Green cover of Delhi has increased from 21.88% to 23.06% of its geographical area in the last 2 years: Gopal Rai
Delhi a nation wide leader in pro-environment activities; Kejriwal Government on track to plant 33,00,000 saplings by March 2022
NEW DELHI:
Thanks to the public-first policies of the Kejriwal Government, Delhi is becoming greener day by day. Environment Minister Shri Gopal Rai stated that the tree cover has increased by 18 sq km. He added that Green cover of Delhi has increased from 21.88% to 23.06% of its geographical area in the last 2 years. Delhi is a nation wide leader in pro-environment activities. The Kejriwal Government is on track to plant 33,00,000 saplings by March 2022.
Shri Gopal Rai said, “The environment friendly and progressive policies of the Kejriwal Government have gotten recognised by the Union Government’s report too today. Thanks to the historic public-first governance measures of the Delhi Government, Green Cover of Delhi has increased by almost 18 sq km. The Union Environment Minister released the State of Forest Report (SFR)- 2021 today. The report has been prepared by Forest Survey of India, Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change. As per this report, Green Cover of Delhi has increased by almost 18 sq km in comparison to SFR 2019.”
He added, “The tree cover of Delhi as per SFR 2019 was 129 sq km which has now increased to 147 sq km that means there is an increase of 18 sq km within 2 years. The overall green cover (Forest cover + Tree cover) is now 342 sq km (as per SFR 2021) which was earlier 324.44 sq km. Thus, there is a net increment of 17.5 sq km in green cover. In terms of percentage, Green cover of Delhi has increased from 21.88% to 23.06% of its geographical area in the last 2 years i.e. 2019-2021.
He concluded, “There is also a slight increase in Moderate Dense Forest from 56.42 sq km in 2019 to 56.60 sq km in 2021. There is no change in the Very Dense Forest (6.2 sq km). The Open forest which was 132.30 sq km in the year 2019 has now changed to 131.68 sq km.”
It is noteworthy that the Delhi Government aims to plant 33,00,000 saplings by March 2022. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Shri Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi has become the first city to start a Tree Transplantation Policy where trees will be transplanted and at the same time be replaced by 10 new trees.