400 city forests to come up across India, says Union minister

The Centre is working towards increasing green cover in urban areas, Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said on Friday. He added that the Centre has conceived a project to develop 400 city forests across the country.

Choubey also said that one such “nagar van” (city forest) would also be developed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district, adding that it will be part of the development projects in Ramban – a gift to Union home minister Amit Shah on his birthday.

Shah will be in Jammu and Kashmir for thee days starting today during which he will undertake security review and interact with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers.

Choubey made the comments while interacting with the representatives of the Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) and the public. He further said that the government is also working towards promoting an environment-friendly attitude among children and for this, it is planning to set up nurseries in educational institutions.

A liberalised policy with regard to the Forest Rights Act is also being worked upon so that the development and protection of the forests are ensured.

The Union minister of state for environment, forest and climate change is on a two-day visit to Ramban as part of the Centre’s public outreach programme.

A global study said last week that India lost nearly 2 million hectares (Mha) of tree cover between 2001 and 2020, an overall decrease of nearly 5% tree cover since the year 2000.

Three fourth of that loss was reported from the Northeastern states, it further said. The study is based on the research done by the University of Maryland in the United States. The scientists used over a million satellite images to arrive at the conclusion.