The loss is more in Bangalore rural where the amount of forest cover came down from 858 sq km in 2003 to 828 sq km in 2005, a decrease of 30 sq km. Bangalore urban district lost four sq km of forests.

The loss is calculated on the basis of the 2005 State of Forest Report, which presents the latest official data on the forest and tree cover situation. The next version of the report, prepared by the Forest Survey of India, is expected in 2009.

While the forest cover in 54 districts housing 35 cities went up marginally from 28,055 sq km (2003) to 28,431 (2005), substantial losses were reported in the Bangalore and Ahmedabad metropolitan areas where 30 sq km of forest land and more were lost.

The forest cover in Chennai remains static, but Hyderabad and Kochi witnessed a marginal loss of three and four sq km respectively. In Visakhapatnam, the forest cover increased by two sq km.

Mumbai is a success story, as the forest cover in the Maximum City went up by 128 sq km in Thane, 122 sq km in Raigad and 25 sq km in Mumbai suburb districts.

For the country as a whole, the forest cover decreased by 728 sq km in the same period, the main reason being the tsunami and the submergence of areas following dam constructions. To further increase the forest cover, the government is in the process of launching a massive afforestation programme titled ‘Green India.’

“Under this programme, we are also looking at greening the urban space creating carbon sink,” says Shyam Saran, Prime Minster’s Special Envoy on Climate Change.

Even though the forest cover in the metropolitan areas broadly remains constant, the situation may not be the same in the districts where forest lands were given away on mining lease by the Union environment ministry.

Between April 1, 2005 and November 30, 2008, more than 4,500 sq km of forest land in Karnataka alone were leased out to companies for mining. For the entire country, more than 36,000 forest lands were given out on mining lease by the Union environment ministry.