According to environmentalists, India changed the rules for classification of forests in 2001. According to environmentalist organization Nature Conservation Foundation, the forest growth shown in government data is mainly due to ‘Forest’ This has been achieved by changing the definition of .
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) is investigating whether natural forests in India are rapidly declining, contrary to government claims. The government has spread the story around the world that India’s green cover has increased drastically in the last two decades. A case filed in the NGT in May said that the government’s claim is false. The lawsuit states that India has lost 23,000 square kilometers of tree cover in the last 24 years. The source of this figure is Global Forest Watch, an independent organization that publishes data on forests around the world from satellite images. Recent images showed that between 2013 and 2023, 95 percent of the trees lost in India were in natural forests. While government data showed that India’s forest area has increased since 1999. According to the last government report, forest and tree cover increased by 2,261 square kilometers between 2019 and 2021.
Environmentalists who analyse government data say that this contradiction in the figures is because India changed the rules for classification of forests in 2001. According to environmentalist organisation Nature Conservation Foundation, the increase shown in the government figures is mainly due to the change in the definition of ‘forest’. The new definition also includes green areas outside forests. India’s credibility is at stake in this case. India has promised a major increase in the size of its forests while declaring the target of achieving zero emissions by 2070. If environmentalists succeed in substantiating their case in NGT, then serious questions will be raised on India’s claim that India is moving fast towards achieving the 2070 target. Some such stories of India have also been questioned in the light of facts before. Will the same happen in this case too?