New Delhi: India lost 18,200 hectares of primary forest in 2024, an increase from 17,700 hectares in 2023, according to newly released figures from Global Forest Watch (GFW). The data highlights a steady trend of forest depletion, particularly in humid tropical regions.
Between 2002 and 2024, the country recorded a total loss of 3,48,000 hectares of humid primary forest—mature natural forests that have not been completely cleared and regrown in recent decades. This constitutes 5.4 per cent of India’s total humid primary forest and accounts for 15 per cent of the nation’s overall tree cover loss during the same timeframe.
“In just the past five years, from 2019 to 2024, India lost 1,03,000 hectares of humid primary forest,” GFW noted in its report. This was 14 per cent of the tree cover loss during that period.
Annual losses have fluctuated in recent years. The data shows that India lost 16,900 hectares in 2022, 18,300 hectares in 2021, 17,000 hectares in 2020, and 14,500 hectares in 2019.
GFW uses satellite imagery from the Landsat program and region-specific algorithms to identify primary forests. “These forests are essential not only for biodiversity but also for carbon storage,” the report stated.
Since 2001, India has seen a cumulative loss of 2.31 million hectares of tree cover, translating to a 7.1 per cent reduction and an estimated 1.29 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. Despite these figures, between 2000 and 2020, the country also gained 1.78 million hectares in tree cover—approximately 1.4 per cent of the global total increase during that period.
The northeastern states have seen the highest levels of forest depletion. Assam recorded the largest loss at 3,40,000 hectares, followed by Mizoram (3,34,000 hectares), Nagaland (2,69,000 hectares), Manipur (2,55,000 hectares), and Meghalaya (2,43,000 hectares).
GFW attributed much of the tree cover loss between 2001 and 2024 to shifting cultivation (1.39 million hectares), permanent agriculture (6,20,000 hectares), logging (1,82,000 hectares), natural disturbances (35,100 hectares), and infrastructure development (30,600 hectares).
The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation earlier estimated India had the second-highest rate of deforestation globally between 2015 and 2020, losing about 6,68,000 hectares annually.