Forest Survey of India - Introduction, Objectives & Major Activities

The Forest Survey of India (FSI) is the chief organisation for surveying forest cover in the country. FSI reports are important from the point of view of environment and ecology in the UPSC exam. In this article, you can read all about the basic introduction of Forest Survey of India, its objectives, and activities.

For details on the Civil Service Exam conducted by UPSC, candidates can visit the link IAS Exam.

Forest Survey of India – Introduction

1. FSI is a national organisation responsible for the assessment and monitoring of the forest resources of India regularly.
2. It functions under the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
3. It is headquartered in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
4. It was founded in 1981.
5. FSI is one of the major national survey organisations in India.
6. The organisation’s precursor was the ‘Pre-investment Survey of Forest Resources’ (PISFR), a project started in 1965 with aid from UNDP and FAO.

Forest Survey of India – Objectives

1. Preparing the State of Forest Report biennially (once every two years). The report gives an assessment of the latest forest cover in India, and the changes thereof.
2. Conducting inventory in forest and non-forest areas and developing a database on forest tree resources.
3. Acting as a nodal agency for collecting, compiling, storing and disseminating spatial database on forest resources.
4. Conducting training in the fields of technologies connected with forest survey such as GIS, remote sensing, etc. for forestry personnel.
5. Preparing thematic maps on a scale of 1:50000 using aerial photography.
6. Strengthening R&D infrastructure in FSI and researching applied forest survey techniques.
7. Undertaking forestry-related special studies or consultancies and specialised training courses.
8. Supporting the forest departments of states and UTs in survey, mapping as well as inventory.
9. Creating the Reports on Inventory and Wood Consumption Studies, which give data on growing stock, status of regeneration, incidence of grazing, the incidence of fire, etc. for specific forest and non-forest areas. Such reports are frequently used by the state forest departments.

Forest Survey of India – Major Activities

In this section, we list out the major activities of the organisation as given on their official website.

1. Forest Cover Assessment
2. Inventory of Forest areas
3. Inventory of Trees Outside Forests (Rural & Urban)
4. Inventory data processing
5. Methodology Design
6. Training and Extension
7. Projects and Consultancies

The FSI uses satellite data for mapping the forest cover in the country.

The above details would help candidates prepare for UPSC 2023.

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