The Shrinking Forests In India’s Green Frontier

These states are characterised by lush forests, rare wildlife, rich biodiversity and a distinct culture close to nature. Most of these forests are governed by local communities and yet, this region has lost 327 square kilometres (or sq km) of forest and tree cover in the last two years, and among the highest losses over the last decade, according to the latest India State of Forests Report (ISFR 2023).

A case in point is Nagaland, which lost 6.11% of its forest cover, or 794 sq km, between 2013 and 2023. That is roughly half the area of Delhi. Together, the states in the Northeast lost 3,877 sq km of forest cover, which is roughly the size of the entire state of Goa. Independent research on the Northeast also shows that “there has been a marked escalation in deforestation rates beginning in 2014, highlighting an increasing trend in forest cover loss”.

These figures are different from the government data in ISFR because this study adopts a broader definition of forest loss, encompassing both permanent deforestation and temporary disturbances such as shifting cultivation, plantation harvesting, and seasonal canopy variations. Also, the dataset used in this study relies on algorithm-driven detection without extensive ground validation which can overestimate forest loss. In contrast, ISFR involves manual verification and field surveys, explained one of the authors of this paper Manoranjan Mishra.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT)--India’s apex green court that looks into cases relating to environmental protection, conservation of forests and other natural resources--last year took suo motu cognisance of the declining forest cover in India, and particularly Northeast India, after independent platform Global Forest Watch showed that 2.3 million hectare forests were lost in India between 2000 and 2023. After the release of the ISFR 2023, NGT in January again noted the forest loss in the Northeast and summoned the concerned officials of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Mizoram to appear as parties.

In this context, we take a look at the continued impoverishment of the region, whose forests are home to some endangered species such as Red Panda, snow leopard and one-horned rhinoceros.

IndiaSpend reached out to the forest departments of the concerned states and the Union environment ministry with questions on forest loss and degradation in these states, what measures are being taken to arrest deforestation, improve the quality of forests and strengthen the community conservation model here. This story will be updated when we receive a response.

All that’s green is not forest

Every two years, the Forest Survey of India comes out with an ISFR. The last report after the 2021 assessment came out late, that is, in December 2024. Before we analyse forest loss in the Northeast, it is important to understand how the ISFR measures our forest cover.

If you ask a child to describe a ‘forest’, the answer would include trees, birds, wildlife and the ecosystem in general, but the government has a standard definition of what constitutes forest cover. ISFR considers all lands more than or equal to one hectare in area, with a tree canopy (the cover of branches and foliage formed by the crown of trees) of more than or equal to 10%, irrespective of ownership and legal status, as ‘forest cover’. This includes orchards, bamboo, and palm plantations as well. This means that a part of all that ‘forest’ as defined here may not even be notified as a forest in government records.

Source: India State of Forests Report (ISFR 2023)

About a fifth of India’s land area (21.76%) is categorised as ‘forest’, 3.41% is ‘tree cover’, and 1.33% is ‘scrub’, leaving 73.5% of its area under the ‘non forest’ category. There has been an increase of 156 sq km of forest cover and 1,289 sq km tree cover since the last assessment.

At the launch of the latest report in December, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav had expressed satisfaction at this increase. But just like every cycle, this time around too, questions have been raised on the methodology and findings of the report. Last month, a group of 60 former civil servants wrote to the environment ministry calling the ISFR 2023 methodology flawed and erroneous, and that it gives a “false impression” about the ‘increase’ in forest cover in India.

North eastern states, while covering about 8% of the nation’s land area, account for 21% of the total forest and tree cover in the country. The forests that remain in the last of India’s green havens have undergone severe depletion, going from very dense forests to sparse, open forests. Most northeastern states saw vast tracts of dense forests become open forests or ‘scrub’, and portions turning into ‘non forests’, as per government data. If open forests and scrubs are not protected, they might topple over into the ‘non forest’ category, or simply put, will cease to be forests at all.

As a whole, India saw 46,707 sq km of dense forests becoming ‘non forest’ and another 40,709 sq km of dense forests turn into open forests--something the government sees as an opportunity for density upgradation by undertaking plantation.

How did Northeast India fare in ISFR 2023? Between 2021 and 2023 alone, Assam lost 86 sq km forest from inside recorded forest areas (RFAs), and Tripura lost 116 sq km. Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh lost 47 sq km and 45 sq km each. In contrast, Mizoram gained 192 sq km of forest cover inside RFA.

Outside the RFAs, of the eight Northeastern states, three saw forest cover loss outside RFA also, but five saw gains, as we explain below.

