GUWAHATI: Assam has witnessed a decrease of over 83 square kilometers in its forest cover between 2021 and 2023, according to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023.
The state’s total forest and tree cover now stands at 30,415.01 sq km, down from previous figures.
The ISFR report, launched by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav, at the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun on Saturday, highlights a nationwide increase of 1,445 sq km in the total forest and tree cover.
In Assam, the total forest area spans 28,313.55 sq km, accounting for 36.10 percent of the state’s total area.
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The tree cover area is 10,718.28 sq km, contributing to the overall forest and tree cover.
However, the report indicates a net decrease of 83.92 sq km in the state’s forest and tree cover.
The ISFR categorises the state’s forest cover as follows: 4.07 percent under very dense forest (VDF), 12.45 percent under moderately dense forest (MDF), and 19.58 percent under open forest (OF).
Assam is among the top five states that have experienced the largest decrease in forest cover within the recorded forest area (RFA) and green wash (GW) category.
Tripura recorded the highest decrease at 116.90 sq km, followed by Telangana (105.87 sq km), Assam (86.66 sq km), Andhra Pradesh (83.47 sq km), and Gujarat (61.22 sq km).
Further details from the report show that between 2021 and 2023, the area under MDF inside RFA/GW in Assam decreased by 134.32 percent, while scrub areas saw a decline of 18.41 percent.
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On the other hand, the VDF increased by 43.63 percent, OF grew by 4.03 percent, and non-forest areas expanded by 105.07 percent.
Outside RFA/GW, VDF saw a slight decrease of 0.75 percent, and MDF dropped by 0.53 percent, while non-forest areas outside RFA/GW plummeted by 98.37 percent.
Conversely, open forest and scrub areas outside RFA/GW increased by 76.18 percent and 23.47 percent, respectively.
Nationally, India’s total forest and tree cover stands at 827,357 sq km, which is 25.17 percent of the country’s total geographical area.
This includes 715,343 sq km of forest cover (21.76 percent) and 112,014 sq km of tree cover (3.41 percent).
