India State of Forest Report 2021 (ISFR) prepared by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) and released on January 13 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change claimed that the forest cover in India increased by 2,262 SqKmsIn the last two years. However, multiple research reports find decrease in forest area in India, contrary to the government’s claim.Experts point out that government estimates include plantations which are different from natural forests and should not be included in the forest survey.VishweshaGuttal, assistant professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru told Mongabay-India that the government often keeps claiming that the green cover is increasing, but it is often due to plantations and not due to expansion of forest covers.It is important to note here that, despite the Forest Survey of India’sclaim that India’s forest cover has increased over the years, the same report states that Nagaland’s forest cover has declined. Nagaland recorded a 235 square kilometer decline in forest cover during the 2019-21 period as per the FSI report release on January 13.
If the forest cover of India has increased or declined is one thing, but the bigger question in context here is whether the forest cover of Mokokchung has been increasing or declining over the years. Any lay man’s observation would be that our forests are fast disappearing and that our once verdant forests are now being reduced to shrub jungles. And it is not just the forest cover that is declining but along with it are the flora and fauna diminishing. Loss of forest cover is a socio-ecological problem and it should be the responsibility of all the stakeholders, from individuals to communities, to mitigate the problem. Leaving it to the government alone to solve the problem will be futile.
Communities should be taught sustainable use of forest resources before it is too late. Measures to improve the forest cover, like planting indigenous trees in the large fallow areas left behind after cropping and implementing programmes to regenerate forests in the mining areas should be encouraged. Every village should be encouraged to demarcate community reserved forests. The government should come forward to appreciate the conservation efforts made by villages, NGOs and volunteers by recognizing them, which will encourage others to replicate them. Concerned citizens should volunteer, while academicians and scholars should educate the masses. Students should be involved. The church can play its role. A concerted effort is needed to reverse, or at least halt, the pace at which our forests are disappearing. If not, the day is not far when there will be no real forests left in our land and posterity will judge us.