FADING GREENS OF INDIA

The 18th biennial India State of Forest Report 2023, released recently by the Forest Survey of India, has revealed sobering details at several levels.

- By JUMANA SHAH

The concerns relate to both the extent and the nature of our green cover. Firstly, the report states 25.17 per cent of India's land mass is covered by forests. This already falls woefully short of the global benchmark of 33 per cent. Of this, only 21.76 per cent constitutes forested areas, with the remaining 3.41 per cent categorised as tree cover. On degraded forests, the report states t