'India lost 18,200 ha of primary forest in 2024'

GLOBAL FOREST WATCH | India lost 18,200 hectares of primary forest in 2024, an increase from 17,700 hectares in 2023, according to newly released figures from Global Forest Watch (GFW). The data highlights a steady trend of forest depletion, particularly in humid tropical regions.

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Between 2002 and 2024, the country recorded a total loss of 3,48,000 hectares of humid primary forest—mature natural forests that have not been completely cleared and regrown in recent decades. This constitutes 5.4 per cent of India's total humid primary forest and accounts for 15 per cent of the nation's overall tree cover loss during the same timeframe.

"In just the past five years, from 2019 to 2024, India lost 1,03,000 hectares of humid primary forest," GFW noted in its report. This was 14 per cent of the tree cover loss during that period.