Informist, Thursday, May 23, 2024

NEW DELHI – The National Green Tribunal has sought responses from the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Central Pollution Control Board and Survey of India on loss of tree cover since 2000. The tribunal issued the notices after registering a suo moto case based on a news report in The Indian Express last month that India lost 2.33 mln ha of tree cover since 2000.

The tribunal asked the Director of Survey of India to submit a report showing the position of forest cover in India with specific reference to the northeast from the year 2000 onwards. The tribunal will hear the case on Aug 28.

The tribunal noted that the case indicates violation of the provisions of Forest Conservation Act, 1980, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the Environment Protection Act, 1986. The news item raises substantial issues relating to compliance of the environmental norms and implementation of the provisions of scheduled enactment, the tribunal added.

The article cited the Global Forest Watch, which tracks forest changes in near real-time using satellite data and other sources. According to its data, the country lost 414,000 ha of humid primary forest from 2002 to 2023, making up 18% of its total tree cover loss in the same period.

The report said five states accounted for 60% of all tree cover loss between 2001 and 2023. Assam had the maximum tree cover loss at 324,000 ha, followed by Mizoram at 312,000 ha, Arunachal Pradesh at 262,000 ha, Nagaland at 259,000 ha and Manipur at 240,000 ha. End

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Saji George Titus

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2024. All rights reserved.