Typically, RFAs are supposed to be reserve forests or protected forests like national parks and sanctuaries, but also include ‘unclassed forests’, ‘village forests’, or forests given any other nomenclature such as ‘deemed forests’ based on dictionary definition. Then how does one lose forests inside RFA when at least reserve forests are strictly under the forest department’s protection?

There might be some clues in the news. A recent proposal to carry out oil and gas exploration on about 4.5 hectares of land in the eco-sensitive zone of the Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam is being met with protests from locals. There is also an example of a protest in Assam in 2021 against the government’s plan to cut more than 6,000 trees in the Doboka reserve forest to extend a national highway.

Retired Indian Forest Service officer Prakriti Srivastava explained: “If loss of forests is within a recorded forest area, then whatever has happened, it has been done with state sanction--unless it is an encroachment, which can never be that large scale. If there is an illegality the government has not acted upon (such as illegal chopping of trees), then they are liable for legal action themselves,” she said.

In 2023, India amended the Forest Conservation Act 1980, which exempts land 100 km from India’s borders from the Act if it is being diverted for security-related projects, and land for eco-tourism projects. Many parts in the Northeastern states fall within 100 km of the border. Also, while the FCA amendment came towards the end of the ISFR 2023’s assessment period, going forward, its significant provision--that of not considering any forests other than those that are recorded as such--from the protection of this Act might mean we will see further loss of forests in the Northeast.

On the other hand, as we said, five northeastern states--Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Sikkim--have gained forest cover outside the RFAs between 2021 and 2023. Is it possible for a full fledged forest to grow in two years? What is growing outside RFAs are very likely to be plantations owing to agroforestry. Simply put, agroforestry is the practice of having trees and shrubs on farmland and rural landscape. Mango, neem, palm, eucalyptus, teak, coconut, Palash, Ber are some of India’s top 10 agroforestry species. Since total forest cover includes forests both inside and outside RFA, the gains in agroforestry might mask the loss of biodiversity-rich, old growth ecosystems that are natural forests, which was also one of the criticisms of the former civil servants.

For example, in Tripura, large tracts of forest land have been converted into rubber plantations. About one-eighth of the state’s area is under rubber plantations, accounting for about a sixth of the state’s forest area.

“Over the last decade, rubber plantations have been carried out on a massive scale due to it being a fast growing species and for its economic value. Extensive cultivation of rubber has also led to concerns about its potential adverse impact on biodiversity, as vast areas of natural forests have been converted into monoculture plantations, impacting the ecological balance,” the ISFR itself notes.

“Unofficially, we have heard that large forests in the Northeast are being converted into oil palm cultivation. Plantations, even if successful, are mostly monocultures. Can they have any ecological value as compared to a natural forest?” asked Srivastava.

But even the ‘net net’ picture (forest cover inside plus outside RFAs) is not rosy for the Northeast. Only Mizoram gained forest cover of 241 sq km in these two years, and Sikkim gained 5 sq km. All the remaining states lost forest cover in total (inside and outside RFA) with Tripura losing 95 sq km and Arunachal Pradesh losing 91 sq km.

As part of its international climate commitment, India has a target to increase its carbon sink to 2.5 to 3.0 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030. ISFR 2023 states that the country has added 2.29 billion tonnes of carbon sink in forest and tree cover since 2005, and so is close to meeting its target.

“Everyone is seeing forests as a resource for the number of trees they provide or the amount of carbon they sequester. But all the stakeholders need to understand that a forest is an entire ecosystem that is vital for our survival, for our wildlife and every micro-organism that depends on it. Unfortunately, ecosystems and wildlife do not vote and so, they don’t count,” said Debadityo Sinha who leads the Climate and Ecosystems team at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

Going, going, gone in a decade

The deterioration of the Northeast’s green lung is not sudden.

Between 2013 and 2023, six northeastern states lost 3,877 sq km of forests, while Assam saw a rise in forest cover of 2.72% and Sikkim 0.01%.

This is something even independent data from Global Forest Watch has been showing for some time now. An online global forest monitoring platform, GFW was developed by World Resources Institute and offers data, tools and technology to monitor forests.

GFW analysed states by loss of tree cover with over 30% canopy--much above the ISFR’s forest cover categories. They found that the top five states that were responsible for 60% of all tree cover loss between 2001 and 2023 in India were all in the Northeast, namely Assam, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur.

Also, modeling done by researchers from Odisha and Brazil, published in May last year, analysed forest cover change between 2001 and 2021. A look at the loss per year in sq km shows that the seven states (this does not take Sikkim into account) were losing between 300 and 800 sq km forests each between 2001 and 2013 but the forest loss boomed between 2014 and 2021. Every year, the seven states lost between 1,100 and 2,000 sq km forests each between 2014-21.

