Agri, monoculture up, forest cover dips in Karnataka

BENGALURU: A study report of Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystems on pilot
ecosystem accounts for Karnataka shows that with an increase in development, agriculture and large-scale monoculture, there has been a decrease in forest cover. The report, released on July 19, cited the example of Uttara Kananda, one of the 30 districts where changes were noted, and which has seen a drastic reduction in forest cover, from 68 per cent in 1973 to 29 per cent in 2018. The study was undertaken by IISc, IIT-Kharagpur, MoEFCC, National Statistical Office and Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

It stated that new urban agglomerations were noticed across major cities and towns, including Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Hassan and Hubballi. It quoted that monoculture in the state is 12 per cent — comprising eucalyptus, rubber, acacia, teak and areca.Researchers pointed out that ecosystem services had also dropped. “While the total ecosystem supply indicators (TESV) was Rs 3,620 billion in 2005, it was around Rs 2,793 billion in 2019. While the TESV for agricultural ecosystems has increased, there was a much larger decrease in TESV for forest ecosystems.

This 35.4 per cent reduction can be attributed to the degradation of ecosystems seen in the extent and condition accounts,” said researchers. Prof TV Ramachandra, from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, who was part of the study, pointed out that Karnataka’s GDP is about Rs 10,128 billion. The TESV of the forest ecosystem is around 18.1 per cent of the GDP, and TESV from agriculture is around 10.6 per cent of GDP in Karnataka.

Researchers said that pictorial colour coding in land surface temperature showed an increase in red regions, indicating areas where there is a rise in temperatures above 38 degree Celsius, from 2006 to 2018, and reduction in blue and green regions, showing a decline in areas where maximum temperature is 28-33 degrees Celsius. They stated that this is a sign of climate change, and is due to destruction of natural landscape.