Nearly 6 million trees disappeared from farmlands: study

  • May 18, 2024
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Nearly 6 million trees disappeared from farmlands: study

Sub :Environment

Sec: Ecosystem

Tags: Tress,

Context:

  • Satellite-imagery-based analysis by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, reveals the huge tree loss (close to 5.8 million full-grown trees) in Indian agricultural land from 2019 to 2022.

Key Findings

  • Satellite imagery analysis revealed that 11% of trees present in 2010-2011 were no longer visible by 2018-2022.
  • The study is specific to large trees and does not indicate a decline in overall tree cover.

Data Sources and Methods:

  • Researchers utilized data from RapidEye and PlanetScope satellites, which offer resolutions of 3 to 5 meters, enabling the identification of individual large trees.
  • The analysis relied on maps from multiple ‘micro-satellites’ and machine learning to track tree numbers and trends from 2010 to 2022.
  • Contrastingly, the Forest Survey of India (FSI) uses Sentinel satellite data with a 10-meter resolution, suitable for assessing blocks of trees rather than individual ones.
    • While FSI reports an increase in tree cover from 2019 to 2021, their data is focused on acreage rather than individual trees.
  • India has the largest agricultural area globally, making changes in farmland tree cover crucial yet often overlooked.
  • The tree loss estimates are conservative, with most losses likely occurring between 2018 and 2020.

Regional Hotspots:

  • Detected trees had an average crown size of 96 square meters.
  • Unexpectedly high loss rates of mature trees were observed, particularly in central India.
  • Hotspots of tree loss:
    • Telangana and Maharashtra: Massive losses of up to 50% of large farmland trees, with up to 22 trees per square kilometre disappearing.
    • Madhya Pradesh (around Indore): Smaller hotspots with significant tree loss.

Limitations of the study:

  • The exact number of trees lost since 2010 is uncertain due to the inconsistent quality of imagery from 2010-2011 and the non-comprehensive mapping exercise during that period.

India State of Forest Report- 2021

  • The total forest and tree cover in India has grown by 2,261 sq km since the 2019 assessment (ISFR-2019).
  • Forest cover increased by 1,540 sq km, and tree cover increased by 721 sq km.
  • The overall forest and tree cover now account for 80.9 million hectares, equivalent to 24.62% of the country’s geographical area.

How is Tree Cover Different from Forest Cover?

  • Tree cover refers to the total area of land that is covered by trees, regardless of whether or not the trees are part of a forest ecosystem.
  • Forest cover, on the other hand, refers specifically to the area of land that is covered by a forest ecosystem, which is defined as an area with a tree canopy density of more than 10% and an area of more than 1 hectare.
  • So, all forest cover is tree cover, but not all tree cover is forest cover.

RapidEye:

  • RapidEye was a constellation of five identical satellites owned and operated by Planet, launched on 29 August 2008. 
  • The constellation was deactivated on 31 March 2020 but Planet still offers data archive.
  • RapidEye is part of ESA’s Third Party Missions Programme, in which ESA has an agreement with Planet to distribute archive data products from the mission.
  • Objective: to provide a range of Earth Observation products and services to a global user community.

PlanetScope satellite:

  • Constellation consists of multiple launches of groups of individual cubesats (Doves and SuperDoves).
  • Able to image nearly all Earth’s land every day.
  • Programme of European Space Agency (ESA).

Source: TH

Environment Nearly 6 million trees disappeared from farmlands: study Trees