Delhi's total forest & tree cover up by 1.27 pc in 2 years

The national capital's total forest and tree cover has increased from 305.41 sq km in 2017 to 324.44 sq km this year, according to India State of Forest Report released on Monday.

The total forest and green cover is now 21.86 per cent of the total geographical area (1,483 sq km) of the city.

The tree cover has increased from 113 sq km in 2017 to 129 sq km and the forest cover from 192.41 sq km to 195.44 sq km.

"Delhi has 6.72 sq km under very dense forest (VDF), 56.42 sq km under moderately dense forest (MDF) and 132.30 sq km under open forest (OF). Delhi's forest cover has increased by 3.03 sq km as compared to the previous assessment reported in ISFR 2017," the report said.

South Delhi recorded the maximum increase of 1.28 sq km in forest cover, followed by South West Delhi (1.09 sq km).

Forest cover refers to all lands more than one hectare in area, with a tree canopy density of more than 10 percent irrespective of ownership and legal status. Such lands may not necessarily be a recorded forest area. It also includes orchards, bamboo and palm.

Tree cover comprises of tree patches outside the recorded forest area exclusive of forest cover and less than the minimum mappable area (1 ha).

The Delhi government has set an ambitious target of increasing the city's green cover to 25 per cent by 2025, but officials had earlier told PTI this is possible only if the DDA hands overland on the Yamuna riverbanks to the forest department.

The National Forest Policy aims at bringing a minimum of one-third of India's total geographical area under green cover.

The green cover should be at least 66 per cent of the total area in hilly regions and 20 per cent in the plains.

"The forest department needs around 6,500 hectares more to achieve the target. A total of 9,000 hectares of land is available in the ''O'' zone," an official had said.

The ''O'' zone, as categorised by the DDA, covers the river, riverbank, and floodplains.