Assam's forest cover decreased by over 83 sq km between 2021-2023: Report

The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023 has reported a decline in Assam's forest cover by over 83 sq km between 2021 and 2023.

The total area under forest and tree cover in the state is now at 30,415.01 sq km.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav, had launched the report at the Forest Research Institute in Dehradun on Saturday, with a nationwide increase of 1,445 sq km in total forest and tree cover recorded since 2021.

The total forest area in this north eastern state is 28,313.55 sq km, which is 36.10 per cent of the state's total area, while area under tree cover is 10,718.28 sq km, bringing the total forest and tree cover area to 30,415.01 sq km.

The ISFR reported a decrease of forest and tree cover area by 83.92 sq km in the state.

Altogether 4.07 per cent area of the state's forest cover is under very dense forest (VDF), 12.45 per cent under moderately dense forest (MDF) and 19.58 per cent under open forest (OF), as per the report.

Assam is among the five states which have shown maximum decrease of forest cover inside the recorded forest area (RFA)/ green wash (GW) category.

Tripura has recorded the maximum decreased (116.90 sq km), followed by Telangana (105.87 sq km), Assam (86.66 sq km), Andhra Pradesh (83.47 sq km) and Gujarat (61.22 sq km).

As per the report, between 2021 and 2023 MDF inside RFA/GW for Assam has decreased by 134.32 per cent and scrub by 18.41 per cent. However, VDF has gone up by 43.63 per cent, OF by 4.03 per cent and non-forest (NF) area by 105.07 per cent.

During the same period, VDF outside RFA/GW has decreased by 0.75 per cent, MDF by 0.53 per cent and NF by 98.37 per cent, while OF has increased by 76.18 per cent and scrub by 23.47 per cent.

Nationally, the country's forest and tree cover has reached 827,357 sq km, which is 25.17 per cent of the total geographical area. This includes 715,343 sq km (21.76 per cent) of forest cover and 112,014 sq km (3.41 per cent) of tree cover, it said.