1.5L hectares of forest land diverted in 5 yrs: Environment Minister 

In the last five years, the Union Environment Ministry has approved 10,026 number of proposals involving diversion of 96450.07 ha of forest land for non-forestry purposes, an 11% jump since 2020 when 155670.07 hectares of the forest land was diverted.

The information was shared by Minister of State in the Environment Ministry Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written response to TMC MP Samirul Islam in the Rajya Sabha today.

The mining and quarrying, defence, road, hydropower, power and irrigation sectors together accounted for more than 1.43 lakh hectares of the forest diversion. At least 27 categories of projects, including railway and pipeline, in the forest areas also received clearances.

Responding to a question on India’s progress on emission reduction, Singh said, “India submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement in 2015 and updated it in August 2022. The steps included setting enhanced targets, reducing emissions intensity of GDP by 45% by 2030 from 2005 levels, achieving 50% cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources and creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent through increased forest and tree cover.”

He also said India had achieved its NDC goal of the share of non-fossil fuel-based power generation capacity, which stood at 50.07% as of June 30, 2025.

“From 2005 to 2020, the emission intensity of the GDP declined by 36%, and between 2005 and 2021, India created an additional carbon sink of 2.29 billion tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent from forest and tree cover, reaffirming its commitment to equitable climate action,” Singh added.

This year, the standing committee for National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) gave wildlife clearances to 32 defence projects inside the sanctuaries located in Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.