Daily Current Capsules - 31^st December 2019

Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Total Forest and Tree Cover rises to 24.56 percent of the total geographical area of the Country

Relevance IN - Prelims (about India State of Forest Report (ISFR) and its findings) + Mains (GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar released the biennial "India State of Forest Report (ISFR)", in New Delhi.

Know! more about the report findings

• The report is published by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) which has been mandated to assess the forest and tree resources of the country including wall-to-wall forest cover mapping in a biennial cycle.
• Starting 1987, 16 assessment have been completed so far. ISFR 2019 is the 16th report in the series.
• The total forest and tree cover of the country is 80.73 million hectare which is 24.56 percent of the geographical area of the country.
• As compared to the assessment of 2017, there is an increase of 5,188 sq. km in the total forest and tree cover of the country.
• Out of this, the increase in the forest cover has been observed as 3,976 sq km and that in tree cover is 1,212 sq. km
• Range increase in forest cover has been observed in open forest followed by very dense forest and moderately dense forest and the top three states showing increase in forest cover are Karnataka (1,025 sq. km) followed by Andhra Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km).

Know! Some Major Findings

• Area-wise Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover in the country followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
• In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, the top five States are Mizoram (85.41%), Arunachal Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (75.46%) and Nagaland (75.31%).
  
  

Mangrove Cover

• Mangrove cover has been separately reported in the ISFR 2019 and the total mangrove cover in the country is 4,975 sq km.
• An increase of 54 sq Km in mangrove cover has been observed as compared to the previous assessment of 2017.
• Top three states showing mangrove cover increase are Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16 sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km).

Bamboo

• The extent of bamboo bearing area of the country has been estimated 16.00 million hectare.
• There is an increase of 0.32 million hectare in bamboo bearing area as compared to the last assessment of ISFR 2017.
• The total estimated green weight of bamboo culms is 278 million tonnes, slowly an increase of 88 million tonnes as compared to ISFR 2017.

Wetlands

• Wetlands within forest areas form important ecosystems and add richness to the biodiversity in forest areas, both of faunal and floral species.
• Due to importance of wetlands, FSI has carried out an exercise at the national level to identify wetlands of more than 1 ha within RFA.
• There are 62,466 wetlands covering 3.8% of the area within the RFA/GW of the country.

Know! the METHODOLOGY of ISFR 2019

• FSI's assessment is largely based on digital data whether it is satellite data, vector boundaries of districts or data processing of field measurements.
• The report provides information on forest cover, tree cover, mangrove cover, growing stock inside and outside the forest areas, carbon stock in India's forests
• The biennial assessment of forest cover of the country using mid-resolution Satellite data is based on interpretation of LISS-III data from Indian Remote Sensing satellite data (Resourcesat-II)
• Satellite data for the entire country was procured from NRSC for the period October, 2017 - February, 2018.
• The satellite data interpretation is followed by rigorous ground truthing. Information from other collateral sources are also used to improve the accuracy of the interpreted image.
• For the first time, Ortho-rectified satellite data has been used for forest cover mapping due to its better positional accuracy as it removes effects of image perspective (tilt) and relief (terrain) and scale distortions in the image to represent features in its true positions for accurate measurement of distances, angels and areas.

Champion & Seth Classification and Shanon Wienner Index

• FSI, in a first ever attempt has carried out a rapid assessment of biodiversity for all the States and UTs (except two) and for all the sixteen Forest Type Groups as per Champion & Seth Classification (1968).
• Apart from the number of tree, shrub and herb species as observed in the survey, Shanon Wienner Index which gives species richness along with the relative abundance, has also been calculated for each forest type groups in each State & UT.
• FSI has carried out mapping of forest types of India as per the Champion & Seth Classification (1968), for the first time in the year 2011 based on the base line forest cover data of 2005.
• A new exercise for refining and updating the forest type maps as per the latest baseline forest cover was initiated in the year 2016 and has been completed in 2019.

