India the only country recording increase in all kinds of forests: Env Minister releases India State of Forest Report 2019

News Bharati    30-Dec-2019
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New Delhi, December 30: Union Environment Minister Praksh Javadekar today released the much awaited ‘India State of Forest Report 2019’ in New Delhi. India State of Forest Report is a biennial publication by the Forest Survey of India under the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change.
 

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Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, “India is a land of forests and the biggest reason of maintaining forests is the Indian culture where people devotedly worship trees, love nature. Very few countries in the world have recorded an increase in forest cover and Inida tops in them. 5200 sq kms forest cover has been increased in the last two years and since 2014, Indias forest cover has increased by 13000 sq kms. India is the only country to have recorded an increase in all kinds of forests, from dense forests to open forests." 
 
 
 
He further informed that tree cover of India is also significantly increasing, particularly in Maharashtra. Mangrove cover has also recorded 54 sq km increase in 2019. In hill areas also, 544 sq km area has recorded increase in forest. India’s Forest Carbon stock is 7124.6 MT and India is striving to achieve the targets set by the Paris Climate Agreement.
“Ujjwala Yojana has led to drastic decline in the dependence on firewood which has automatically resulted into maintaining forest cover,” the Minister added.