Guwahati: The latest India State of Forest Report has indicated a substantial decline in forest cover across the country between 2011 and 2021.
A concerning trend has been highlighted in the report as over 46,000 sq km of forest has turned into non-forest in last 10 years.
Arunachal Pradesh has recorded the most significant loss at 6,539 sq km, followed by Madhya Pradesh (5,353 sq km) and Maharashtra (4,052 sq km).
Among the southern states, Karnataka experienced a forest loss of 3328 sq km, ranking fourth after Telangana (4926 sq km) and Andhra Pradesh (5560 sq km).
“This is a matter of grave concern as these areas became non-forest from major forest, thereby minimizing the chances of revival,” ecologist Debadityo Sinha from Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy told Deccan Herald.
“Many of these areas are already home to some of the country’s most significant engineering projects — mines, highways, and strategic developments of national importance — and many are being planned or approved following the latest amendments to the to the Forest Conservation Act.”
As per the report, all the North Eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand lost a significant chunk of their dense forest.
“Dense forest becomes open forest or scrub because of disturbances such as illegal logging, grazing, or agricultural activities. But there are always chances of restoring the forest because some trees are still there. This might not be the case with non-forest areas,” Sinha said.
While the report does not specify the causes of forest conversion to non-forest land over the decade, it acknowledges that such areas may encompass agricultural land, settlements, water bodies, grasslands, snow-covered regions, and deserts.
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It describes three categories of forest degradation – (1) dense forest becomes open forest (2) open forests turn into scrubs and (3) scrubs end up as non-forest areas. Combining all the three, the total degradation is 92,989 sq km.
