AHMEDABAD:
Rural Gujarat now has 34.35 crore trees outside forest areas, 14% higher than the 30.14 crore trees counted in 2013. Figures from the the rural tree count released on Wednesday show that the state now has 20.38 trees per hectare. The data, from the Gujarat forest department, reveals that Ahmedabad district has the third lowest number of trees per hectare (7.98). The district fares better than only Surendranagar (4.41) and Jamnagar (7.45).
Officials said the rural tree count was undertaken by the
social forestry division of the Gujarat forest department. Anand district had the most trees per hectare, 66.
The trees-to-humans ratio, according to current data, was 5.6 trees per person in rural Gujarat.
The last urban tree count, in 2010, showed Ahmedabad city had six lakh trees or about 11 trees per 100 people.
Other municipal corporation areas fared no better. The urban tree count, scheduled to held in 2016 for the state’s eight municipal corporations and urban development authority areas, has not yet been conducted.
The growth in the number of trees in rural areas was lower than the growth between 2008 and 2013. Between 2008 and 2013, rural
tree cover had grown by 20%, while between 2013 and 2018 it grew only by 14%.
Senior officials involved in the counting said that the count revealed that central and south Gujarat registered substantial increases in tree cover, of around 25%. North Gujarat, Kutch and Saurashtra registered marginal increases.
Officials said that in Saurashtra, there has been an increase in ganda bawal (Prosopis juliflora). The count showed that ganda bawal numbers increased by around 10% in Saurashtra and Kutch. A senior officer said, “There is a marginal increase in Saurashtra and Kutch regions. Data for districts may not be 100% accurate, but in clusters it is certainly close to the statistics being enumerated.”
The officer said that in south and central Gujarat, the government had encouraged farm-bed planting, where trees are grown on the boundaries of fields and farmers can cut them and sell the wood. This scheme has been beneficial in central Gujarat, as it gives farmers extra income.
In Saurashtra and north Gujarat, however, several green pockets on the outskirts of towns have given way to development projects. Officials said the final count is being tabulated and once the district-wise comparison is available, it will become clear which districts have had green cover increase and which have seen it fall.
Recommendations
The study found that land availability to grow trees in Gujarat is limited and private land provides the only opportunity. Hence, income-generating tree species should be planted along private farms. The study also recommended that about 50% of the trees species should be grown in social foresty nurseries so they are available for farmers to planting along their fields. The study also suggested that government land not fit for agriculture be used to increase tree cover.
