Maharashtra forest cover reduces by 17 sq km

Environmentalists have raised concerns over the fact that despite annual tree plantations announced by the Maharashtra state government, the Forest Survey of India (FSI) report shows that there is a 17 sq km reduction of forest cover in Maharashtra, compared to the base year of 2015.

The survey revealed that Maharashtra has 8,736 sq km of very dense forest, 20,652 sq km of moderately dense forest while 21,294 sq km of open forest totalling to 50,682 sq km of forest cover. However the report also highlighted that the State had just one forest cover patch which was between 1000 to 5000 sq km while 2.35 lakh forest patches in the state were less than 1 sq km area. 

The total carbon stock of forest in Maharashtra is 493.021 million tonnes which is 6.96% of total forest carbon of the country.

“The decrease in forest cover can be attributed to rotational felling, submergence, agricultural expansion and other developmental activities. Although a decrease of 149sq km has been observed within recorded forest area the overall decrease has been offset due to expansion of tree cover outside forest area,” said the report.