Forest Survey Report 2021: 11 states have lost forest cover; 21 have lost good forests

India’s forest cover has increased by just 1,540 sq km in two years, mostly due to plantation and agroforestry

Phasi wood for Jagannath chariot this year entirely from private lands; forest loss, climate change affecting natural supply

Phasi and Dhaura trees take 50-100 years to mature; this poses a challenge to the annual construction of chariots in the Puri Jagannath Yatra

Why increase in global tree cover does not call for celebration

Much of it could be due to the increase in planted forests, which are more vulnerable to extreme climatic events

Extreme weather, land-use change drive animal movement

A recent study says that land-use change interacts with climate to determine species redistribution

Technique developed in Kenya offers a refined way to map tree cover

A new approach to monitor changes to the earth's surface uses maps that consist of physical and human geographic data to explain what's changed

North East India saw largest share of the country's tree cover loss : Study

Assam contributed over 14% to India’s overall decrease in forest area — the highest for any state

Tree rings can predict climate change

Researchers present papers that show impact of climate change on trees at the ongoing 6th Asian Dendrochronology Conference

Achieving targeted sequestration from green cover seems impossible

India cannot achieve this Paris Agreement target without political commitment at both central and state government levels

10 most popular stories of 2018

As the year nears its end, here is a list of stories covered by Down To Earth that caught the most attention online

Missing: One-third of India’s recorded forests

25.87 million hectares: That is the size of forest missing from the latest assessment of India’s green cover. Does this land exist? Is it …

India’s forest cover increased during 2019-2021. Is it really as good as it sounds?

Moderately dense forests declined between 2021 and 2019. In 2021-2011, the country lost 4.3% of area under moderately dense forests

Outbreak of infectious diseases linked to change in forest cover, finds study

Outbreaks of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases linked to deforestation increased between 1990 and 2016

Nasa satellite imagery finds tremendous changes in Amazon in last 40 years

The scale of losses in forests land, increase in pasture land, shift in land use policy driven by economic forces are seen nowhere else in the world

Missing forests: A third of recorded forest area not assessed in latest govt survey

India has a forest cover of 77.53 million ha. But recorded forests—the area under the forest department— with forest cover are only 51.…

Planet greening negated global warming, show NASA maps

Since 2000, at least 30% of areas with more leaf coverage were cooled by it, the research noted

How schoolchildren are 'seed-bombing' Bihar

A unique initiative by an NGO is helping the state increase its green cover while also spreading awareness

Sikkim best prepared to tackle drought, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh the least

All four districts of the northeastern state are resilient to drought, but that’s not the case with any of the districts in Rajasthan and …

Farms, cities eat up 148 million hectares of biodiversity hotspots in 24 years: Study

The largest losses, mostly in forests, occurred in the Sundaland, Indo-Burma and Mesoamerica hotspots, all in developing countries

India was a tree planting laboratory for 200 years — here are the results

Colonial era experiments on forests between 1857 and 1947 offer important lessons on consequences of different approaches to restoring …

As told to Parliament (August 8, 2023): Adverse impact on environment cannot linked be with deforestation, says minister

All that was discussed in the House through the day    

Climate crisis: Deforestation in southeast Asia mountains on the rise

Forests are being increasingly cut down on steeper slopes, which have a high forest carbon density relative to the lowlands 

Changing colours

After blindly destroying much of their forest cover, people in Anantapur district attempt to reclaim their barren lands

Wildfires destroy twice the forest cover today compared to 2 decades ago

9.3 million hectares of tree cover was lost globally in 2021 

Forest Survey Report 2021: Overall decadal decline in forest cover in India’s 52 tiger reserves, Gir

Tiger reserves in India have lost 22.62 sq km of forest over the last decade while Gir has lost 33.43 sq km

Weak governance escalating deforestation in Tanzania: FAO report

Of the total land area (88.3 mn hectares) in the African country, 55% is under forest cover. According to 2017 estimates, deforestation occurred …