Forests in peril as encroachers branch out

Squatters are taking over India’s precious green cover, which is already under peril from multiple threats, with Madhya Pradesh topping the list of states that have lost the maximum amount of forest land to encroachment.

Among southern states, Karnataka has lost the most, with 28,001.23 hectares of forest land under wrongful possession.

Karnataka is followed by Tamil Nadu which has lost 15,041.57 ha of forest land, according to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest which released the latest encroachment data to an RTI query.

The loss is much less in three other southern states. In Kerala, 7,801 ha of forest is under encroachment whereas the corresponding figure in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is 1,691 ha and 3,056 ha respectively.

India as a whole has lost a staggering 1,281,397 ha of the forest to encroachment, out of which Madhya Pradesh with 5,34,717 ha (42%) of forest land under encroachment being the biggest casualty.

“It's shocking that 1,281,397 ha of forest cover is under encroachment,” lawyer and environmentalist Akash Vashishtha, who filed the RTI queries, told DH.

“India’s commitment to creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5-3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through additional forest and tree cover seems an uphill task.”

In the encroachment list, Madhya Pradesh is followed by Assam (3,17,215 ha), Odisha (78,505), Maharashtra (60,504) and Arunachal Pradesh (58,636).

The ministry hasn’t shared information on the status of the country’s forests at the time of independence, arguing that such a data set is not available with the Forest Survey of India. In the absence of a baseline, a trend in the encroachment pattern can’t be determined.

The government says the primary responsibility of forest protection lies with the states and Union Territories, which have to take action against squatters.

India has about 7,08,273 sq km (7,08,27,300 ha) area under forest cover, which is about 21.54% of the country’s geographical area (32,87,263 sq km). The tree cover is estimated to be 93,815 sq km, representing 2.85% of the area. Taken together India’s tree and forest cover is 8,02,088 sq km, which is 24.39% of the total area. Since the Forest Policy Resolution of May 12, 1952, in the First Five-Year Plan, India’s goal is to bring one-third of the country’s land area under forest cover.

The target was later modified to bring one-third of the area under forest and tree cover.