Bio-diversity survey: Deforestation seen highest in Sonitpur in Assam

A study conducted by the department of biotechnology (DBT) and department of space (DOS) has shown that Sonitpur in Assam has the highest rate of deforestation in the country.

The study is a part of an ambitious project on bio-diversity mapping which is proposed to cover the entire country by 2006. The project which began in 1997 aims at creating a data base for bio-prospecting and judicious exploitation of plant resources in the country.

P S Roy, dean, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, who is the national principal investigator of the project said that 60 per cent of the country's bio-diversity covering North-east, western ghats, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and north-western Himalayas had already been mapped under the first phase of the project.

Roy was in the city to deliver a lecture at the Regional Remote Sensing Service Centre.

In the second phase, entire Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, eastern part of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Orissa will be taken up and these areas will be mapped by December 2006.

He said that the study had projected North east to be the most precarious belt due to severe fragmentation in the vegetation affecting the flora and fauna of the region and creating imbalances in the ecosystem.

Roy said that the study will also identify the type of vegetation, its fragmentation and biological richness.

Roy informed that the project has generated a Bio-diversity Information System (BIS), wherein prototype data projecting possible threats to bio-diversity, was available in detail.

This project will also help in identifying species which need to be preserved.