Environment

Green cover in tribal areas increases

Green activists and tribal community have been fighting against government-aided coal and mine expansion programmes for long now

Inakshi Walia



While the green cover inside the officially recognised forests (government-owned, private or community forests) in these districts has decreased by 32 sq km, the cover outside them has risen by 2,428 sq km. West Bengal recorded a substantial increase of 2,246 sq km and Nagaland showed a decrease of 274 sq km.

Being the indigenous population of India, the tribals have been a part of the forest ecosystem for generations now. They depend heavily on forests to meet their basic and economic needs. 

This boom of forests in tribal areas gives a hope for green activists and the tribal community alike as both the groups have been fighting against the government’s massive coal and mines expansion programmes.  

Change in forest cover in tribal districts
States No. of tribal districts Increase/decrease in
last two years (sq km)
Andhra Pradesh 8 -238
Arunachal Pradesh 13 -89
Assam 16 -48
Chhattisgarh 9 -40
Gujarat 8 5
Himachal Pradesh 3 4
Jharkhand 8 339
Karnataka 5 0
Kerala 9 -311
Madhya Pradesh 18 -73
Maharashtra 12 -25
Manipur 9 -100
Meghalaya 7 13
Mizoram 8 -63
Nagaland 8 -274
Odisha 12 544
Rajasthan 5 -10
Sikkim 4 -1
Tamil Nadu 6 25
Tripura 4 -111
Uttar Pradesh 1 -8
West Bengal 11 2,246
A&N Islands 2 -13
Dadra&Nagar Haveli 1 2
Daman & Diu 1 -0.01
Lakshwadeep 1 0
Grand Total 189 2,396