Agartala: While Forest Survey of India (FSI) Report 2009 showed a steady increase of forest cover in the North-East states, the latest report of FSI revealed that the region has lost about 549 sqkm green cover over the years.
FSI Report 2011 stated that Tripura alone had degraded about 96 sqkm of forest cover.
The report, however, blamed shifting cultivation (Jhuming), slash and burn method of production in hilly parts of the region for degradation of natural forest and stated, “The main reasons behind the decrease is the biotic pressure on forest and shifting cultivation.’
The forest cover in Tripura, based on interpretation of satellite imagery in January 2009 was 7,977 sqkm, which was recorded 76.04 per cent of the state’s total geography.
In terms of forest canopy density classes, Tripura had 109 sqkm areas under very dense forests, 4,686 sqkm area under moderately dense forests and 3,182 sq km area under open forests, FSI report 2011 said.
The total forest cover in the region is 173,219 square km, which is 66.07 per cent of its geographical area in comparison to the national forest cover of 21.05 per cent, the report attributed.
The report highlighted Manipur and Nagaland had lost the highest forest cover of 190 sqkm and 146 sqkm, respectively, while Sikkim has managed to keep its green cover intact in terms of it’s last biannial assessment.
Mizoram has the largest area of 90.68 per cent green covers, followed by Arunachal Pradesh 80.50 per cent; Nagaland 80.33 per cent while Meghalaya has lost 46 sqkm of forest cover at 77.02 per cent.
The northeastern region constitutes only 7.98 per cent of the geographical area of the country, but accounts for nearly one-fourth of its forest cover because of its biodiversity richness; the Northeast has been identified as one of the 18 biodiversity hot spots of the world.
In comparison to 2009 assessment, there is a decrease of 367 sqkm in country’s forest cover. At least 15 states have registered aggregate increase of 500 sq km of forest cover, with Punjab leading with an increase of 100 sqkm.
FSI report 2009 came in the wake of allegation of deforestation due to developmental activities coupled with increase of population and continuous practice of Jhuming by the indigenous population in northeastern India.
According to 2009 report, based on the biennial assessment, the total forest cover of northeast had increased by 598 sqkm between 2005 and 2007 while the forest cover in the region had recorded at 170423 sqkm in 2007 with an annual growth of 299 sqkm.
In order to regenerate the forest cover and degraded forests in the northeastern region, MoEF had approved as many as 141 projects in the northeastern states till last year under National Afforestation Programme (NAP) since it’s inception.
The report, however, pointed out that as per the assessment, the forest cover in Tripura had been recorded at 76.9 per cent in 2009 against the record of 56.7 per cent in 1987 followed by Arunachal Pradesh at 80.4 per cent against 76.6 percent and Meghalaya at 77.2 per cent against 73.4 per cent.
Mizoram had recorded 91.3 per cent reduction in forest cover against 90.5 per cent and 35.3 per cent was recorded against 32.1 per cent in Assam over the period, the FSI report said, adding under NAP, an amount of 345.62 crore was released for treating 1.73 lakh hectares in 2008-09 but the fund was reduced to Rs 318.17 crore for treatment of an area of 1.03 lakh hectare. (UNI)