Missing the forest for the trees

The ISFR reports present lots of stats, but in this thread, I focus on the headline statistic: trends in India’s total forest cover over time. So, let’s go… here, in one graph, is a 35-year summary of the official line on India’s forest cover: from 1999, it has been nonstop good news. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*RXF14Mm7IaxH3odSbspJ-w.png" style="height:394px; width:700px" /> India’s forest cover declined until 1997, after which it rose an whopping 45,000 km² — an area greater in extent of Kerala state, or the country of Denmark — over the next three reports. Two key changes made in the 2001 assessment contributed to this: FSI adopted a fully digital analysis workflow, and it dramatically changed its definition of a forest (more on this soon). <a href="https://mdmadhusudan.medium.com/missing-the-forest-for-the-trees-37a94c13ab8c">Click Here</a>