Other Highlights

• The accuracy level achieved in the current assessment is the highest amongst all the previous assessments.
• The accuracy of forest cover classification has been assessed 93.17% .The accuracy of classification between forest and non-forest classes has been assessed 97.20%.
• A study to assess the dependence of the people living in close proximity to forests for their day to day needs has been presented in the report.
• The present report also gives information on the fire prone forest areas of different severity classes, mapped in the grids of 5km x 5km

Prelims Factoids
DGCA launches Phase-1 services of e-GCA

Relevance IN - Prelims (about eGCA PROJECT)
What's the NEWS

• Phase-1 services of the e-Governance (eGCA) project of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation
• With this launch, the issue of Commercial Pilot License (CPL-A) with Flight Radio Telephony Operators License (FRTOL) and Instrument Rating has been automated.

Know! more about eGCA project

• Rolling out the CPL-A in automated form would help in expediting the process of issue of these licenses and would do away with manual handling and processing of applications. With this roll out almost seven hundred aspirant pilots would be benefited every year.
• The eGCA project is being implemented with TCS as Service Provider and PWC as Project Management Consultant.
• The project has been conceptualized for automation of the processes and functions of DGCA.
• The project would enhance the efficiency of the various services provided by the DGCA and would ensure transparency and accountability in all DGCA functions.
• The eGCA project is expected to be completed by the end of year 2020.

NITI Aayog
NITI Aayog Releases SDG India Index and Dashboard 2019

 
Relevance IN -Prelims(about SDG India Index 2019) + Mains ( GS II Social issues Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

What's the NEWS

• NITI Aayog today released the second edition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index, which comprehensively documents the progress made by India's States and Union Territories towards achieving the 2030 SDG targets.

Know! more about SDG India Index

• The SDG India Index-which has been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), United Nations in India, and Global Green Growth Institute-was launched by NITI Aayog

Objective

• The government will not leave any stone unturned to make sure India achieves Agenda 2030.
• NITI Aayog has committed itself to building capacities and monitoring progress at the state level.
• Close coordination with the states over the next 5 years will further accelerate SDG localization and ensure greater improvement.'
• In 2020, the world enters the final decade for achieving the SDGs-the ‘Decade for Action'. And the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change tells us that we have 12 years left to save the planet from the worst effects of climate change.
• So, the time to act is now. The SDG India Index 2.0 and the dashboard enables India to both track and encourage accelerated progress to meet the SDGs across all its States and Union Territories

Know! the performance of States/UT (so far)

• India's composite score has improved from 57 in 2018 to 60 in 2019, thereby showing noticeable progress.
• The maximum gains been made in Goals 6 (clean water and sanitation), 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure) and 7 (affordable and clean energy).
• All three states that were in the ‘Aspirant' category (with score/s in the range of 0-49)-Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam-have graduated to the ‘Performer' category (50-64).
• Five states-Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Goa, and Sikkim-moved up from the ‘Performer' category to the ‘Front Runner' category (65-99).
• Kerala achieved the first rank in the composite SDG Index with a score of 70, followed by Himachal Pradesh at 69.
• Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu ranked at the third position with the score of 67.
• The biggest improvers since 2018 are UP (which has moved from the 29th position to the 23^rd), Orissa (23^rd to 15^th), and Sikkim (15^th to 7^th).
• While Bihar improved its score from 48 in 2018 to 50 in 2019, it still has a long way to go in achieving the targets.

Know! more about SDG India Index

• The SDG India Index 2019 tracks progress of all States and UTs on 100 indicators drawn from the MoSPI's National Indicator Framework (NIF).
• The process of selection of these indicators included multiple consultations with Union ministries/departments and States/UTs.
• The SDG India Index 2019 is more robust than the first edition on account of wider coverage of goals, targets, and indicators with greater alignment with the NIF.
• The Index spans 16 out of 17 SDGs with a qualitative assessment on Goal 17.
• This marks an improvement over the 2018 Index, which covered only 13 goals.
• A composite score was computed in the range of 0-100 for each State/UT based on its aggregate performance across 16 SDGs, indicating the average performance of every State/UT towards achieving 16 SDGs and their respective targets.
• If a State/UT achieves a score of 100, it signifies it has achieved the 2030 national targets. The higher the score of a State/UT, the closer it is towards achieving the targets.

Classification criteria based on SDG India Index score is as follows:

1. Aspirant: 0-49
2. Performer: 50-64
3. Front Runner: 65-99
4. Achiever: 100

• NITI Aayog has the twin mandate to oversee the implementation of SDGs in the country and promote competitive and cooperative federalism among States and UTs.
  
  

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