INDIA's Verdant, covers are spread over
75 million ha, about 19 per cent of the
total land area, according to the latest
annual economic survey conducted by
th@ ministry of finance. But it is a long
way off from the ministry of environment and forest's goal of agoresting 33
per cent of the plains and 66 per cent of
the hilly regions. On the brighter
side, Indian afforestation programme
has actually made a difference by
tackling carbon emissions -due to
deforestation. But the total effect of
afforestation has been offset by high
fuelwood uptake. According to the survey, the National Afforestation and Ecodevelopment Board achieved afforestation on 9.84 lakh ha of public land during 1994-95. This year's target stands at
11.24 lakh ha.
The forest cover data, however, does
not show the true picture. There are
several other factors, such as sapling
survival fates, which have to be taken
into, account before arriving at the
final figure. Grazing by livestock is
another factor which affects natural
regeneration of plants. The major
countering force to afforestation is fuel-
wood, which serves most ofrural energy
needs but leads to large-scale felling
of trees.
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