Indian villagers walk towards the Mahan forest during a protest against a coal mining project in Singrauli district, Madhya Pradesh. Of the 14,000 sq km of forests cleared over the past three decades in India, the largest area was given to mining (4,947 sq km), followed by defence projects (1,549 sq km) and hydroelectric projects (1,351 sq km).

Over the last 30 years, forests nearly two-thirds the size of Haryana have been lost to encroachments (15,000 sq km) and 23,716 industrial projects (14,000 sq km), according to government data, and artificial forests cannot be replacements, as the government recently acknowledged.

The government’s auditor has said conditions under which these projects are given forest land are widely violated, and experts said government data are under-estimates.  Read more:  In India, 23,716 industrial projects replaced forests over 30 years. – Enjeux énergies et environnement

GR:  Deforestation is rampant across the face of the Earth.  Progress, development, and profit–all trump forest.  And if forests aren’t totally cleared to make way for various enterprises, they are cut by timber companies that care nothing for biodiversity, only for sales of logs and lumber.

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