Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s forest cover grew by over 811 square km during the period from 2017 to 2021, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the Rajya Sabha recently.
Choubey said that the state government has undertaken various afforestation activities and forest protection measures to increase the green cover and for sustainable management of the forests as per approved working plans.
As per the report received from Odisha, he said, deforestation in the state has not increased in recent years, but instead due to implementation of various afforestation schemes and forest protection measures, the forest cover in the state has increased during 2017 to 2021.
Odisha had 51,345 square km of forest cover in 2017, which increased to 51,619 square km in 2019 and 52,156 square km in 2021, registering a growth of 811 square km of green cover, Choubey said.
The green coverage of the state increased by 885 square km in 2017 compared to the previous survey year. Similarly, the forest cover increased by 272 square km in 2019 and 537 square km in 2021. Now, 33.50 per cent of the total geographical area of Odisha has green coverage, he said.
Choubey further informed that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is implementing various afforestation schemes to increase the forest cover in the country namely Green India Mission, Nagar Van Yojana, Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, and under various schemes Ministries namely Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes (MGNREGS), National Bamboo Mission, National Agroforestry Policy and Sub-mission on Agroforestry (SMAF).
These apart, the state is also implementing various plan schemes to increase the forest cover.
Choubey further said that awareness programs were being taken up for prevention of shifting cultivation (Podu), fire protection and anti-poaching involving Vana Samrakshana Samiti Members, Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members and NGOs in the rural areas through pamphlets, meetings, posters and Nukkad Natak, and also through capacity building and training programs of forest staff and villagers.
PNN