Forests cleared 3 times bigger than Delhi in Northeast: Arunachal’s forest cover decreased sharply in 20 years, Tripura-Assam also reduced forests

About 4,350 sq km of forest has been lost in the northeastern states within two decades. It is 3 times the size of Delhi. The area of ​​Delhi is 1,484 sq km. These figures have been released by the Global Forest Watch (GFW) organization. GFW is an organization for real time monitoring of forests around the world.

According to the data, the forest cover of Arunachal Pradesh has decreased the most at 1,250 sq km. This was followed by a reduction in the forest cover of 1,100 sq km in Tripura and then 630 sq km in Assam. These states have experienced rapid climate change in the last 20 years due to less forest cover.

Flood situation due to reduced forest cover

The problem of floods is also being seen in the northeastern states due to rapidly depleting forests and climate change.

The rest of the northeastern states have also witnessed a sharp decline in forested areas. During this period, about 460 sq km of primary forest area has decreased in Manipur, while 450 sq km in Meghalaya, 310 sq km in Nagaland and 150 sq km in Mizoram have decreased.

The total reduction in forest area is about 5.54% of the area of ​​Assam. The total area of ​​Assam is 78,438 sq km. On this issue, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said that due to low forest cover, natural calamities like floods are coming in the state.

Biggest drop in 2016
2016 saw the largest reduction in forest cover among all the states of the Northeast in the last 20 years. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland saw the maximum decline in forest cover this year, while Mizoram, Meghalaya and Tripura recorded the highest decline in 2017.

According to the data, in 2016, about 1,030 sq km of forests were destroyed in Arunachal Pradesh, 49 sq km in Assam, 49 sq km in Manipur and 28 sq km in Nagaland. At the same time, 21 sq km of forest was reduced in Mizoram. In the year 2017, 46 sq km of forest has been reduced in Tripura and Meghalaya.

Drone survey directed twice a year in Assam

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma speaking during the inauguration of the Chief Minister’s Institution Plantation Program (CMIPP), in Guwahati on Sunday.

Assam CM Sarma has appealed to the forest department to plant more and more saplings, remove encroachments and work with the local people. He said that for many years, most of the focus of the Forest Department has been on Kaziranga National Park, the rest of the forest cover also needs attention. Forest area has decreased due to deforestation and encroachment.

Sarma has also directed the forest department to conduct drone survey twice a year. Sarma has instructed the forest department to make a plan to shift the landless people settled in the forest elsewhere. He has asked to adopt a zero tolerance attitude against encroachment.

The need for a solid policy to save the forest
Expressing concern over this reduction in forest cover, environmentalist Hemen Das has said that the state governments should formulate a concrete policy to save the forest. Rapid deforestation, encroachment and urbanization have taken place on a large scale in the last two decades. Because of this, the temperature here is increasing rapidly. We are heading towards an uncertain future.