GUWAHATI: Assam has increased its total forest cover by 221.54 sq km in the past two years. According to ‘India State of Forest Report 2019’ released on Monday, the forest cover in the state has witnessed 0.79 per cent increase compared to last assessment in 2017.
The recent assessment shows that total forest cover of Assam is 36.11 per cent (28,327 sq km) of the total geographical area (78,438 sq km) of the state. It was 28,105 sq km in 2017 assessment.
Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao districts of Assam have, however, shown a decrease in forest cover. The three hill districts of the state witnessed 96 sq km decrease of total forest cover compared to the last report in 2017.
Releasing ‘India State of Forest Report 2019’ on Monday in New Delhi, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javdekar said that India has increased its total forest cover by 13,000 square kilometres in the past four years.
Speaking on the occasion Javdekar said, “India is one of the leading countries in the world which has increased the total forest cover. We have increased it by 13,000 sq km, including that in very dense forest, moderately dense forest and outside forests. This is a big achievement for the nation.”
According to the report, there has been an increase of 5,188 sq km in the total forest and tree cover of the country, when compared to the 2017 assessment. In addition, the tree cover has seen an increase of 1,212 sq km, while the forest cover has increased by 3,976 sq km.
