Forest Survey Report 2021: 11 states have lost forest cover; 21 have lost good forests

India’s forest cover has increased by just 1,540 sq km in two years, mostly due to plantation and agroforestry

Phasi wood for Jagannath chariot this year entirely from private lands; forest loss, climate change affecting natural supply

Phasi and Dhaura trees take 50-100 years to mature; this poses a challenge to the annual construction of chariots in the Puri Jagannath Yatra

Grabbing land for green cover

Why increase in global tree cover does not call for celebration

Much of it could be due to the increase in planted forests, which are more vulnerable to extreme climatic events

Extreme weather, land-use change drive animal movement

A recent study says that land-use change interacts with climate to determine species redistribution

Paper forests: India’s missing stretches of green

The most bad news is what the biennial forest survey report leaves unsaid

Half of global cropland expansion replaced natural vegetation and tree cover: Study

The largest cropland expansion was observed in Africa which was 34 per cent

Technique developed in Kenya offers a refined way to map tree cover

A new approach to monitor changes to the earth's surface uses maps that consist of physical and human geographic data to explain what's changed

North East India saw largest share of the country's tree cover loss : Study

Assam contributed over 14% to India’s overall decrease in forest area — the highest for any state

Tree rings can predict climate change

Researchers present papers that show impact of climate change on trees at the ongoing 6th Asian Dendrochronology Conference

Achieving targeted sequestration from green cover seems impossible

India cannot achieve this Paris Agreement target without political commitment at both central and state government levels

Myanmar will import timber to save its own forests

The resource-rich country has lost 10 million hectares of forest cover since 1990

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10 most popular stories of 2018

As the year nears its end, here is a list of stories covered by Down To Earth that caught the most attention online

Ominous signs

Missing: One-third of India’s recorded forests

25.87 million hectares: That is the size of forest missing from the latest assessment of India’s green cover. Does this land exist? Is it …

India’s forest cover increased during 2019-2021. Is it really as good as it sounds?

Moderately dense forests declined between 2021 and 2019. In 2021-2011, the country lost 4.3% of area under moderately dense forests

Over 57k hectares of forest land diverted in Odisha, says new report

Most of the forest land (28,409 hectares) was diverted for 186 mining projects

Outbreak of infectious diseases linked to change in forest cover, finds study

Outbreaks of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases linked to deforestation increased between 1990 and 2016

Nasa satellite imagery finds tremendous changes in Amazon in last 40 years

The scale of losses in forests land, increase in pasture land, shift in land use policy driven by economic forces are seen nowhere else in the world

Shrinking cover

Forests are disappearing at an alarming rate the world-over, says a recent study

Climate change may reduce carbon dioxide uptake by forests: Study

Tree growth in Arizona will decline 22-117% under future climatic conditions

Planet greening negated global warming, show NASA maps

Since 2000, at least 30% of areas with more leaf coverage were cooled by it, the research noted

How schoolchildren are 'seed-bombing' Bihar

A unique initiative by an NGO is helping the state increase its green cover while also spreading awareness