❖ The State Planning Commission has identified policy focus areas to improve the forest cover in Tamil Nadu after analysing 20 years of data.

❖ It has been brought out by the Tamil Nadu State Land Use Research Board of the Commission.

❖ The Nilgiris now tops the table with a loss of 226 sq. km between 2003 and 2011 of dense forests and 348 sq. km of moderately dense forests between 2011-2021.

❖ The five - Chennai, Tiruvarur, Karur, Nagapattinam, and Perambalur districts accounts for only 1.89% of the State’s Forest cover.

❖ Sivagangai district’s forest cover came down by 20.47% in the last two decades, followed by Villupuram (13.85%), and Kancheepuram (13.03%).

❖ Dharmapuri has lost 409 sq. km of open forests.

❖ The tree cover in the State from 2001 to 2021 to an extent of 1,630 sq. km.

❖ The share of Tamil Nadu in the national mangrove cover is only 0.9%.

❖ Tamil Nadu has recorded an increase in the mangrove cover from 23 sq. km in 2001 to 49 sq. km in 2017.

❖ But the State had lost 4 sq. km of the mangroves between 2017 and 2021.