Shimla, June 19 (IANS) Himachal Pradesh’s primary forest bio-resources hold a cumulative annual value of Rs 22,600 crore. This natural capital can revitalise the state’s fiscal health and rural employment landscape while adhering to national climate commitments, says a report.

The report, “Counting Green Wealth, Towards a Future-Ready People’s Forest Economy in Himachal Pradesh”, shared with the media on Friday, has been compiled jointly by the state Forest Department and the Bharti Institute of Public Policy. Approximately 68 per cent of the state’s geographical area is legally classified as area under forest, reflecting an unusually high concentration of natural capital within a relatively small mountain economy. Recent assessments based on Forest Survey of India data indicate that forest cover increased from about 14,353 sq km in 2003 to approximately 15,580 sq km in 2023, raising the share of forest cover from 25.7 to around 28 per cent of the state’s geographical area.

Tree cover has also increased to about 855 sq km, or roughly 1.5 per cent of the state’s area. Forests in Himachal Pradesh store an estimated 258 million tons of carbon across biomass and soil pools, making the state a significant contributor to India’s terrestrial carbon sink and a critical actor in national climate mitigation.

India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) commits the country to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3.0 billion tons of CO2 equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030, alongside the long-term national commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070.

Himachal’s forest carbon stock, increasing forest and tree cover, and emerging climate-linked forest programmes, including the state-supported biochar initiative using pine needles, invasive lantana, bamboo and other biomass residues, position the state as a potential national demonstrator for climate-positive forest economy pathways.

A scientifically credible carbon strategy, however, requires more than aggregate forest-cover statistics. It requires species-level inventories, above-ground biomass monitoring, spatially explicit carbon accounting, and uncertainty-informed systems for monitoring, reporting and verification, says the report.

The study says the success of the biochar and biofuel initiatives proves that problematic biomass can be converted into high-value industrial feedstocks, meeting India’s 2030 NDC targets and multiple SDGs. The successful campaign proves that frontline forest staff are critical co-producers of the state’s intelligence layer, ensuring long-term institutional ownership and adaptive learning.

This report is an important step in building the data and analytical foundation needed to unlock the state’s forest economy and climate potential.

Drawing on a large-scale field effort involving over 500 forest guards and nearly 200,000 geo-tagged observations, it integrates ground data with satellite imagery to develop AI and machine learning models for species mapping, biomass estimation, and forest resource assessment.

–IANS

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