India lost 18,200 hectares of primary forest in 2024, compared to 17,700 hectares in 2023, according to new data from the Global Forest Watch (GFW), a global collaboration of over 100 organizations. The GFW reported that the country lost 348,000 hectares of humid primary forest between 2002 and 2024, which accounts for approximately 5.4 percent of the nation’s total humid primary forest. This represents 15 percent of India’s total tree cover loss during the same period.
Between 2001 and 2024, Assam recorded the highest tree cover loss at 340,000 hectares, far exceeding the national average of 67,900 hectares. Other states with significant losses include Mizoram with 334,000 hectares, Nagaland with 269,000 hectares, Manipur with 255,000 hectares, and Meghalaya with 243,000 hectares.
From 2019 to 2024, India lost 103,000 hectares (1.6 percent) of humid primary forest, contributing to 14 percent of the country’s total tree cover loss during that period. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, India had the second highest rate of deforestation globally between 2015 and 2020, losing around 668,000 hectares of forest annually.
The country lost 16,900 hectares of humid primary forest in 2022, 18,300 hectares in 2021, 17,000 hectares in 2020, and 14,500 hectares in 2019, according to the data.
According to the Government of Arunachal Pradesh, the state has 66,431 square kilometres of area under forest and tree cover, which is 79.63 percent of its total geographic area, as per the Forest Survey of India’s State of Forest Report 2021. This makes Arunachal the second largest state in terms of forest cover as a percentage of its total geographic area.
However, forest loss remains a significant concern. In 2024, Arunachal lost 5.63 thousand hectares of natural forest, equivalent to 2.85 million tonnes of CO? emissions, according to Global Forest Watch.
From 2001 to 2024, 46 percent of tree cover loss in Arunachal occurred in areas where the dominant drivers resulted in deforestation. The major drivers included permanent agriculture (49.7 thousand hectares), shifting cultivation (48.2 thousand hectares), wildfire (16 hectares), and logging (8.75 thousand hectares).
Losing forest cover may be inevitable due to the unplanned expansion of human activities, but efforts must be made to ensure that the rate of loss is neither too rapid nor widespread. A balance must be maintained. If this balance is disturbed, the consequences for climate change will be even more severe and far-reaching.