Bhubaneswar: The Indian State of Forest Report 2021 has praised Odisha for its efforts to increase forest cover in the state. According to the report, forest cover increased by 537 square km in Odisha compared to the green cover growth of 2,261 square km at the national level in the last two years.
The report compares the forest cover growth in the states compared to the Indian State of Forest Report 2019.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Monday, the Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, said that the latest Forest Survey of India report shows that the forest cover in India has increased by 1,540 square km, while the tree cover has increased by 721 square km.
In Odisha, the forest cover was 51,619 square km and with the latest growth, it has reached 52,156 square km compared to the state’s geographical area of 1,55,707 square km. Odisha’s contribution to the national forest cover growth is a 1.04% increase. Currently, Odisha is ranked third in the country vis-à-vis the increase of forest cover in India followed by Andhra Pradesh with 647 square km and Telangana with 632 square km of forest cover.
As per the Indian State of Forest Report 2021, Arunachal Pradesh with 257 square km, Manipur with 249 square km, Nagaland with 235 square km, Mizoram with 186 square km and Meghalaya with 73 square km are the bottom five states in the country that have lost a major green cover between 2019 and 2021. The increase in the green cover in India has been attributed to better conservation initiatives, protection, afforestation activities, tree plantation drives and agro-forestry. On the other hand, shifting cultivation, felling of trees, natural calamities and anthropogenic pressure are responsible for the loss of major forest cover areas in the country.
