Govt Wants to Reduce Degraded Forest Cover: Ramesh

Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh has said that principle challenge and objective of the central government is to lessen the proportion of degraded areas and bring them under good quality forest cover.

Speaking on the sidelines of National Consultation on ‘Management of Agro bio-diversity Hotspots in an Era of Climate Change’ organised by M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chennai, he told reporters that roughly 21 per cent of Indian geographical area was under forest cover at present.

“Out of the total forest cover area of our country, two per cent is good quality and high density forest cover and 10 per cent medium density forest area. The remaining nine per cent is degraded forest cover,” he said.