Thursday, July 10, 2014
Jul 10 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Experts fret about forest survey report
Jayashree.Nandi
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New Delhi
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Slight Rise In `Open' Category, But Dense Forest Not Increasing
There is little to cheer about Forest Survey of India's report that has revealed a marginal increase of 3.61 square kilometres in the forest cover of the city.A finer reading of the data shows Delhi's forest cover has only increased slightly in the `open forest' category . These are forests of less than 40% canopy density which are most likely to be urban parks, very young plantations or even invasive species having little ecological value. The carbon sequestration and pollution combating capacity of these `forests' is half or a third of that of dense, good quality forests.
What is worrying is that the moderately dense forests--with a canopy density over 40% or, in simpler terms, broad canopy cover--have been decreasing consistently since 2003 when it was 52 sqkm. It measures 49.38 sqkm now. Experts have raised doubts about Delhi's afforestation programmes over the past decades that should have added to the dense or moderately dense categories.
“These open forests could be Prospis juliflora or Vilayati keekar, an invasive species with no ecological value. So there is clearly nothing to cheer about,“ said Pradip Krishen who has authored books on the trees of Delhi.
Very dense forest is also reducing slowly since 2007. Before 2005, there was none in Delhi, according to FSI reports. A study by the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science published in Current Science journal recently high lighted that FSI has been `overreporting' forest cover data because of the ambiguous definition of forest that it follows.
FSI defines forest cover to be “all lands more than one hectare, with tree canopy density over 10%, irrespective of ownership and legal status“.
This definition could well mean that manmade forests, monocultures and spots like Lodhi Garden are forests. “The data could mean area under parks is going up in certain parts or that there are young plantations,“ said Prof. N H Ravindranath of IISC. Delhi, with its poor air quality, has 78 sqkm of reserved forests and 7 sqkm of protected forests.
A forest department official denied that dense forests are decreasing. “Most of Delhi's forests are scrub forests.
So they look open,“ he said.
What is worrying is that the moderately dense forests--with a canopy density over 40% or, in simpler terms, broad canopy cover--have been decreasing consistently since 2003 when it was 52 sqkm. It measures 49.38 sqkm now. Experts have raised doubts about Delhi's afforestation programmes over the past decades that should have added to the dense or moderately dense categories.
“These open forests could be Prospis juliflora or Vilayati keekar, an invasive species with no ecological value. So there is clearly nothing to cheer about,“ said Pradip Krishen who has authored books on the trees of Delhi.
Very dense forest is also reducing slowly since 2007. Before 2005, there was none in Delhi, according to FSI reports. A study by the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science published in Current Science journal recently high lighted that FSI has been `overreporting' forest cover data because of the ambiguous definition of forest that it follows.
FSI defines forest cover to be “all lands more than one hectare, with tree canopy density over 10%, irrespective of ownership and legal status“.
This definition could well mean that manmade forests, monocultures and spots like Lodhi Garden are forests. “The data could mean area under parks is going up in certain parts or that there are young plantations,“ said Prof. N H Ravindranath of IISC. Delhi, with its poor air quality, has 78 sqkm of reserved forests and 7 sqkm of protected forests.
A forest department official denied that dense forests are decreasing. “Most of Delhi's forests are scrub forests.
So they look open,“ he said.
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