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In Karnataka, only the western side of the mountain is green

More than half of Karnataka's 30 districts do not even have 50% of the government's forest cover targets
Last Updated 17 January 2022, 15:00 IST

Eighteen districts of Karnataka have less than 15 per cent of their total geographical area (GA) under forest cover, as per the India State of Forest Report, 2021 complied by the Forest Survey of India (FSI).

While the FSI report paints a rosy picture of the state as one of the top five states to increase its forest cover (by 155 sq km) compared to 2019. However, more than half of its 30 districts do not even have 50 per cent of the forest cover targets set by the government. The state government has set itself an ambitious target of covering every district with at least 33 per cent green cover.

A total of 38,729.99 sq km of land (which is 20.19 per cent of state GA) is covered with forest patches in Karnataka.

Vijaypur, which is blessed with two major rivers (Krishna and Bhima), has just 0.26 per cent of its total landmass under green cover, while Raichur (0.52 per cent), Koppal (0.65 per cent), Kalaburagi (1.78 per cent), Bidar (1.79 per cent), Yadgir (2.79 per cent), Gadag (3.03 per cent), Bagalkot (3.93 per cent), Bengaluru rural (6.49 per cent), Chitradurga (7.20 per cent), Belagavi (8.68 per cent), Ballari (8.72 per cent), Dharwad (8.80 per cent) and Kolar (9.64 per cent) have less than 10 per cent of its total area under tree cover.

Except for Chitradurga and Belagavi, none of the above-mentioned districts has made any substantial increase in their green cover over the last two years. Tumakuru added the highest area of 39.03 sq km under forest cover compared to its 2019 tally of 1,323.07 sq km; Chitradurga added 30.39 sq km and Belagavi added 24.06 sq km of forest land.

Udupi, the biggest loser

Udupi (63 per cent), which is the fourth greenest district in the state lost nearly 26.65 sq km of forest cover due to various development work. This was followed by Kodagu, the greenest district (with 79.42 per cent of its GA under green cover), lost nearly 5.47 sq km of forest land in the last two years according to the report. Uttara Kannada, which saw a spate of development works, however, continues to be the second greenest district of the state and added another 7.19 sq km to its forest cover between 2019 and 2021.

Kalaburagi based Economist Sangeetha Kattimani said forest cover directly has an impact on the human resources development and GDP of the country. “Study from various institutes have shown that greater the green cover, better the human performance across the various sector. It is really a worrying factor that majority of the Kalyan-Karnataka and Kittur-Karnataka districts have little forest cover and their performance in various human development index is at the bottom of the heap,” she said.

Speaking to DH, Vijaypur District Forest Officer Sareena Sikkaligar said one of the major reasons for low forest cover in the district is the lack of forest land. “We have only 0.17 per cent of total GA under forest department. Every time we take up afforestation on revenue or wasteland, the public and revenue officials remove the saplings. As we do not have jurisdiction over those land, the district continues to have the least forest cover,” she said.

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(Published 17 January 2022, 15:00 IST)

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