New Delhi: Odisha’s effort in increasing green cover in the State has been lauded in the Lok Sabha.
The Indian State of Forest Report 2021, which was tabled in the Lok Sabha, pointed out that forest cover increased by 537 square km in Odisha compared to the green cover growth of 2,261 square km at the national level in the last two years.
Odisha’s contribution to the national forest cover growth is 1.04%. The forest cover, which was 51,619 square km according to the 2019 report, has reached 52,156 square km with the latest growth in the state compared to a total geographical area of 1,55,707 square km, informed Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Monday.
Odisha is also third in contributing to the increase of forest cover in the country with Andhra Pradesh with 647 square km and Telangana with 632 square km of forest cover at first and second positions, respectively, when it comes to contribution in increasing the green cover, the report said.
Arunachal Pradesh with 257 square km, Manipur with 249 square km, Nagaland with 235 square km, Mizoram with 186 square km and Meghalaya with 73 square km are the bottom five states having lost a major green cover in the country between 2019 and 2021, the report revealed.