The signs of green turning gray are everywhere; but few take the trouble to read them. A new study has found that India has lost nearly two million hectares of tree cover – this includes plantations as well as natural forests – over the past two decades. Of that total, the northeastern states account for 76.7 percent. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise – the decline in green cover in the northeast has been noticeable for some time. Two more years ago, the State of India’s Forests Report 2019 showed that while forest cover in many parts of the country had increased, it had decreased in all northeastern states except Assam and Tripura. However, the Minister of the Environment at the time had decided to make these symptoms disappear, saying that they were not “yet a matter of concern”. What makes the situation all the more worrying is that the northeast, which is home to a quarter of India’s forest cover, is home to a number of endangered flora and fauna species. The decrease in tree cover would undoubtedly threaten the biodiversity not only of the region but also of the country.

A targeted survey of the loss of tree cover – the complete elimination of the forest cover – is the need of the hour in order to solve the typical problems of the region. For example, shifting cultivation poses a serious threat to its green cover. In addition to clearing vast areas for agriculture, it increases the risk of wildfires – the average number of such disasters in the northeastern states is double that of the central states. Alternative agricultural practices should be encouraged and local communities sensitized to the need for forest conservation. In addition, political intervention must focus on sustainability. For example, the Centre’s plan to introduce oil palm cultivation to discourage jhum the practice has drawn strong criticism from environmentalists – these plantations, it is argued not without reason, irreversibly damage soil quality. If India is to meet its goal of increasing its green coverage to 33 percent to meet the Paris Agreement target, then such myopia will not be enough. Instead of fine-tuning laws to make nominal changes to the status of forests – the proposed amendment to the 1980 Forest Conservation Act is a recent example – the government must crack down on unbalanced development patterns that cause deforestation to occur. large scale. The crisis is not confined to the northeast alone – the nation’s capital could lose more than 5,000 trees due to a “development” project. As such, a fundamental shift in perspective is imperative. No progress can be made at the expense of nature. Will the government understand this before it is too late?