New Delhi | India lost 18,200 hectares of primary forest in 2024 compared to 17,700 hectares in 2023, according to the latest data from a global collaboration of over 100 organisations.

The data provided by the Global Forest Watch and the University of Maryland showed the country has lost 2.31 million hectares of tree cover since 2001, equivalent to a 7.1 per cent decrease in tree cover during this period and 1.29 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions.

India lost 3,48,000 hectares of humid primary forest (5.4 per cent) from 2002 to 2024, accounting for 15 per cent of its total tree cover loss during the same period, it stated.

The country lost 16,900 hectares of humid primary forest in 2022, 18,300 hectares in 2021, 17,000 hectares in 2020 and 14,500 hectares in 2019, the data showed.

The dataset defines primary forests as "mature natural humid tropical forest cover that has not been completely cleared and regrown in recent history".

GFW researchers classify Landsat satellite images into primary forest data, using a separate algorithm for each region.