For example, Nagaland was losing 91 sq km of forests on average every year between 2001 and 2013, but between 2014 and 2021, it lost 251 sq km on average/year. Mizoram was losing 49 sq km forest on average every year between 2001 and 2013, but between 2014 and 2021, it lost 301 sq km on average per year.

This research pointed at Assam, Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh as highly susceptible to deforestation.

“The analysis indicates that approximately one-tenth of the total forest area diminished over the last two decades in Northeast India,” the paper states while recommending strengthening regulatory framework, afforestation and reforestation of native species, community-based forest management to minimise deforestation and protect forests.

While Northeastern states do not have the highest rate of illegal felling of trees in India, it definitely happens in each of them, as is made clear from ISFR 2023.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep

How dense a forest is, is determined by its canopy density.

A very dense forest can degrade in the density of trees into a moderately dense forest, a moderately dense one can degrade into an open forest, and so forth. The same can also see an upgrade to a higher category if rejuvenation efforts are undertaken.

While we already spoke about the loss of forests in Northeast, let’s look at the quality of forests that remain inside RFAs. Between 2021 and 2023 alone, Arunachal Pradesh lost 167 sq km of moderately dense forests. The area under non-forest category increased by only 11 sq km, but at the same time, there was a rise in open forests and scrub here, showing degradation.

Mizoram seems to have undertaken afforestation efforts. It reduced 492 sq km from ‘non forest’ category and presumably added it to open forest and scrubs category. However, Mizoram lost 210 sq km of MDF as well, some of which possibly degraded into OF and just 66 sq km upgraded into VDF.

Of the people, for the people

Pijush Dutta, faculty at Azim Premji University’s School of Development, whose area of research is community-based natural resource management, explained the role of community governance in the forests of Northeast.

“Forest ownership is really quite unique in the Northeast because around 60% of the total forests are under traditional community ownership. Many parts are really underdeveloped in terms of basic amenities. We can't compromise with the aspiration of the locals but this can also lead to ecological insecurity in the area if not planned properly. Loss of forest can also lead to loss of their cultural identity,” said Dutta.

He also explained the community’s relationship with their forests.

“The community does not have the security that if this is a forest they take care of, nobody can challenge their ownership, because that depends on the forest department. So, the real power still vests with the department and there is no incentive for the community to take care of these forest areas, particularly for the young generation whose relationship with surrounding nature has changed over time,” said Dutta, who is working with governments and local communities in the northeast to improve the community conservation model there.

Another important factor is Jhum cultivation or shifting cultivation practiced in the northeast. This ‘slash and burn’ method involves conversion of forest areas into agricultural areas by local communities. After one year of cropping, the land is left idle to rejuvenate and another piece of land is cleared for cultivation. In earlier decades, a piece of land would be given around 10 years to rejuvenate before being utilised again, but with growing population pressure, this cycle has been shortened to two-three years. The ISFR report blames Jhum cultivation for forest degradation as well as forest fires in the northeast.

“Due to shortening of the Jhum cycles, every year, large forest areas are slashed and burnt for cultivation, enhancing chances of frequent and severe fires across ecologically sensitive and biodiversity rich forests in the region,” ISFR 2023 notes.

But Soumitra Ghosh, environment researcher and activist, said there is a lack of credible data to determine how much loss is due to Jhum cultivation in particular.

“There might be many factors to deforestation in NE such as illegal logging, big dams and infra projects coming up… So how much of deforestation is due to Jhum and how much is due to development projects? We don’t know. Jhum is like a way of life, not just any other cultivation,” said Ghosh, who stressed on the need for better quality data than what are presented in the ISFR, that rely more on ground-truthing and less on satellite imagery.

Development projects, illegal felling, encroachment, plantations, forest fires, Jhum cultivation, lack of dedicated conservation efforts all seem to have contributed to the deterioration of Northeast’s green cover in varying degrees. Retired IFS officer Srivastava is afraid that with the new FCA amendment, this loss will grow because the government can do forest diversions irrespective of what the community says.

“The safeguards as far as the Forest Rights Act is concerned have been reduced. So they no longer have to seek consent from the community. They only say that it [projects] will be discussed,” she said.

While the government celebrates broad brush gains in India’s forest and tree cover, the loss of Northeast India’s forests requires urgent attention.

Update: An earlier version of this story erroneously said Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary is in Nagaland. We regret the error.

(Vijay Jadhav and K.A. Dabhi, interns with IndiaSpend, contributed to this report)

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