Worrying Depletion in Dense Forest Cover

46,707 sq km of canopy density degraded from very dense forest, moderate dense forest and open forest to non-forest inside the recorded forest area, as per the India State of Forest Report, 2023

- JITENDRA CHOUBEY @New Delhi

The government may take comfort in the net increase in forest and tree cover in the country, but it primarily is due to the rise in coverage outside traditional forests. Significantly, wide swathes of the dense natural forests in biodiverse regions like the Western Ghats and the Northeast besides mangroves and others have either been degraded or diverted for non-forest purposes.

Data shows that the overall accretion to the nation's natural forest is only over 7 sq km. At the same time, it added 149 sq km of forest cover outside the natural forest in the past two years.

The 18th biennial assessment of India's forests, ISFR 2023, by the Forest Survey of India, reveals a major drop in the country's dense natural forests. Within the Recorded Forest Area (RFA), the country lost over 1,200 sq km of Mid-Dense Forest (MDF) and an equal area of Open Forest (OF). However, it has added over 2,400 sq km of Very Dense Forest. Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Gujarat are among the states that lost their dense natural forests in RFA. (see Table 1)

Outside the recorded forest area, India lost around 64 sq km of Dense Forest and over 416 sq km of Mid-Dense Forest. Gujarat and Bihar added most forests outside the natural forest areas. (see Table 2)

The report attributes the negative changes in forest coverage in RFA and non-RFA areas to human encroachments, natural calamities like storms, floods and landslides, harvesting of short rotation plantations or other forms of logging, and finally, titles given to beneficiaries under the Forest Rights Act 2006.

Degradation of dense forest

Data shows that around 93,000 sq km of recorded forest areas have degraded into Open Forest (OF), Scrub and Non-Forest (NF) between 2011 and 2021. As a result, the country's total carbon sequestration potential came down by 636.50 million tonnes. Open Forest, Scrub and Non-Forest areas are part of the degraded categories of forests.