CHENNAI: The State is rapidly losing its forest cover and what little is left is under severe stress.

According to recent statistics collected by the Environment department, forests account for only 17.5 per cent of the total area. And much of this is degraded.

"Tamil Nadu is extremely rich in biodiversity but adequate attention has not been paid to assess it effectively. As a result, many species have become endangered. Biodiversity conservation assessment and monitoring needs a greater fillip in the coming years,'' a report prepared by the department notes.

Striking imbalance

Contrast this with the area under agriculture - nearly 43 per cent of the State's geographical extent - and the imbalance in land use pattern becomes starker. Out of a total forest area of 22,876.62 sq km, reserve forests were spread over 19,387.85 sq km and unclassified forests over 1306 sq km.

The Nilgiris topped the list of district-wise forest cover, with 53.13 per cent under forest cover. Tiruvarur stood last with just 0.02 per cent cover. Salem had 37.78 per cent under forest cover, Dharmapuri 24.77 per cent, Dindigul 24.21 per cent, Tiruvannamalai 22.56 per cent, Tirunelveli 19.37 per cent, Villupuram 16.52 per cent and Tiruvallur 10.89 per cent. Other districts fell well below two per cent. Chennai had just 1.62 per cent forest cover and the ecologically degraded Vellore, 0.031 per cent.

The reasons

Much of the forests were found to have fallen prey to anthropogenic stress. In several instances, over-exploitation of natural resources led to loss of floral and faunal diversity.

Another major problem the report lists is desertification of land: a process by which the soil's productivity rapidly declines due to a combination of factors such as erosion and increase in soil salinity, much of which affects the ability of natural resources to renew themselves.

"Tamil Nadu has 3.7 million hectares of land under various stages of degradation, mostly in the districts of Ramanathapuram, Erode, Theni, Sivagangai and Nagapattinam," the report observes.

To combat the desertification, the Government has allotted Rs. 15 lakh for a pilot project in Ramanathapuram district.

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