PANAJI
With a herculean task to cover 3.17 crore trees spread over around 2,482 square km area under the geo-enabled tree census, the Forest Department has now roped in Forest Survey of India (FSI) for satellite-based census.
As per an exercise undertaken by the Forest Department since April, 2022, using a manual method, tree census in the whole of Goa will include approximately 3.17 crore trees spread in about 2,482 square km area, and is likely to entail expenditure of Rs 89 crore. Total 130 teams across North and South Goa were formed to undertake the census.
Speaking to The Goan, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) IFS Umakant said that though the manual exercise had commenced two years back, the government decided to adopt Remote Sensing and GIS based technology to fast-track the census.
For this purpose, he said, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with FSI, Dehradun, for undertaking satellite based census.
Sources informed that as per the exercise undertaken so far, each tree has been tagged with a unique ID along with attributes like latitude, longitude, botanical name, common name, local name, height, girth, condition, ownership and location.
After being repeatedly slammed by the High Court for its lackadaisical attitude to its order dated July 2021, the Forest Department had commenced the tree census exercise as mandated under the Goa, Daman, and Diu Preservation of Trees Act, 1984 (Trees Act).
Sources said that the decision to rope in FSI was taken after it was realized that it is impossible to conduct a tree census for the whole of Goa through manual method within one or two years.
“It is not an easy job. It requires a lot of effort. With limited manpower, we were in a position to identify and geo-tag around 10-11 lakh trees,” sources said.
As per the FSI, there is no record of tree census worldwide as complete enumeration of all the trees is neither possible nor feasible due to large non-sampling error.
Since 1987, FSI has been drafting a forest cover report every three years, which includes everything -- tree cover and extent of green cover outside forest areas.
