Key Points

While India's forest cover remained constant from 1991-2011, it increased after that.

"The relationship between urbanisation and forest cover is U shaped...early-stage urbanisation leads to deforestation, but as urbanisation progresses, there is an increase in policies such as urban greening, forest conservation programmes, and sustainable land-use planning, which results in an eventual recovery of forest cover," according to the SBI report.

India is urbanising rapidly. According to Census 2011, India's urban population was 31.1 per cent of the total population, which is expected to increase to 35-37 per cent in census 2024.

Beyond 40 per cent urbanisation rate, the effect on forest cover becomes positive... Thus, more and more programmes like Smart Cities Mission and Atal Mission For Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) are essential to integrate green infrastructure and enhance urban ecological resilience, it added.

According to the current assessment, the total forest cover in the India's mega cities is 511.81 km2, which is 10.26 per cent of the total geographical area of the cities. Delhi has the largest forest cover followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru.

The maximum gain in forest cover (2023 over 2021) is seen in Ahmedabad, followed by Bengaluru, while the maximum loss in forest cover is seen in Chennai and Hyderabad. The forestry sector contributes around 1.3-1.6 per cent to India's GVA, supporting industries like furniture, construction, and paper manufacturing.

India is estimated to have 35 billion trees; this translates into only Rs 100 GVA per tree.

The report also points out that India is a land with asymmetric forest cover and increasing in states like Odisha, Mizoram and Jharkhand ...North-East and Hilly states (like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh) have more geographical area under forest cover...States like UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, etc. have less than 10 per cent of their geographical area under forest cover.

Expanding biodiversity hotspots and incentivising private sector participation can enhance forest sustainability, and investing in afforestation projects through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and carbon offset markets can enhance conservation funding. Strengthening enforcement against encroachment through satellite monitoring and digital databases can protect critical forest areas, the report states.

The government has undertaken various initiatives, such as the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT, to integrate green infrastructure and enhance urban ecological resilience in line with the postulated U-shaped hypothesis. This will give rise to better institutional capacity that supports both urban growth and environmental conservation, the report added.

- IANS