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Time of India
6 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Andhra Pradesh sees significant forest loss and tree cover changes in 2024: Report
Vijayawada: As the Andhra Pradesh govt gears up to plant one crore saplings under the 'Vanam-Manam' programme to enhance green cover on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5, the state reported 468 hectares of primary forest loss in 2024, the second highest after 561 hectares of primary forest loss eported in 2017. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Andhra Pradesh lost a total of 6,550 hectares of primary forest cover between 2002 and 2024, making up 16% of the total tree cover loss during the same period, according to the latest Global Forest Watch (GFW) report. Subsequently, in another disturbing development, Andhra Pradesh lost 5.73 thousand hectares of natural forest last year, which is equivalent to 1.75 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. As of 2020, the state had 2.46 million hectares of natural forest, extending over 15% of the total land mass, the report mentioned. According to the GFW report, Andhra Pradesh stood in the 13th place out of 28 states and eight union territories in terms of tree cover loss between 2001 and 2024, losing trees to an extent of nearly 42.4 thousand hectares. Meanwhile, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur, the four north-east states, were responsible for 52% of all tree cover loss during the same period. In terms of tree cover loss, which is about 42.4 thousand hectares, this is equivalent to a 3.8% decrease in tree cover since 2000 and 23.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. As per the GFW data, Andhra Pradesh lost 2.87 thousand hectares of tree cover in 2024 and 2.96 thousand hectares in 2023, i.e., 0.26% and 0.27% of tree cover loss. Andhra Pradesh reported the highest tree cover loss of 3.26 thousand hectares in 2011. Further, East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts were responsible for 76% of the total tree cover loss that occurred between 2001 and 2024 in the state. East Godavari witnessed the highest tree cover loss at 16.4 thousand hectares compared to an average of 3.26 thousand hectares. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now It was further found that 66% of tree cover loss occurred in areas where the dominant driver is deforestation. For permanent agriculture, a record 26.8 thousand hectares of tree cover was axed, while another 214 hectares of tree cover was lost due to infrastructure and settlements, and another 23 hectares for hard commodities. However, Andhra Pradesh made significant strides in tree cover gain between 2002 and 2020 by gaining 194 thousand hectares of tree cover, which is equal to 11% of the overall tree cover gain in the country. Under the tree cover gain charts, Karnataka leads in first place with 222 thousand hectares of tree cover gain, with Andhra Pradesh in second place.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Rapid urbanisation, large-scale deforestation pushing Assam towards climate catastrophe
Guwahati: Rapid urbanisation and large-scale deforestation resulted in the release of over 7 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere on average every year in the state during the period from 2001 to 2024, according to Global Forest Watch (GFW). This, according to conservationists, resulted in an increase in minimum and maximum temperatures along with an impact on rainfall activity. GFW is an open-source application to monitor forests and climate across the globe in near real-time and was started by a US-based non-profit organisation called World Resources Institute in 1997. Assam had 24,800 sq km (2.48 million hectares) of natural forest, extending over 32% of its land area, in 2020. However, the state lost 169 sqkm (16.9 kilo hectares) last year alone, equivalent to 7.7 Mt of carbon dioxide emissions. The GFW data shows that the state lost 3,400 sq km (340 kilo hectares) of tree cover in 24 years since 2001, equivalent to 174 Mt of carbon dioxide emissions. The state witnessed the highest tree cover loss in 2016 with 254 sq km, equivalent to the emission of 12.7 MT and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Switch to UnionBank Rewards Card UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo In its analysis, the GFW found commodity-driven deforestation and urbanisation as the dominant drivers. The commodity-driven deforestation is a large-scale deforestation linked primarily to commercial agricultural expansion. The tree cover lost in the northeast region during 2001-24 is over 74% of the country's total tree cover lost during the period, according to the data of GFW, raising concern among environmental activists and conservationists. The country lost 23,100 sqkm of tree cover in the last 24 years, of which 17,070 sqkm of tree cover was lost by the northeast region. Assam lost 3,400 sq km of tree cover during the said period due to deforestation and large-scale urbanisation mainly, which is the highest tree cover loss in the country followed by Mizoram (3,340 sq km), Nagaland (2,680 sq km), Manipur (2,550 sq km), Meghalaya (2,430 sq km), Tripura (1,460 sq km), and Arunachal Pradesh (1,210 sq km), resulting in climate change alarmingly. Conservationists say the loss of tree cover, which resulted in the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, resulted in soaring temperatures and very little rainfall in the state. "It is a serious concern. We must understand why the climate changed in the world, why temperature is increasing day by day, and why the pattern of rainfall changed drastically," said Hemen Lahkar, a city-based conservationist.
