Steady decline in the country's forest health: IIT Kgp study
The photosynthetic efficiency of Indian forests has declined by 5 per cent between 2010–2019 compared to the previous decade (2000–2009)
Steady decline in the country's forest health: IIT Kgp study
Kolkata: India's forest health is steadily declining due to reduced photosynthetic efficiency, despite the country experiencing significant greening and contributing to global terrestrial carbon sequestration, a new study by IIT Kharagpur researchers has revealed.
The study, titled "Weakening of forest carbon stocks due to declining Ecosystem Photosynthetic Efficiency under the current and future climate change scenarios in India", was led by Professor Jayanarayanan Kuttippurath and Rahul Kashyap of the Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere and Land Sciences at IIT Kharagpur.
The study revealed three major findings. The photosynthetic efficiency of Indian forests has declined by 5 per cent between 2010–2019 compared to the previous decade (2000–2009).
The decline is most pronounced in pristine forests of the Eastern Himalaya, Western Ghats, and Indo-Gangetic Plain.
At the same time, forests show low resilience to warming, drying, land and atmospheric aridity, and wildfires, with only 16 per cent exhibiting high integrity.
