Manipur has increased its forest cover to 263 sq km from 2015, it was revealed in India’s State of Forest Report 2017, on Monday.
Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Dr Harsh Vardhan released the forest report.
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In the report it was revealed that Assam and Manipur are the only states in North east where forest cover has increased while all other states including Arunachal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura lost forest covers of 190 sq km, 116 sq km, 531 sq km, 450 sq km, 9 sq km and 164 sq km respectively.
Assam’s forest cover also increased to 567 sq km. Manipur was the only state in northeast where the rate of increase is recorded from 2013 to 2015.
The report added the northeast states has recorded a high forest cover which was more than 70 per cent in each state. The reasons for decrease of forest cover in some places are shifting cultivation, other biotic pressures, rotational tree felling, use of forest land for developmental activities, submergence of forest cover, agriculture expansion and natural disasters, it said.
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Present assessment reveals that 15 states have over 33 per cent of the geographical area under forest cover. Of these states, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur have more than 75 per cent forest cover, while Tripura, Goa, Sikkim, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chhattisgarh and Assam have a forest cover between 33 to 75 per cent.
The top five states where maximum forest cover has increased are Andhra Pradesh (2,141 sq kms), Karnataka (1,101 sq kms), Kerala (1,043 sq kms), Odisha (885 sq kms) and Telangana (565 sq kms) while the the top five states where forest cover has decreased are Mizoram (531 sq km), Nagaland (450 sq km), Arunachal Pradesh (190 sq km), Tripura (164 sq km) and Meghalaya (116 sq km).