NEWS – New study reveals Nearly 6 million trees disappeared from Indian farmlands in three years

HIGHLIGHTS

• Tree Loss in Indian Farmlands:
  • Nearly 5.8 million full-grown trees lost from agricultural lands between 2019 and 2022.
  • Study conducted by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, published in Nature Sustainability.
• Satellite Imagery Analysis:
  • Analysis used satellite imagery from RapidEye and PlanetScope.
  • Study tracked large trees with average crown size of 96 sq.m.
  • Detected an 11% disappearance of such trees from 2010-2011 to 2018-2022.
• Focus and Methodology:
  • Focused on farmlands, covering 56% of India.
  • Utilized machine learning to estimate trends starting from 2010.
• Regional Impact:
  • Significant tree losses in central India, especially Telangana and Maharashtra.
  • Up to 50% loss of large trees in hotspot areas, with up to 22 trees per square kilometer disappearing.
  • Smaller hotspots of loss observed around Indore in eastern Madhya Pradesh.
• Possible Causes:
  • Conversion of farmland to paddy fields cited as a plausible reason.
  • Discrepancies due to image quality noted, but images from 2018 to 2022 deemed reliable.
• Contrasting Reports:
  • Forest Survey of India (FSI) reports overall tree cover increase from 2019 to 2021.
  • FSI surveys focus on acreage rather than individual trees.
• Implications:
  • Importance of monitoring individual tree loss in agricultural areas.
  • Highlights critical, yet overlooked, changes in tree cover in the world’s largest agricultural region.