THOOTHUKUDI: The green cover and forest cover in Tamil Nadu are a picture in contrast, reveals a report on India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021.
While the State lost 406 square kilometres of its tree cover, the forest cover witnessed a palpable increase of 55.21 square kilometres. The report also points out that the dry districts like Thoothukudi, Karur and Tiruvarur have less than 5 per cent of its earlier forest cover.
Sources said that tree cover is defined as all tree patches of size less than 1 hectare occurring outside the recorded forest area. It constitutes trees in all formations including scattered trees.
According to the ISFR 2021, Tamil Nadu which has an geographical area (GA) of 1.3 crore hectare has a tree cover spanning 4424 square kilometers, as against 4830 sq km reported in ISFR 2019, which translates to a loss of 406 sq km.
The report said coconut trees, neem trees, mango trees and palmyra palm trees are abundantly present in both rural and urban areas outside the forest area of Tamil Nadu.