Karnataka records 2nd highest growth in forest

Karnataka records India's second highest growth in forest cover in the last two years, signalling conservation success within and outside protected forests, says the latest India State of Forest Report released here on Monday.

In 2017, the state's overall forest cover stands at 37,550 sq km, which is more than 3% jump when compared to the 2015 figures. Another good news is a substantial increase in very dense cover.

Karnataka's forest cover rose by 1,101 sq km with the highest increase reported from Uttara Kannada (293 sq km) and Chikmagalur (264 sq km) districts.

Seven districts lost forest cover between 2015 and 2017 with Bangalore Rural (minus 136 sq km) and Kodagu (minus 102 sq km) recording the maximum loss.

On a national scale, there has been an increase of 6,778 sq km of forests and three states – Andhra Pradesh (2,141); Karnataka (1,101) and Kerala (1,043) - accounted for more than 63% rise.

If the increased forest cover figures of two more states - Odisha (885) and Telangana (565) - are added to the list, then these five states account for nearly 85% of India's forest cover rise in the last two years.

The big loss is reported from the Northeast where forest cover declined in every state barring Meghalaya and Assam. Overall there is a decrease of 630 sq km of forest.

"The loss is mainly due to the shift cultivation practice," said Saibal Dasgupta, director general of Forest Survey of India that prepared the biennial report.

As per the current assessment, India's total forest cover is 7,08,273 sq km, which is 21.54% of the country's geographical area. The tree cover is estimated to be 93,815 sq km, representing 2.85% of the area.

Taken together India's tree and forest cover is 8,02,088 sq km, which is 24.39% of the total area. Since 2015, the area under forest and tree cover rose by almost 1%.

Since the Forest Policy Resolution of May 12, 1952, in the first Five Year Plan, the national goal is to bring one-third of the country's land area under forest cover. The target was later modified to bring one-third of the area under tree and forest cover.

In 2017, Mangrove cover increased by 181 sq km as compared to the previous assessment. "Seven out of 12 mangrove growing states reported positive growth whereas the remaining five managed to maintain the previous level," said union environment and forest minister Harsh Vardhan. The three best performing states on mangrove growth are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.

The report also demonstrates an increase of water bodies within forests by 2,647 sq km in the last 10 years. Karnataka is one of the seven states, where the areas under water bodies jumped by more than 100 sq km between 2005 and 2015.