INDIA HAS increased its forest cover by an area roughly twice the size of Delhi in the past two years, suggests the India State of Forest Report 2021, released on January 13, 2022, by the Forest Survey of India (FSI). As a result the country’s forest and tree cover has risen to 809,537 sq km or 24.62 per cent of total land area. While releasing the report, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav claimed that his government has not only increased the forest cover but qualitatively enriched it. A closer look at the report’s findings, though, suggests that there is not much to celebrate.
First, this marginal increase still falls far short of what is needed to meet national and global targets. According to the National Forest Policy, 1988, the country must have 33 per cent of its geographical area under forest and tree cover. The same has been listed as an indicator under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life on land) as well as the “Strategy for New India@75” released by government think tank NITI Aayog in December 2018, with 2030 as the deadline. In fact, an analysis of forest and tree cover trends from 1987, when the first FSI report was released, to 2021 shows that in 34 years, the cover as share of its geographical area has risen by just 5 percentage points.
Progress in 2011-21 has been awfully slow at just 0.81 percentage points (see 'Marginal rise'). As per the 2021 report, only 17 states and Union Territories have forests covering more than 33 per cent of their geographical area, of which five have over 75 per cent.
Esta historia es de la edición February 01, 2022 de Down To Earth.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición February 01, 2022 de Down To Earth.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Trade On Emissions
EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, a tariff on imports, is designed to protect European industries in the guise of climate action.
'The project will facilitate physical and cultural decimation of indigenous people'
The Great Nicobar Project has all the hallmarks of a disaster-seismic, ecological, human. Why did it get the go-ahead?
TASTE IT RED
Popularity of Karnataka's red jackfruit shows how biodiversity can be conserved by ensuring that communities benefit from it
MANY MYTHS OF CHIPKO
Misconceptions about the Chipko movement have overshadowed its true objectives.
The politics and economics of mpox
Africa's mpox epidemic stems from delayed responses, neglect of its health risks and the stark vaccine apartheid
Emerging risks
Even as the world gets set to eliminate substances threatening the ozone layer, climate change and space advancement pose new challenges.
JOINING THE CARBON CLUB
India's carbon market will soon be a reality, but will it fulfil its aim of reducing emissions? A report by PARTH KUMAR and MANAS AGRAWAL
Turn a new leaf
Scientists join hands to predict climate future of India's tropical forests
Festering troubles
The Democratic Republic of Congo struggles to contain mpox amid vaccine delays, conflict and fragile healthcare.
India sees unusual monsoon patterns
THE 2024 southwest monsoon has, between June 1 and September 1, led to excess rainfall in western and southern states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, while others like Nagaland, Manipur and Punjab recorded a deficit.