Gujarat’s rural tree count grows to 34 crore

Ahmedabad: Rural Gujaratnow has 34.35 crore trees outside forest and urban areas, 14% higher than the 30.14 crore trees counted in 2013. The rural tree count figures released on March 21 reveals that the state now has 20.38 trees per hectare.
Officials said that the rural tree count was recently undertaken by the social forestry division of the Gujarat forest department. The highest tree cover per hectare was found in Anand where there were 66 trees per hectare.
The trees-to-human ratio, according to current data, stood at 5.6 trees per person in rural Gujarat. The last urban tree count in 2010 had shown Ahmedabad city had nearly six lakh trees with about 11 trees per 100 people. Other corporation areas were no better off. The urban tree count scheduled in 2016 for eight municipal corporations and urban development authority areas has still not been conducted.
However, the growth in rural tree count was lower than the growth registered between 2018 and 2013. Between 2008 and 2013, tree cover had grown by 20%. Senior officials involved in the counting said that the count revealed that central and south Gujarat registered a substantial increase, around 25%, in tree cover. North Gujarat, Kutch and Saurashtra regions registered a marginal increase.
However, in Saurashtra and north Gujarat, several green pockets on outskirts of towns have given way to development projects. Officials said the final count is being tabulated and once the district-wise comparison becomes available, it will become clear as to where there has been a drop in green cover and which districts have gained.

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