An official report 'India State of Forest Report 2009' released in New Delhi on Monday by the Minister for Forests and Environment Jairam Ramesh shows that India's green cover during the period 1997-2007 had grown by 3.13 million hectares.It is based on the work done by the Forest Survey of India

According to the official report, India's net addition is 0.3 million hectares per year. Whereas for Brazil and Indonesia there has been a net loses 2.5 million hectares in the same time period.

Broadly, about 34 per cent of the country's forests fall in the tropical moist deciduous category, 30 per cent in the tropical dry deciduous, 11 per cent in Himalayan temperate, nine per cent in the tropical wet evergreen category, 6 per cent in subtropical pine and about 5 per cent in the tropical thorn category, says the report.

Moreover, for the first time, India's forests have been mapped into 16 forest type groups and forest and tree cover has been estimated with due consideration to altitudinal levels.

One of the Key finding of the report indicates that India seemed to be doing well in protecting its dense forests, but lagged behind where moderately forest areas are concerned. So, it is a matter of concern as our large forest area is under moderately forest area.