The Forest Survey of India’s biannual report-2023 was released only a few days ago. The forest cover of the state has increased by 147.70 sqkm, including 93.14 sqkm inside the recorded forests.
However, it has suffered a loss of 607.06 sqkm of tree cover, bringing up the net loss to 459.36 sqkm. The report further added that eco-sensitive zones of the Western Ghats have lost 58 sqkm of forest cover in ten years.
The state has been aggressively pursuing growing trees on private holdings as well as community lands. However, the state’s dismal performance in agroforestry tree cover is a matter of concern and is a red-flag for the government to step-up efforts for increasing the cover.
Despite the state taking up large-scale plantations, the increase in forest cover is meagre and there are questions over the survival percentage of plantations. It only indicates that either the plantations are failing or illegal cutting of trees is continuing.
Right from 2017 onwards, the entire Western Ghats experienced heavy downpour for a few days, followed by long spells of drought. Whenever the conditions are favorable, there are heavy downpours, sometimes even up to 400 mm in 72 hours, causing flash floods and landslides.
2024 has seen one of the worst human tragedies in Wayanad, Kerala, and also in adjoining areas of Kodagu and Hassan in Karnataka. A few days prior to these disasters, vehicles moving on a National Highway at Shirur, Uttar Kannada district, were buried under a heavy landmass that slid from the side of the road.
In the warming world, incessant rain for a few days can play havoc with the lives and livelihoods of people. The problem is not confined to Karnataka. Himalayan states are also facing a similar situation frequently.
Scientists have constantly cautioned us to transition away from fossil fuel burning, conserve nature and resort to a sustainable lifestyle. The speed and scale of transition to renewable energy is yet to pick up, but the least we can do is to stop plundering the Western Ghats.
Widening of roads in the Ghats section of Karnataka, a proposal sacrificing 200 hectares of prime forests in Saravathi Valley for pump storage project, reviving a project rejected several times in the past to provide rail connectivity between Hubballi and Ankola, is never sustainable as long as we continue to pump greenhouse gases of ever-increasing magnitude into the atmosphere.
Loss of forest cover in the Western Ghats is also a testimony to fragmentation and degradation of forests leading to straying of wild animals outside reserves and further escalation of human-wild animal conflicts. The human-elephant conflict has worsened.
On Elephant Day this year, Karnataka held an international conference to find solutions from international experts. Among the resolutions, restoration of habitats and halting further fragmentation, strengthening barriers to prevent straying out of reserves and continuing research to pick up changing behavior of elephant herds in the era of plundering of nature for GDP and climate change received unanimous approval of experts.
Poaching of elephants for tusks and tigers for skin and body parts continues to bother the Karnataka Forest Department even in 2024. Wanton electrocution of wild animals to save crops has gone on unabated.
The success of prosecution in electrocution cases is dismal. Maybe the Forest Department has to pull up its socks and plug the loopholes in cases to bring perpetrators to justice. Protected areas in the Western Ghats are the sources and catchments of important rivers flowing eastwards as well westwards. While conserving wild animals, we maintain the integrity of such areas, which is essential to sustain the lives and livelihoods of the vast population of southern states.
Let the new year resolution be to stop cutting trees, killing wild animals and follow a climate-resilient lifestyle.