Global Forest Watch monitoring project

Tree cover loss in India has reached alarming levels according to the Global Forest Watch monitoring project.

Overview of Tree Cover Loss in India

• India has witnessed a loss of 2.33 million hectares of tree cover from 2000 to 2023, marking a 6% decrease.
• There has been a significant decrease in humid primary forests, amounting to 414,000 hectares (4.1%) from 2002 to 2023, accounting for 18% of total tree cover loss during this period.

Carbon Dynamics and Forest Role

• Forest loss contributes to climate change by reducing forests’ ability to absorb carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas.
• When forests are cleared or degraded, they release stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, worsening global warming.
• Between 2001 and 2022, forests in India emitted an average of 51 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually but absorbed 141 million tons, resulting in a net carbon sink of 89.9 million tons per year.
• Loss of tree cover has contributed to 1.12 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over the noted period.

Types of Tree Cover Loss:

• Tree cover loss includes both human-caused activities such as deforestation, logging, and land clearance, as well as natural disturbances like fires, diseases, and storms.
• Deforestation accounted for 3.3% of tree cover loss from 2001 to 2022.
• Climate change exacerbates extreme heat, leading to an increase in wildfires and loss of tree cover.

Geographical and Temporal Distribution

• The highest annual losses were recorded in 2017 (189,000 hectares), 2016 (175,000 hectares), and 2023 (144,000 hectares).
• Five states – Assam, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Manipur – accounted for 60% of the tree cover loss from 2001 to 2023, with Assam leading at 324,000 hectares.
• Lakshadweep has the highest proportion of plantation area, comprising 76% of its total land.

Fire-Related Losses

• From 2002 to 2022, fires led to 35,900 hectares of tree cover loss, with 2008 seeing the highest annual loss due to fires (3,000 hectares).
• Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Assam, and Meghalaya were among the states with significant tree cover loss due to fires.
• Odisha experienced the highest rate of tree cover loss due to fires, with an average of 238 hectares lost annually.

International Context

• According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, India had the second-highest rate of deforestation globally between 2015 and 2020, averaging 668,000 hectares per year.

Tree cover vs Forest cover:

• Tree cover refers to the total area of land that is covered by trees, regardless of whether or not the trees are part of a forest ecosystem.
  • It refers to an estimated area that includes tree patches smaller than one hectare and isolated trees found outside recorded forest areas.
• Forest cover specifically refers to the area of land covered by a forest ecosystem, characterized by a tree canopy density of more than 10% and an area of more than one hectare.

India’s initiatives to improve Tree cover:

• Green India Mission (GIM): This mission, which began in 2015–2016, aims to restore, protect, and enhance India’s forest cover, and to address climate change.
• National Afforestation Programme (NAP): This centrally sponsored scheme regenerates degraded forests and surrounding areas.
• Nagar Van Yojana (NVY): This scheme, which began in 2020, aims to create 600 Nagar Vans and 400 Nagar Vatika in urban and peri-urban areas by 2024–2025.
  • The scheme uses funds from the Compensatory Afforestation Fund (CAMPA) to improve green cover in these areas.
• CAMPA: This fund is used by states and union territories to offset the diversion of forest land for developmental projects.
  • The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act of 2016 establishes a mechanism for collecting and using funds for compensatory afforestation.

About Global Forest Watch (GFW):

• GFW is an online platform offering data and tools to monitor forests.
• GFW uses technology to provide near real-time information about where and how forests are changing around the world.
• Established in 1997, it is led by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in partnership with organizations like Google, USAID, the University of Maryland (UMD), Esri, Vizzuality, and others.

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