New Delhi: A marginal increase of 4.9 sq km has taken Delhi’s green cover to 371.3 sq km. India State Forest Report 2023released on Saturday. gave Forest cover A small fraction decreased but tree cover improved, leading the report to have 25% of Delhi’s total geographical area of 1,483 sq km under green cover in 2023.
The biennial report of the Forest Survey of India was released by the Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Bhupendra Yadav. The report said that the city’s forest cover saw a marginal decline of 0.1 sq km in 2023 compared to 2021, from 195.36 sq km two years ago to 195.28 sq km in 2023. However, the city’s tree cover increased from 171.1 sq km in 2021 to 176 sq km in 2023, thereby bringing about 11.9% of Delhi’s geographical area under tree cover.
Forest cover is defined as all areas with a tree density of 10% or more and an area of one hectare or more. Tree cover is the area covered by trees outside the recorded forest areas.
The report changed its methodology this year and also revised the 2021 figures, so while the report released in 2021 showed tree cover and forest cover at 147 square kilometers and 195 square kilometers, respectively, in 2023. The report edited the data.
In September, the Supreme Court pulled up the Delhi government’s forest department for not communicating any comprehensive measures taken to increase the capital’s green cover. According to the report, Maharashtra has the highest tree cover (14,524.9 sq km) followed by Rajasthan (10,841.1 sq km) and Uttar Pradesh (8,950.9 sq km). However, in terms of percentage of geographical area, Chandigarh had the highest tree cover (18.6%), followed by Delhi (11.9%) and Kerala (7.5%).
Of Delhi’s 195.3 sq km of forests, very dense forest comprises 6.5 sq km, medium dense 53.6 sq km and open forest, 135.3 sq km in 2023. In 11 districts, New Delhi, with 420.26 km of forests. The largest decrease reported by 2021 was 0.9 sq km. A very dense forest is one with a canopy density of 70% or more. Moderately dense forests have a canopy density between 40 and 70%, while open forests have a canopy density between 10 and 40%.
“The green cover in Delhi has increased to 25 per cent of the geographical area. Efforts including plantation drives and compensatory plantations have borne fruit,” said a forest official.
However, experts expressed concern over the methodology. CR Babu, professor emeritus and head of the Center for Environment Management of Degraded Ecosystems said, “Invasive species have been added to the forest cover. In fact, Delhi’s tree cover is of low quality as it has more There are only one-story invasive species that do not contribute to the city’s ecological functions.”
Activist Bhureen Kandhari, who has gone to court several times to protect Delhi’s green cover, said, “The tree cover is assessed by satellite. Can’t be compared to the image of a green tarpaulin All terraced land of more than 10% density over one hectare, including gardens and orchards such as champa and bougainvillea and grass.”
Kandahari added that the fact that 144 trees disappeared within a few years after the tree census recorded in the Sarvodia enclave reflects the reality.
Tree activist Padmavati Dwivedi said, “More studies are needed on which species increase the green cover as we see a lot of exotics, especially non-native palm trees. Delhi. -Planted in large numbers in NCR, if these are plants that are part of green cover, it is useless.