Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh has lost an estimated 549 square kilometres of forest cover between 2021 and 2023, with the total area under forest cover in the state now at 65,881.57 sq kms (78.67 per cent), according to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023. The state’s total forest cover in 2021 was estimated at 66,431 sq kms (79.33 per cent).
Union Environment, Forest & Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav launched the report at the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun on Saturday last.
Arunachal is among five states which have shown significant losses of forest cover outside the recorded forest area (RFA).
Madhya Pradesh has lost the highest 344.77 sq kms, followed by Rajasthan (110.65 sq kms), Andhra Pradesh (55.19 sq kms), Arunachal (45.32 sq kms) and Maharashtra (41.07 sq kms).
Area-wise top three states having the largest forest and tree cover are Madhya Pradesh (85,724 sq kms), followed by Arunachal (67,083 sq kms) and Maharashtra (65,383 sq kms).
As per the report, 25.06 percent (20,985.32 sq kms) area of the state’s forest cover is under very dense forest, 35.36 percent (29,615.09 sq kms) under moderately dense forest and 18.25 percent (15,281.16 1 sq kms) under open forest.
According to the report, India’s total forest and tree cover rose by 1,445 sq kms since 2021, reaching 25.17 percent of the total geographical area in 2023, according to the latest government data.
The forest cover grew by just 156 sq kms while tree cover expanded by 1,289 sq kms. Most of the gain in forest cover (149 sq kms) occurred outside the RFA, which refers to areas designated as forests in government records.
According to the report, India experienced degradation of around 93,000 sq kms of forests between 2011 and 2021.
For ISFR 2023, the government included bamboo and trees with a diameter of 5-10 centimetres at breast height in the tree cover estimates. It expanded the assessment to 751 districts compared to 636 in 2021.
Together, the forest and tree cover now stands at 8,27,357 (8.27 lakh) sq kms or 25.17 percent of India’s geographical area. The forest cover alone increased by a mere 156.47 square kilometres from 2021 to 2023, reaching 7,15,343 (7.15 lakh) sq kms (21.76 percent of geographical area).
The tree cover increased by 1,289 sq kms and now constitutes 3.41 percent of the country’s geographical area, the report said.
Chhattisgarh recorded the highest increase in forest and tree cover, with a gain of 683.62 square kilometres, followed by Uttar Pradesh (559.19 square kilometres), Odisha (558.57 square kilometres) and Rajasthan (394.46 square kilometres).
The largest declines were observed in Madhya Pradesh (612.41 square kilometres), Karnataka (459.36 square kilometres), Ladakh (159.26 square kilometres) and Nagaland (125.22 square kilometres), respectively.
