The forest area under joint management of government and local communities has doubled from 7 million hectares in 1998 to 14 million hectares in 2002. This was stated by Union Minister for Environment and Forests T R Baalu during a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee. The village forest protection committees had also increased from 33,000 to 63,622, conserving and managing 19 per cent of country's forest cover, said an official release.