13 million hectares of forest land was diverted for non forest purposes each year between 2000 and 2010 according to the World Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) Report (also see 550 years, published Oct'10).

This piece is about the value of the forest resources.

Determining the value of Indian forests was a long drawn process, a Supreme Court referred committee estimates, which were to be vetted by the Central Govt. established committee.

The Central Empowered Committee placed a value of Rs 8 lakhs on a hectare of average forest land. More productive or more dense lands have a higher value, 8 lakhs scaled up by factor based on ‘judgment’. The process needless to say is non transparent and needs revision.

According to the FRA, revenue derived from forests is close to world average. Also, the value of fuel and wood products from Indian forests is relatively higher in India as compared to other countries.

The chart below shows per hectare forest revenue collected by country (2005, progressively darker implies a higher revenue, Source: FRA)