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)

550 Years!

The annual average rate of gross deforestation is a little under 3.5 bn metric tonnes (2005-2009). India is responsible for ~10% of this. USA and China for another 11% and 9% respectively.

Following table: Percent share of countries (top 50%) in gross 3.3 bln mtrc tn deforestation in 2009:

The forest cover has depleted at a much higher rate of over 85,000 Sq Km between 1990-2000. This has moderated to close to 70,000-75,000 Sq Km in recent years. Nevertheless the rate is not innocuous. It is not just deforestation that contributes to green house effect and climate change, the effect is compounded also by the derived wood fuel that is burnt.

At this celerity, the forest land will completely disappear in ~550 years!!