Ahmedabad: In the state, the Ahmedabad district is the second largest loser in terms of green cover.
The latest report on Indian forest surveys revealed that urban areas and tribal zones in Gujarat have registered a decline in green cover.
Narmada District registered the sharpest fall of nearly 21 square kilometers in green cover in 2021 compared to the number 2019.
Officials at the Forestry Department said that one of the factors that influenced the tribal district was the decision of the state government in 2015 to eliminate 87 different tree species .
Usually, the Ministry of Forestry is consulted before the trees cutting drive.
In the end, the tribal district lost a large number of trees.
Officials said that in the districts such as Ahmedabad had rampant erosion from green cover because urbanization was not only in the city area but also in adjacent rustic plots.
Officials say that regardless of urbanization, threats to trees come from road expansion projects.
These projects include Ahmedabad-Rajkot, Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar, and Ahmedabad-Udaipur stretches where the tree has been cut on a large scale.
In addition, Green Cover is thinning in the Auda area (Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority) which is a rapid development site.
Officials said that the recent calculation of the state government has shown an increase in the number of trees because the count has considered even 10cm circumference trees.
However, the official said the Indian Data Survey was accurate because it was based on estimates from the study of satellite images.
Officials said that from the area of ​​14,925.9 square kilometers, 2,828 square kilometers had shrubs including Gando Baval (prosopis Juliflora).
Officials said that the overall increase in state forest cover was 68.5 km square compared to the previous estimate.
But in the Kutch case, it was 94.2 km square mainly due to the proliferation of Gando Baval.
Therefore it appears that for the last two censuses, the state is redeeming the loss of green cover by taking the spread of Gando Baval.
However, according to officials, there are no changes in dense forest cover, which is defined as a canopy density of more than 70%.
There was a decrease of 60 square kilometers in a fairly thick forest, where the canopy cover was between 40% and 70%.
Many lots of forest spots have turned into an open forest, again because of Gando Baval.