For the assessment of the forest cover of the country, only that area that is vegetated with predominantly native species of trees can be treated as forests. Such species are, however, slightly different in the tropical and wet-dry regions of India.
The forest area is the area notified and recorded as the forest land irrespective of the existence of trees, while the actual forest cover in the area is occupied by forests with canopy.
According to the India State of Forest Report 2011, the actual forest cover in India is only 21.05 percent. Lakshadweep has zero percent forest area; Andaman and Nicobar Islands have 86.93 percent.
Most of the states with less than 10 percent of the forest area lie in the north and northwestern part of the country. These are Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.
There are 15 states where the forest cover is more than one-third of the total area, which is the basic requirement for maintaining the ecological balance.
