Bengaluru lost 5 sqkm forests in 10 yrs: Report

BENGALRU: Bengaluru, which had around 94 sqkm of forests in 2011, had only about 89 sqkm in 2021, taking the overall forest cover with respect to its total geographic area to 6.8% from 7.2% a decade ago, an analysis of megacities in India State of Forests Report (ISFR) for 2021 has revealed.
Bengaluru lost nearly 12.9 sqkm of moderately dense forests (MDF) in 2021 as compared to 2011, while adding nearly 7.9 sqkm of open forests (OF).As of last year, the city has more than 12.6 sqkm of MDF and nearly 76.4 sqkm of open forests.
Using the Census classification of very large urban agglomerations with a population of more than 10 million people, ISFR-2021 says India has five major megacities - Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai. Ahmedabad and Hyderabad have also been assessed as they are two "rapidly growing" cities.
These seven cities have a combined forest cover of more than 509.7 sqkm, which is 68 sqkm more than the 441.7 sqkm they had in 2011. As per the report released on Thursday - which has since been removed from the official website - Delhi and Mumbai have fared better than Bengaluru, while Chennai and Kolkata are worse than the Garden City.
While Ahmedabad has lost more forests than Bengaluru in the last decade, Hyderabad, despite adding overall cover, fares poorly when it's compared with the overall geographical area (see graphic).
With more than 194.2 sqkm, Delhi has the most forest cover in absolute terms, followed by Mumbai (110.7 sqkm), Bengaluru, Hyderabad (81.8 sqkm), Chennai (22.7 sqkm), Ahmedabad (9.4 sqkm) and Kolkata (1.8 sqkm).
However, as a percentage of their total geographic area, Mumbai leads the table with more than a quarter of its land being covered by forests, followed by Hyderabad (12.9%), Delhi (12.6%), Bengaluru, Chennai (5.3 sqkm), Ahmedabad (2 sqkm) and Kolkata (0.9%).
"Maximum gain in forest cover is seen in Hyderabad (48.6 sqkm) followed by Delhi (19.9 sqkm), while Ahmedabad and Bengaluru have lost 8.5 sqkm and 5 sqkm, respectively," the report reads.