Ahmedabad: Lion Habitat has registered a decrease of 33.43 square kilometers (2.52%) of forest cover in the last ten years, according to the latest report from the Indian Forest Survey (FSI) released on Thursday.
The Indian State Report (ISFR) 2021, for the first time, assesses the type of forest within the gear and wildlife reserve national park.
The total area of the national park and wildlife asylum is estimated at 1350.25 square kilometers.
While the park recorded a reduction of 2.20 square kilometers on forest cover, the sanctuary saw a decrease of 31.23 square kilometers.
The report stated that dry teak forests were 11.23% while the dried mixture of forests were 38.21%.
The national park according to this report has 12 artificial wet and 19 natural wetlands.
A senior researcher said that with the increasing population of lions, a reduction of 33.43 square kilometers was a reason for concern because the country had not added any area to wildlife asylum.
FSI defines ‘forest cover’ as all soil hectares or more with tree spots with canopy density more than 10 percent.
“The government has stated that the conservation area instead of having more wildlife reserves.
The state has added Girnar, Mityala and Pania Succuaries,” he said.
Researchers say that reducing forest areas will mean fewer space for big cats that are increasingly seen outside the asylum area and are closer to human habitats.
Officials said that even the Lion Union Government project stated that the national park area must be increased and newer areas outside Gujarat must be identified.
However, the state government has rejected the proposal, explaining that lions are the pride of Gujarat.
Officials said that the number of 2020 has revealed that the ratio of adult women in adult women is estimated at 1: 1.61.
This means that with more men in the sanctuary, the lion will need more space for the territory.
Census 2021 revealed that the Lions range stretched 30,000 square kilometers and they did not analyze new areas over the past year.
The distribution of lions has increased from 22,000 square kilometers in 2015 to around 30,000 square kilometers in 2020, represents 36% expansion in the range.
Gujarat: Thin Canopy Gir is 2.5% in 10 years
