1st June 2024 (10 Topics)
NGT’s Suo Motu Case on Tree Cover Loss
Context
India has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover between 2000 and 2023, with significant loss in northeastern states. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) took suo motu cognizance of this issue and summoned government departments for explanation.
Key-highlights
- India lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover from 2000 to 2023, slightly larger than Meghalaya.
- About 18% of this loss (414,000 hectares) happened in primary forests.
- Northeast India bore 60% of this loss, with Assam, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Manipur losing significant tree cover.
- Between 2013 and 2023, 95% of the tree cover loss occurred in natural forests.
- 2016, 2017, and 2023 were the worst years, with 1.75 million, 1.44 million, and 1.89 million hectares lost, respectively.
- This loss emitted 51.0 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, totaling 1.12 gigatons from 2000 to 2023.
- The tree cover loss across the country has emitted a huge amount of carbon into the atmosphere – exactly what India is trying to prevent as per its Nationally Determined Contributions as submitted to the United Nations under the Paris Agreement.
- Here’s a list of how much area of tree over these states lost:
|
State |
Tree cover loss (hectares) |
|
Assam |
3,24,000 |
|
Mizoram |
3,12,000 |
|
Arunachal Pradesh |
2,62,000 |
|
Nagaland |
2,59,000 |
|
Manipur |
2,40,000 |
NGT's Action:
- NGT noted the violation of environmental laws and summoned key government bodies to explain the tree cover loss.
- Notices were issued to the Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment and Forest, and the Survey of India.
- The loss of tree cover is a violation of the Forest Conservation Act (1980), or FCA. While the FCA is one of India’s most important legislations that protects forest cover in India, the union government has drastically diluted several provisions of the Act recently.
- The newly amended Act would take away the protection afforded to forest lands such as deemed forests and community forests (that are not officially recorded as forests) and open them up to human activities under the garb of “national security” and “defence” purposes.
- NGT highlights violations of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, amidst recent amendments.
- Contradictions in ISFR and GFW data: NGT raises concerns over discrepancies between official forest surveys and data from Global Forest Watch (GFW).
|
FSI’s ISFR Report |
Global Forest Watch (GFW) |
|
India’s forest and tree cover has increased by 2,261 sq. km (around 2.26 lakh hectares) since the last assessment in 2019. |
18 per cent (4,14,000 hectares) of the total 2.33 million hectares of tree cover loss occurred in humid primary forests in the country. |
|
There is a decline in forest cover in the country’s hill and tribal districts as well as across the northeastern states |
There is tree cover loss in northeast India |
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