India lost 18,200 hectares of primary forest in 2024, up from 17,700 hectares in 2023, according to new data from Global Forest Watch (GFW) and the University of Maryland. Since 2001, India has lost 2.31 million hectares of tree cover, a 7.1% decline, resulting in approximately 1.29 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

Between 2002 and 2024, the country lost 348,000 hectares of humid primary forest, representing 5.4% of such forests and accounting for 15% of India’s total tree cover loss in that period. Annual losses included 16,900 hectares in 2022, 18,300 in 2021, 17,000 in 2020, and 14,500 in 2019.

Primary forests are defined by the dataset as “mature natural humid tropical forest cover that has not been completely cleared and regrown in recent history.” GFW researchers generate the data using Landsat satellite imagery, applying region-specific algorithms to classify primary forest cover and assess changes over time.

(With inputs from PTI)

MT

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