According to the recently released  biennial State of India’s Forest Report 2019, India’s forest cover has increased by 3,976 sq km or 0.56% since 2017. But, compared to the encouraging national picture, for Northeast in general and Arunachal in particular, it has been a decline. Although, in terms of figures, it might seem a marginal decline, the negative trend is that what is actually worrisome. This report is actually a wake-up call and since the decline has been noticed successively over two terms, actions need to be initiated fast to make good this loss.

The report which comes once in every two years is a reflection of how much green the country is at the moment making a comparative analysis with past figures. It broadly classifies the whole concept of ‘forest’ into three broad categories which are Very Dense Forests (VDFs), Moderately Dense Forests (MDFs) and Open Forests (OFs) along with a few others. As per the report, Total Forest Cover (TFC) of India is currently (2019) 712,249 square kilometres sq km which is 21.67 per cent of the Total Geographical Area (TGA) as against 21.54 per cent of TGA in 2017. This is actually far from the target of bringing 33 per cent of the country’s  TGA under forest cover. Also, the vital-most VDF category which absorbs maximum carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and contribute the most in ecological balance, has only increased by a small margin of 1.14 % between 2017 and 2019, signifying that there are urgent needs for intensifying efforts. Coming to the Northeast, the picture is rather gloomy as during the period from 2011 to 2019, the region has lost nearly 25,000 sq km of forest cover. In case of Arunachal, the state has suffered a loss of 276.22 sq kms in its TFC vis-à-vis the Forest Report of  2017 and there has also been a decrease in the areas cultivating bamboo from 15,125 sq kms in 2017 to 14,981 in 2019.  That what is a good aspect of this report is the district-wise elaboration of the performances compared to 2017 figures and as many as 16 district of the state have recorded negative growths of varying degrees in terms of percentages. From the report, it is clear that urgent intervention is needed since losing  forests in repeated manner like this will actually mean wiping out  of  the rich and unique  flora and fauna which actually makes almost 20%  of the national figures.

A great gift bestowed by nature must be protected by all means. And before the task gets almost impossible to make amends, as it is the current national scenario, Arunachal must take immediate actions.