports
Haryana is a small State in the Gangetic plains meeting Shivalik foothills in the North and Aravalli in the Southwest. Agriculture is the main land use of the State with 81% area under agriculture. The geographical area of the State is 44212 Sq. Km. which is about 1.3 % of the total geographical area of the country. It is an intensively cultivated State and deficient in natural forests. The total forest area of the State is spread over 1.75 lakh ha; classified into Reserved Forests, Protected Forests, Un-classed Forests, areas closed under Section 4&5 of Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900 and areas closed under Section 38 of Indian Forest Act, 1927. Majority of these forests comprise of man-made forest plantations on strips along roads, railway lines, canals, and bunds. The strip forests are notified as Protected Forests under the Indian Forest Act, 1927. Natural forests exist mainly in the Shivalik Hills in the districts of Panchkula, Ambala and Yamuna Nagar and in the Aravalli Hills districts of Gurugram, Mewat, Faridabad, Mahendergarh, Rewari and Bhiwani. They are very valuable in terms of bio-diversity conservation. To make up for the deficient Forest Cover, the state has developed plantations on forests lands, community lands and agro- forests on farmlands.
| Status of Forest Area | Block Forest Area(ha) | Strip Forest Area(ha) | Total Forest Area (ha) | Percentage % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reserved | 24914 | 0 | 24914 | 14 |
| Protected | 34739 | 83768 | 118507 | 67 |
| Unclassed | 1350 | 0 | 1350 | 1 |
| U/S 4&5 of PLPA | 29682 | 0 | 29682 | 17 |
| U/S 38 of IFA | 1353 | 0 | 1353 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 92038 | 83768 | 175806 | 100 |
| Percentage | 53 | 47 | 100 |
National Forest Policy, 1988 envisages having at least 33% of the total geographical area of the country under Forest and Tree Cover. The State of Haryana also formulated its own State Forest Policy in the year 2006 which aims at increasing the Forest and Tree Cover in the State to 20% in a phased manner.
Haryana having largely plain areas with nearly 81% land under agriculture, it is difficult to achieve the national goal of 33% of forest area. Only 3.96% area of the total geographical area of the State is recorded as forest land. However, the State has been successful in increasing the forest cover and tree cover by afforestation on Panchayat Lands, Common Lands and Institutional Lands as well as on private farmlands through agro-forestry and farm-forestry. India State of Forest Report 2017 published biennially by Forest Survey of India, Dehradun has assessed the Forest and Tree Cover in the State as 6.79% of the total geographical area.
During the year 2018-19, the State Forest Department carried out plantation on 8652.02 Ha. and 6929.11 RKM under different schemes funded by the State Government and Central Government. During the year, 1.34 Crore saplings were planted by the department against the plantation target of 1.37 Crore. The distribution of saplings was about 28% of the plantations carried out in the State. The expenditure under State Plan Schemes remained at Rs. 302.44 Crore.
Afforestation under Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) was an important activity. The State Authority CAMPA was reconstituted during the year under the provisions of Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016. The State Authority had proposed the plantation targets of 2391600 plants during the year 2018-19 against which 2189450 plants were planted.