India's Forest Cover Has Been Rising

The world's forest cover is rising, though the world itself is becoming more urbanised and industrialised. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it is true. Even in countries like Peru, where the forest cover declined in the past century, this did not lead to wildlife extinction. Over the past century, forest cover has risen almost everywhere, even in countries like China.

In India, too, forest cover has risen consistently during the time for which data are available, especially so in the past 15 years. Why did this happen? Forest cover rises largely because of better fire control programmes, planting of trees, and other forestry measures. The supply of wood is now greater than ever because privately owned forests are an important source of timber.