Protests erupted over the Telangana government’s deforestation controversy related to the Kancha-Gachibowli land dispute involving the University of Hyderabad, eventually leading the matter to the Supreme Court. But how does this incident fit into the broader picture of forest loss across India? The data presents a conflicting narrative: according to Global Forest Watch, a private aggregator of global data on forests, India lost around 402 thousand hectares (Kha) of humid primary forest between 2003 and 2023. In contrast, data from the Forest Survey of India—under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change—claims that India’s total forest cover grew by about 5% during the same period. For more details, please check this video.
Published on April 19, 2025
