Question

The union territories in India with maximum forest cover area is:
A) Chandigarh
B) Dadra and Nagar Haveli
C) Andaman & Nicobar
D) Delhi

Answer 1

Hint: The union territory has a recorded forest area of 86.93 percent with the maximum forest cover. India's Forest Survey 2019 study said that the forest cover in this union territory has increased by 0.78 sq. The Km. In the Central & Southern Islands of the Nicobar group, the evergreen woods are dominant. In the Andamans, wet deciduous forests are common.

Complete answer:
At the juncture of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India comprising 572 islands, 37 of which are inhabited, are a group of islands. The capital of the territory is the city of Port Blair. The islands' gross land area is roughly 8,249 km2.

All major islands sustain a rather luxuriant and rich vegetation owing to a tropical hot and humid climate with ample rains. According to the 2003 State of Forest Report released by the Forest Survey of India, 84.4 percent of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands' total geographic area is covered by forests. Of the total forest cover of the Andaman and NicobAR Islands, 42.1% is very dense forest, 34.1% is moderately dense forest, 8.2% is open forest and 9.6% is made up of mangroves.

The total area registered as forest (notified) is 7170.69 sq.km. 86.93 per cent of the geographical area of these islands.

Now let us look into the given options :
-As per ISFR-2017, the total green cover (forest cover + tree cover) of Chandigarh is only 57.56 sq.km. Option A is therefore an incorrect option.
-The UT's recorded forest area is 204 sq km which represents 41.55% of its geographical area. So,option B is wrong.
-Andaman and Nicobar Island are the Union Territories in India with highest forest cover. Option C is therefore the correct answer.
-Delhi's total forest cover is 195.44 sq km, which is 13.18 percent of the area of the National Capital Territory. Also, option D is not the correct answer.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘C’.

Note:
-There is a tropical rainforest canopy on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, made of a blended flora with elements from Indian, Myanmar, Malaysian and endemic floral strains.
-In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, about 50 varieties of forest mammals are found. Some, like the Andaman wild boar, are endemic.
-With 89 percent, Mizoram has the highest forest cover among the country's different states and territories of the Union.