Forest cover of Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Mumbai increased over period of 10 years, said govt

Government has said that as per the India State of Forest Report ISFR 2011 and 2021 reports, the forest cover of Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai has increased over a period of 10 years. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha yesterday, 

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Aswini Kumar Choubey said, the Forest Survey of India FSI, Dehradun, an organization under the Ministry carries out the assessment of forest cover of the country biennially since 1987 and the findings are published in ISFR. He said, the FSI has published a study for the first time on the decadal change in forest cover in seven major mega cities between ISFR 2011 and ISFR



2021. 

The Minister said, as per the study, there is an increase in forest cover in some mega cities while there is decrease in forest cover in few other cities. He said, overall, there is an increase of 68 square kilometers in the forest cover of seven major mega cities between ISFR 2011 to ISFR 2021. 

Mr Choubey said, the increase in forest cover may be attributed to conservation measures, afforestation activities, enhanced protection measures in plantation as well as in traditional forest areas, expansion of Tree Outside Forest. He said his Ministry has not undertaken any study regarding correlation between reduction of forest and increase in pollution.