Stress on district councils to protect forests

SHILLONG: Meghalaya’s loss of 0.1 per cent of its forest cover in two years may not be alarming, but it calls for precautionary measures.
S M Sahai, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (CC, R & T), said that the quantum of loss was not a major concern.
“We, however, have to plug gaps and since most of the forest areas fall under district councils, they need to be sensitised as well for the protection of forests,” he said.
It may be mentioned that about 95 per cent of the forests is managed by the district councils in the state.
According to Sahai, even if there is diversion of forest for development purpose, the department has a mechanism of compensation through compensatory afforestation. The India State of Forest Report, 2019 released last month, had said that Meghalaya has 17,119 sq km of forest and it has declined by 27 sq km since 2017 when the report was released last.
The forest cover in the North East marked a decline of 765 sq km compared to 2017.
“Except Assam and Tripura, all the states in the region show decrease in forest cover,” the report said.
The report noted that total forest cover in the North East is 170,541 sq km which is 65.05 per cent of its geographical area.
Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar too downplayed the decline of forest cover in the North East saying 70-80 per cent of the land is under forest cover and the decrease is mainly because of shifting cultivation. “We will make a focused attempt for the Northeast region as well,” said Javadekar.