Andhra Pradesh sees significant forest loss and tree cover changes in 2024: Report

Vijayawada: As the Andhra Pradesh govt gears up to plant one crore saplings under the ‘Vanam-Manam' programme to enhance green cover on the occasion of World Environment Day on June 5, the state reported 468 hectares of primary forest loss in 2024, the second highest after 561 hectares of primary forest loss eported in 2017. Andhra Pradesh lost a total of 6,550 hectares of primary forest cover between 2002 and 2024, making up 16% of the total tree cover loss during the same period, according to the latest Global Forest Watch (GFW) report.Subsequently, in another disturbing development, Andhra Pradesh lost 5.73 thousand hectares of natural forest last year, which is equivalent to 1.75 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. As of 2020, the state had 2.46 million hectares of natural forest, extending over 15% of the total land mass, the report mentioned.According to the GFW report, Andhra Pradesh stood in the 13th place out of 28 states and eight union territories in terms of tree cover loss between 2001 and 2024, losing trees to an extent of nearly 42.4 thousand hectares. Meanwhile, Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Manipur, the four north-east states, were responsible for 52% of all tree cover loss during the same period.In terms of tree cover loss, which is about 42.4 thousand hectares, this is equivalent to a 3.8% decrease in tree cover since 2000 and 23.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. As per the GFW data, Andhra Pradesh lost 2.87 thousand hectares of tree cover in 2024 and 2.96 thousand hectares in 2023, i.e., 0.26% and 0.27% of tree cover loss. Andhra Pradesh reported the highest tree cover loss of 3.26 thousand hectares in 2011.Further, East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts were responsible for 76% of the total tree cover loss that occurred between 2001 and 2024 in the state. East Godavari witnessed the highest tree cover loss at 16.4 thousand hectares compared to an average of 3.26 thousand hectares.It was further found that 66% of tree cover loss occurred in areas where the dominant driver is deforestation. For permanent agriculture, a record 26.8 thousand hectares of tree cover was axed, while another 214 hectares of tree cover was lost due to infrastructure and settlements, and another 23 hectares for hard commodities.However, Andhra Pradesh made significant strides in tree cover gain between 2002 and 2020 by gaining 194 thousand hectares of tree cover, which is equal to 11% of the overall tree cover gain in the country. Under the tree cover gain charts, Karnataka leads in first place with 222 thousand hectares of tree cover gain, with Andhra Pradesh in second place.