HYDERABAD: Trees located outside forests in Telangana cover only 6.21 percent of the state’s geographical area. This was revealed in the Trees Outside Forests (TOF) report of Telangana state forest department prepared following directions by the ministry of environment and forests.
As the total forest cover in Telangana as per ‘State of Forests Report 2015’ stands at a mere 14.72 percent, the entire green cover of the state now stands at 20 percent.
The TOF report brings out how the tree cover of a region is altered as per human needs and intervention by taking into account the volume of trees, species-wise, that form the tree cover in the state in measuring unit Million cubic meters(Mm3).
As per the report mango trees occupy 8.3956 Mm3, which is a massive 53.12 percent of the tree cover volume in the state, followed by neem at a distant second that occupies 2.5712 Mm3, which is 16.27 percent of the tree cover volume.
However, the presence of so many mango trees is not completely natural as a majority of it has been grown by humans. Mango trees have been found to be a majority species in plantations. However, when it comes to natural forests, tree volume is dominated by the species Butea monosperma, also known as flame of the forest or Modugu chettu in Telugu.
A stark difference can be seen in the tree cover of urban and rural habitations. Neem tree, which is a native tree species and has many medicinal uses dominates the landscape in rural areas whereas in urban areas it is Peltophorum pterocarpum, which can be seen everywhere in Hyderabad.