India lost 18,200 ha of primary forest in 2024: GFW

India lost 18,200 hectares of primary forest in 2024 compared to 17,700 hectares in 2023, according to new data from Global Forest Watch (GFW), a global collaboration of over 100 organisations.

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

The GFW said the country lost 3,48,000 hectares of humid primary forest between 2002 and 2024 -- about 5.4 per cent of the country’s total humid primary forest. This is 15 per cent of India’s total tree cover loss during the same period.

Between 2019 and 2024, India lost 1,03,000 hectares (1.6 per cent) of humid primary forest, which is 14 per cent of its total tree cover loss in those years.

The country lost 16,900 hectares of humid primary forest in 2022, 18,300 hectares in 2021, 17,000 hectares in 2020, and 14,500 hectares in 2019, the data showed.