Hyderabad: Telangana has only 16.74 per cent as forest cover – 18,764.67 sq. km. While the notified forest area in the state is almost 24 per cent, which comes to 26,903.70 sq km, this is different from the actual forest cover which considers only those areas which fall under Very Dense Forests (VDF), Moderately Dense Forests (MDF) and Open Forests(OF).
As per Telangana Forest Department’s recently released State of Forest Report (SFR), 36.5 sq km of forest has disappeared from Telangana.
The most negative change has been in Khammam circle where 14.45 sq km of forest has disappeared, followed by 6.15 sq km in Warangal.
Encroachments were noticed in all 23 forest divisions and it was found that apart from the “lost forests”, 26.02 sq km of forests were encroached, of which 3.21 sq km was in protected forest areas and 8.27 sq km under Vana Samrakshana Samities.
Maximum encroachment in protected areas was in the Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary, at 2.69 sq km.
The report also conveys a major failure of the Forest department. While the department cleared 29.13 sq km of forest for raising and harvesting plantations for improvement of vegetation cover, the report clearly states that the growth of plantations was “not discernible”.
A senior forest official said, “The forest department should stop clearing natural forest areas to raise plantations. This is having a more negative impact on forests than positive.”
Cattle grazing in forests, a major issue in Telangana, was found to be affecting a whopping 22,622.87 sq km of forests. High grazing was found to have occurred in 3,890.35 sq km, medium grazing in 8,216.52 sq km and low in 10,416 sq km.
The health of forests is also feeble in many areas. Severe soil erosion was found in 2,062 sq km, strong erosion in 11,554.15 sq km, moderate in 6,992 sq km and slight in 5,612.32 sq km.
SFR is released annually by the Forest department in which data from two consecutive years is compared. This year, data from 2011 and 2012 was compared.
