Forest cover in Northeastern states decrease, says government report

Manipur has suffered the highest loss of 499 sq km of forest cover, followed by Arunachal Pradesh which lost 276 sq km of forest cover.

The Indian State of Forest Report 2019 presents a gloomy picture for the Northeast as six states out of eight excluding Assam and Tripura witnessed total decrease of around 765 sq km of forest cover.

Six out of eight Northeastern states have lost around 765 sq km of forest cover. (Representative image/HT Photo)

The biennial Indian State of Forest Report 2019 was released by Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar in New Delhi on December 30.

The Northeast comprising Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,Sikkim and Tripura is endowed with rich forest resources and is among 17 biodiversity hotspots of the world.

The region with just 7.98 per cent of geographical area of the country accounts for nearly one fourth of its forest cover. One distinct character of the land use in the region is the prevalence of shifting cultivation in the hilly parts of almost all the states.

The slash and burn practice of agriculture is mainly responsible for fluctuation in the forest cover of this region, the report said.

The forest cover in Mizoram has decreased by 180 sq km while that in Meghalaya has decreased by 27 sq km.Forest cover in Nagaland has decreased by 3 sq km and it was followed by Sikkim with a decrease of 2 sq km.

Unlike above six NE states, the forest cover in Assam has increased by 222 sq km as compared to the previous assessment report of 2017, the report said.

According to the report, the total forest cover of India is 712,249 sq km which is 21.67 per cent of the geographical area of the country. This time the country’s forest and tree cover has increased by 5,188 sq km.

Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest cover area in India followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Chhatisgarh,Odisha and Maharashtra.

The top five states which have forest cover as per percentage of total geographical area are Mizoram (85%), Arunachal Pradesh (79%), Meghalaya (76%), Manipur (75.4%) and Nagaland (75.3%).