Status, Trends and Valuation Methodologies of Forestry Sector in India

One of the crucial links of ecosystem is forest and its resources. Apart from producing direct use values, it provides several environmental benefits like pollution control, carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, micro climate regulations etc. Forests are still an almost neglected sector and are consistently undervalued in economic and social terms. Though the area under forest cover has increased, India is still far from its target. Due to different peculiar characteristics, we are not able to valuate forest resources by traditional method of valuation. There is a need to proper insight into forest cover and its valuation methodologies. Through this article, we have tried to estimate the growth pattern, status and trends in India’s forest cover along with its method of valuation.