India/Forests

Forest areas can be traced even from low resolution satellite imagery, and so locating all of the forest areas is possible with the available satellite imagery. The Ecological Restoration Alliance map provides an overview of the various ecoregions across the country.

Tagging

Tag wooded areas with natural=wood, natural=scrub or the appropriate natural=* tag.

If you are sure that the area belongs to a reserved/protected forest or community/village forest, then include an additional landuse=forest tag.

For protected areas like National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries and Reserve Forest boundaries, use boundary=protected_area + protect_class=*. The protect_class=* can be used to distinguish between these different types of protected areas.

Note: Agricultural areas may also look deceptively similar to wooded areas in low res imagery, however if you look closely you can see noisy patterns showing human activity.

NRSC LULC

The National Remote Sensing Center has released the Landuse/Lancover data for India at a scale of 1:1 million into the public domain. The dataset is available as a WMS server which can be loaded into [JOSM]

WMS URL:

http://applications.nrsc.gov.in:8080/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=/ms4w/apps/lulc/Mapfiles/lulc0708_LAN.map&version=1.1.1&service=WMS&request=GetCapabilities&layer=LULC%20of%20India&

Usage instructions: http://www.mail-archive.com/talk-in@openstreetmap.org/msg01449.html

Statistics (As of 12/2022)

State, or Union territory			Forest/Wood(km²)		Scrub(km²)
No	Code	Name	Official	OSM	Official	OSM
1	AP	Andhra Pradesh	29784	21509	8276	8216
2	AR	Arunachal Pradesh	66431	51812	797	37
3	AS	Assam	28312	39750	228	86
4	BR	Bihar	7381	4538	236	91
5	CT	Chhattisgarh	55717	31942	615	98
6	GA	Goa	2244	1790	0	17
7	GJ	Gujarat	14926	5141	2828	2538
8	HR	Haryana	1603	874	159	329
9	HP	Himachal Pradesh	15443	5664	322	6
10	JK	Jammu and Kashmir	21387	5233	284	0
11	JH	Jharkhand	23721	21776	584	49
12	KA	Karnataka	38730	16318	4611	3453
13	KL	Kerala	21253	5155	30	4
14	MP	Madhya Pradesh	77493	61181	5457	9630
15	MH	Maharashtra	50798	42401	4247	4746
16	MN	Manipur	16598	17345	12145	10
17	ML	Meghalaya	17046	3102	663	1
18	MZ	Mizoram	17820	4468	1	0
19	NL	Nagaland	12251	14000	824	8
20	OR	Odisha	52158	53811	4924	283
21	PB	Punjab	1847	883	34	6
22	RJ	Rajasthan	16655	9567	4809	12013
23	SK	Sikkim	3341	787	296	0
24	TN	Tamil Nadu	26419	18011	758	1302
25	TG	Telangana	21214	15341	2911	494
26	TR	Tripura	7722	5711	33	0
27	UP	Uttar Pradesh	14818	12075	563	3672
28	UK	Uttarakhand	24305	11447	392	389
29	WB	West Bengal	16832	4336	156	49
30	AN	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	6744	764	1	0
31	CH	Chandigarh	23	54	0	2
34	DL	Delhi	195	35	0	6
36	LA	Ladakh	2272	5	279	14
37	PU	Puducherry	53	12	0	15

Data Source: https://fsi.nic.in/isfr-2021/chapter-13.pdf

References

• Forest Survey of India
• Tiger Reserves - FSI
• [http://www.indiatravelplus.com/wildlife/wildlife-maps-india.html Wildlife maps of India (rough overview)