DEHRADUN: The Biennial report of Forest Survey of India released on Monday revealed that carbon absorption capacity of forests across India has increased to 4.26 million tonnes within ai duration of two years since year 2017.
However, the report also revealed that usage of 85000 tonnes as firewood across India is a challenge which needs to be dealt with. "Uttarakhand ranks sixth in India in terms of carbon stock in its forests which means biodiversity is high in the state. We need to improvise our rank in usage of firewood which is ninth," said FSI director Subhash Ashutosh.
Carbon stock refers to biomass in forests in form of living forms, soil, dead wood and litter of Carbon-based materials. However, officials and experts pointed out that the dependency of fuel wood needs to be brought down to conserve carbon stock in the forests of the country.
Out of its carbon stock of 370912 tonnes, Uttarakhand still uses 4076 tonnes of firewood annually as fuel for various purposes including cooking. "The government needs to promote clean energy to reduce dependency on firewood. This will help develop a capacity which will enable us reduce emissions as well as increased our green cover," said Padam Shri awardee and environmentalist Shekhar Pathak
The FSI report also revealed increase in forest cover in 10 districts of Uttarakhand in last two years time while three districts have recorded decrease.