Global Forest Watch : Report
India has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000, according to the latest data from the Global Forest Watch monitoring project.
- Global Forest Watch (GFW) is an open-source web application to monitor global forests in near real-time using satellite data and other sources.
- It is a project of the Washington-based nonprofit research organization, the World Resources Institute (WRI).
Highlights of the GFW’s annual forest loss data.:
- The loss of primary forests–those untouched by people and sometimes known as old-growth forests – in the tropics declined 9% last year compared to 2022.
- The world last year lost about 37,000 square kilometers (14,000 square miles) of tropical primary forest, an area nearly as big as Switzerland.
- Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Bolivia topped the ranking of tropical countries with the most primary forest losses.
- Deforestation globally rose by 3.2% in 2023.
- India has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000, equivalent to a six percent decrease in tree cover during this period.
- The country lost 4,14,000 hectares of humid primary forest (4.1 percent) from 2002 to 2023, making up 18 per cent of its total tree cover loss in the same period.
- Between 2001 and 2022, forests in India emitted 51 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year and removed 141 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. This represents a net carbon sink of 89.9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year.
- An average of 51.0 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year was released into the atmosphere as a result of tree cover loss in India.
- The data showed that 95 percent of the tree cover loss in India from 2013 to 2023 occurred within natural forests.
- The GFW data showed that five states accounted for 60 percent of all tree cover losses between 2001 and 2023.
- Assam had the maximum tree cover loss at 324,000 hectares, compared to an average of 66,600 hectares.
- Mizoram lost 312,000 hectares of tree cover, Arunachal Pradesh 262,000 hectares, Nagaland 259,000 hectares, and Manipur 240,000 hectares.
