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A prison, a group of mansions, a missile manufacturer and a naval base are among the urban areas categorised as ‘forest’ by the Indian government, a Climate Home News analysis of satellite imagery reveals.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) guidelines say forests are defined by the “presence of trees and the absence of other predominant land uses”. It adds: “It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use”.
Indian forestry experts have accused successive governments of exaggerating the extent of India’s forest cover in order to make it easier to meet climate targets and access more climate finance for protecting forests.
For the first time, the government’s latest bi-annual ‘State of the Forests report’ (ISFR) maps what it regards as forestry cover in India’s seven biggest cities. An area of land over one hectare with as little as 10% canopy density is included in the tally.
According to the ISFR report, 5% of the city of Hyderabad is now covered with forest. This is more than double the level recorded of 2011.
This rise drew praise from within India and abroad. “Congrats Hyderabad!”, tweeted the president of the Green Belt and Road Institute Erik Solheim. “Good news”, said Times of...