95% forest cover vanishes in border area

 

Yuvavani.com

While green coverage in the urban areas is showing growth in most of the parts of country, India has tacitly lost 90 per cent of the area under its four biodiversity hotspots. The Indo-Burma hotspot or the forest area in the Myanmar-India border area is the worst hit. Moreover, it is either under reported or completely unnoticed. Moreover, 25 species have gone to extinct in these hotspots.

According to a Delhi based think tank’s report, India is facing huge vegetation loss in the Myanmar border area, upto 95%.  According to the report, “the extent of vegetation in the region (Indo-Burma hotspot) has been reduced from 2,373,057 sq km to a mere 118,653 sq km, a loss of 95 percent.

“Twenty five species have also gone extinct in these hotspots. The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List monitors 1,212 animal species in India – the IUCN says over 12 per cent of them are endangered. Of the 148 endangered species, 69 are mammals, 456 amphibians and 23 reptiles”, says CSE.

CSE has released annual data on World Environment Day. State of India’s Environment in Figures 2021 is an annual compendium of data and statistics on key issues of environment and development.

According to CSE Director General Sunita Narain, “There is drama in numbers, especially when these numbers give you a trend—are things getting better or worse. It is even more powerful when you can use the trend to understand the crisis, the challenge and the opportunity.”

 The CSE report also points out that 16 states – including Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand – have witnessed a significant rise in number of forest fire alerts. It says: “India has seen a drastic rise in forest fires since the start of 2021. As of May 1, the number of fire alerts recorded by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is 433581. This is quite a jump, even though the official forest fire season of the country is from February to June. Forest fires are influenced by temperature and rainfall in the preceding monsoon.

Quoting India’s Meteorological Department, the report adds  In 2021, too, India sees unusually warm weather along with 8.7 per cent surplus rainfall last monsoon that leaves adequate humidity for fires to spread.”

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