Green worry for Bengal, shows forest report

Krishnendu Mukherjee,TNN | Dec 6, 2015, KOLKATA: Amid concerns over change in climatic conditions, West Bengal has witnessed a dip in its very dense forest area by 1% or 23 square kilometres. It was revealed in the India State of Forest Report, 2015, released by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) in New Delhi on Friday. 

Though the total forest cover in the state has grown by a meagre 23 square kilometres, the increase has been attributed to plantation activities, growth of commercial plantation inside tea gardens and mangrove rehabilitation. In the last such survey two years back, the forest cover in the state had grown by a whopping 3810 square kilometres. 

Almost 16828 square kilometres of the state's total geographic area are now under forest cover, a rise of only .13% compared to the survey done in 2013 when the state's forest cover stood at 16805 square kilometres. 

What's more, Sunderbans which accounts for half of the total mangrove area in India, has seen a marginal .42% rise in its mangrove cover in the last two years despite several plantation drives taken up by the state there. A senior forest department official, who was earlier associated with FSI, said that virgin forests fall under the very dense cover. "A decrease in that cover means human intervention in those areas, which is a cause for concern," he said, on condition of anonymity . 

Environmental scientist A K Ghosh believes time has come that the state pulls up its socks before it gets too late. "Very dense forest means areas which have more than 40% canopy cover. This is the actual indicator of forest health in the state. A decrease in this forest area should act as a wake-up call for the administration," the veteran scientist added. 

The survey in 2013 , too, had found a dip in Bengal's very dense forest cover by 13 square kilometres and medium dense forest cover by 200 square kilometres. This time, the medium dense cover, though, has risen marginally by 26 square kilometres. 

While the mangrove cover in the Sunderbans now stands at 2106 square kilomteres compared to 2097 sq km in 2013, experts are worried over regular felling of plants there. 

Even, a few days back, at least twenty mangrove plants were felled in Gosaba to make way for shops. Ghosh said: "A recent CAG report had said that the funds sanc tioned after Aila for construction of embankments were not utilized Now, this report brings the govern ment's plantation drive in the Sun derbans under scanner too." 

State wildlife advisory board member Biswajit Roy Chowdhury said that plantation drives in the Sunderbans take place on the fringe parts and outside the core fo rest areas. "But inside, the natural forest is taking a big hit due to ex treme climatic conditions like rise in salinity and sea level. Besides felling of mangroves is also an is sue," he added. 

The survey has also found that the state lags in terms of tree cover which means small tree patches and isolated trees outside the forest areas which are generally found in urban areas, along roads, canals railway lines and highways. 

"Of the total 88752 square kilo metres geographical area in the state, only 2088 square kilometres or 2.35% fall under tree cover," the report says. According to the report, Maharashtra with 9588 sq km Jammu and Kashmir with 8354 sq km, Rajasthan with 8269 sq km and Gujarat with 7914 sq km under tree cover are way ahead of Bengal. 

State forest minister Binoy Burman said: "Creating aware ness among people to save greene ry for our survival in the long run is the need of the hour. Apart from planting 2 crore saplings, we will also take up various awareness campaigns across the state in 2016."