India's forest cover report: Balancing progress and challenges

While the overall figures indicate progress, deeper analysis reveals signs of forest degradation, including a troubling shift from Moderately Dense Forests (MDF) to Open Forests (OF). MDFs, with canopy density between 40-70%, are critical for biodiversity and ecosystem services, and their decline suggests thinning and fragmentation that compromise ecological stability, says Mr Sayanta Ghosh, Associate Fellow and Dr Jitendra Vir Sharma, Senior Director, Land Resources Division, TERI.