NEW DELHI, March 31: Forest cover in the Northeastern states reduced by 1,020 sq km in 2021 compared to the area in 2019, with Meghalaya losing 73 sq km since 2019 mainly due to anthropogenic pressure and developmental activities, the central government told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Choubey said that as per the latest India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021, the forest cover of the NE region stood at 1,69,521 sq km the tree cover stood at 4,574 sq km.
The minister said the forest cover declined by 1,020 sq km from 2019 to 2021 while the tree cover increased by 365 sq km in 2021 in two years.
“The loss in forest cover in the Northeastern states may be attributed mainly to natural calamities, anthropogenic pressure, developmental activities and shifting cultivation practices,” Choubey said in a written reply to the question.
The maximum forest cover was lost in Arunachal Pradesh (257 sq km), followed by Manipur (249 sq km), Nagaland (235 sq km), Mizoram (186 sq km), Meghalaya (73 sq km), Assam (15 sq km), Tripura (4 sq km) and Sikkim (1 sq km).
Listing out the steps taken by the government to increase forest and tree cover in the country, the minister said the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) and Green India Mission (GIM) are being implemented by the environment ministry.
NAP, a centrally sponsored scheme for regeneration of degraded forest and adjoining areas in the country, has been merged with GIM.
GIM is one of the eight missions outlined under the National Action Plan on Climate Change. It aims at protecting, restoring, and enhancing India’s forest cover and responding to climate change by means of plantation activities in forest and non-forest areas, the minister said. (PTI)
