Wasteland Atlas of India Report

Perceptions towards wastelands changed post Ramsar Convention, 1971. Thereafter, these lands were considered of immense ecological importance. Government of India (Ministry of Rural Development), in association with Department of Space came up with Wasteland Atlas.

It projected statistics regarding wastelands and were as following –

• The total wastelands area of the country was observed to be 5, 57,665.51 sq. km. in 2015-16, while it was 5,66,070.36 sq. km. in 2008-09. This indicates a conversion of 8,404.86 sq. km. of different wastelands categories in the country to non-wastelands during 2008- 09 to 2015-16.
• Wastelands in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar lead the way in utilizing wasteland whereas states like Odisha, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Assam saw increase in wasteland areas.
• A reduction in wastelands was observed in the category of ‘Land with Dense Scrub’ followed by ‘Snow/Glacial Cover’ and ‘Sands-Semi Stabilized - 15- 40m’. ‘Barren Rocky/Stony waste’ and ‘Land with Open Scrub’ followed by ‘Under-utilized/Degraded Forest are the wastelands categories that indicated a marked increase from 2008-09 to 2015-16.