Shirur, Wayanad disasters a wake-up call to adopt climate-resilient lifestyle

HE Forest Survey of India's biannual report-2023 was released only a few days ago. The forest cover of the state has increased by 147.70 sqkm, including 93.14 sqkm inside the recorded forests. However, it has suffered a loss of 607.06 sqkm of tree cover, bringing up the net loss to 459.36 sqkm.

- B K SINGH

The report further added that eco-sensitive zones of the Western Ghats have lost 58 sqkm of forest cover in ten years.

The state has been aggressively pursuing growing trees on private holdings as well as community lands. However, the state's dismal performance in agroforestry tree cover is a matter of concern and is a red-flag for the government to step up efforts for increasing the cover.

Despite the state taking up large-scale plantations, the increase in forest cover is meagre and there are questions over the survival percentage of plantations. It only indicates that either the plantations are failing or illegal cutting of trees is continuing.

Right from 2017 onwards, the entire Western Ghats experienced heavy downpour for a few days, followed by long spells of drought. Whenever the conditions are favorable, there are heavy downpours, sometimes even up to 400 mm in 72 hours, causing flash floods and landslides.