A recent controversy around protests on the deforestation campaign of the Telangana government that involves 400 acres in the Hyderab University campus has brought renewed attention to the pressing problem of forest loss in India. It is no secret that many forest lands have been lost in recent decades. But the data of the Global Forest Watch (GFW), a private global data aggregator on forests and data disseminated by the Indian government, show contradictory results.
GFW’s data show that India lost approximately 402 thousand hectares (kha) of humid primary forests between 2003 and 2023. In contrast, the data of the Forest Survey of India (FSI), disseminated by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, indicate that the general forest coverage in the country grew around 5 percent of 5 percent in the same period.
India lost approximately 10.3 kha of humid primary forest in 2003. This figure increased to 20.7 kha in 2008, fluctuated over the years and reached its maximum point at 21.9 kha in 2014. The FSI data indicate that the general forest was introduced from 203.3, Khaa in 2003.3, Kha in 2003.3, in an entrance of 53.3.3.3.3.3. Growth center in two decades.
Defined forest coverage
FSI defines forests like any country with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent and one area or approximately one hectare, independently or the property or use of the land. This means that equally private plantations or areas covered with non -native trees can be counted as forest cover.
PK Joshi, professor at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said: “The way in which the FSI defines forests in its reports is mainly based on green coverage, while Ecological, Forsen Grovevition in its evaluations, which means that forest ecosystems and the recorded forest area are not necessarily costing.”
In December 2024, The Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Stated in the Lok Sabha That “The Contradiction Between India State of Forest Report 2021 and Global Forest Watch Data May in The Diffyry In The Differe In the differ in the differ in the dipfering in the differry in the differenting in the differ in the differenting and representative of Dinetence.
State data
The compliance with the FSI data, almost all 15 largest states, classified according to GSDP, registered a growth in forest coverage between 2003 and 2023. However, FSI data shows that of the eight states of the Northeast, four have experienced. Nagaland saw the greatest decrease in -10.2 percent, followed by tripura at -6.3 percent and manipur to -3.7 percent. GFW data indicates a significant loss of humid primary forests in the region between 2002 and 2023. Arunachal Pradesh lost approximately 139 kha, Assam 71 Kha and Meghalaya 51 kha.
Raman Sukumar, the former member of the Permanent Committee of the National Wildlife Board, said: “Community property lands in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh have experienced forest losses mainly due to changing cultivation. The commercial use of barbazas has led many to convert their lands to other forms of land use.
Among the 259 countries and islands worldwide, India lost 414 kha of wet primary forest between 2002 and 2023, occupying the 31st position worldwide. In comparison, Brazil (30,700 kha), Bolivia (4,190 kha) and Malaysia (2,930 kha) registered the highest forest losses worldwide in the entire period.
Posted on April 15, 2025
