New Delhi: The Capital's tree cover has increased by 18 sq km in the last two years, during which the city's green cover too rose by nearly 2 percentage points, according to the Union Environment Ministry's State of Forest Report 2021 — released on Thursday by Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.
Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai announced the Capital's figures in a statement on Thursday, revealing that the green cover in Delhi had increased from 21.88 per cent of the total geographical area in 2019 to 23.06 per cent in 2021. He added that this was because of the "public-first policies" of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government.
Moreover, Rai said that the Delhi government is already on its way to planting 33 lakh saplings across the city by March this year, claiming that Delhi was a nationwide leader in pro-environment activities.
According to the SFR 2019, Delhi's tree cover was measured at 129 sq km, which had now increased to 147 sq km, in the most recent report prepared by the Forest Survey of India under the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. As per the 2019 report, the Capital's green cover (forest cover + tree cover) was measured at 324.44 sq km. The latest report showed that this had gone up to 342 sq km.
In addition, the SFR 2021 revealed that there had been a slight increase in the Moderate Dense Forest area here as well — from 56.42 sq km in 2019 to 56.6 sq km in 2021. However, it added that there was no change in the area of Very Dense Forest, which remained at 6.2 sq km. But the Open Forest area in Delhi was found to have decreased in this time period — from 132.30 sq km in 2019 to 131.68 sq km in 2021.
"In terms of percentage, green cover of Delhi has increased from 21.88 per cent to 23.06 per cent of its geographical area in the last 2 years i.e. 2019-2021," a statement from Rai's office said.
Rai added, "The environment-friendly and progressive policies of the Kejriwal Government have been recognised by the Union Government's report too today... Delhi has become the first city to start a Tree Transplantation Policy where trees will be transplanted and at the same time be replaced by 10 new trees."