NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday issued a notice to the government regarding the loss of 2.33 million hectares of tree cover over the past two decades. It has also taken cognisance of the fact that India has the second-highest rate of deforestation in the world.
The green judicial body stated that the loss of forest violates the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi, along with expert member Dr A. Senthil Vel, has taken suo motu cognisance and issued a notice to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Central Pollution Control Board, and the Survey of India to respond.
The NGT directed the head of the Survey of India to submit a report detailing the position of forest cover in India, with specific reference to the northeast, from 2000 onwards, in five-year intervals, up to March 2024. “Let the report be filed at least one week before the next hearing date,” said the order.
According to the Global Forest Watch report of 2024, India has lost 2.33 million hectares of tree cover since 2000, equivalent to a six per cent decrease.
The data reveals that the country lost 414,000 hectares of humid primary forest (4.1%) from 2002 to 2023, accounting for 18% of its total tree cover loss in the same period.
A report said that five states accounted for 60% of tree cover loss between 2001 and 2023. Assam experienced the highest loss, followed by Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Manipur. Assam alone lost 324,000 hectares of tree cover.