BHUBANESWAR: Odisha is among the handful of states to have achieved an overall growth in forest size but the positive news fails to betray the fact that a number of tribal districts have lost green cover.
The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, which was released on Saturday, reveals that Odisha’s forest size, excluding the tree cover, increased to 52,433.56 sq km in 2023 from 52,281.67 sq km in 2021, registering a growth of 151.89 sq km during the period.
As per the report, the state’s forest and tree cover that stood at 58,038.44 sq km in 2021 increased to 58,597.01 sq km in 2023, posting a growth of 558.57 sq km over the previous assessment.
With this increase, Odisha’s current forest and tree cover stands at 37.63 per cent of its total geographical area of 1,55,707 sq km. A total 33,040.47 sq km forest cover falls under recorded forest area, while the remaining 19,393.09 sq km is outside the recorded forest area of the state, the report stated.
However, a comparison drawn between two biennial reports, ISFR 2021 and 2023 shows that at least 12 districts, mostly the tribal-dominated, have recorded a decline in their forest cover. Kalahandi reported the highest 61.94 sq km drop in its forest cover over the previous assessment.
From 2,438.96 sq km in 2021, the western Odisha district’s forest cover reduced to 2,376.91 sq km in 2023. Its medium dense forest cover came down to 713.87 sq km in 2023 from 732.04 sq km in 2021, while open forest cover fell from 1,348.04 sq km to 1,294.94 sq km during the period.
Keonjhar, another tribal dominated district, recorded a drop in its forest cover by 30.92 sq km over the two years. The district has been robbed off around 29.84 sq km forest cover between 2021 and 2023, with open forest bearing a loss of 24.48 sq km.
Other key tribal districts that reported a decline in their green cover are Nabarangpur (29.46 sq km), Sundargarh (17.48 sq km) and Malkangiri (12.34 sq km). Western Odisha district Sambalpur witnessed a drop of 31.27 sq km in its forest cover, while Gajapati in south Odisha has also recorded a loss of 11.63 sq km during the period.
However, Ganjam recorded a growth of 169 sq km while Nuapada recorded a rise in 78.52 sq km followed by Koraput at 25.86 sq km.
The ISFR 2023 stated that 7,224.24 sq km area of the state falls under very dense forest and another 21,065.55 sq km area falls under medium dense forest.
The biennial report revealed the state now has a mangrove cover of 259.06 sq km, recording an increase of 1.55 sq km over the previous assessment. Kendrapara has the highest mangrove cover of 212.69 sq km, while there has also been an increase in forest cover due to natural regeneration of mangrove forest in Balasore.
Officials of the state forest department said growth in forest cover is significant given the loss it faced due to cyclone, forest fires and other calamities. “The growth is primarily due to three reasons - large scale plantation and protection of the forest cover by forest field staff and over 16,000 Van Suraksha Samiti members,” said PCCF and HoFF Debidutta Biswal.