By 2050, climate change and poor soil might reduce Tamil Nadu’s evergreen cover to 32%

The state may lose 32% of its evergreen forests by 2050 as a result of the effects of climate change and very low soil fertility, which prevents forest regrowth.

These were the results of a groundbreaking research and climate modeling conducted by Anna University’s Center for Climate Change and Disaster Management (CCCDM). At the senior forest officers meeting on Monday, a paper titled “Climate Risk Assessment in Forestry Sector Tamil Nadu” was presented.

The state contains 1,881 sq. km. of evergreen forest, 13,394 sq. km. of deciduous forest, and 4,292 sq. km. of thorn forest, according to baseline data (1985–2014).

“During the period 2021-2050, there will be a decline of 32% in evergreen forest cover and an 18% drop in deciduous forest cover due to climatic factors including increased temperature and fewer rainy days. According to A Ramachandran, an emeritus professor at CCCDM and member of the TN Governing Council on Climate Change, “the thorn forest cover will dominate, increasing by 71%.”

According to the data, the Nilgiris district is most at risk, with the greatest expected decline in deciduous and evergreen forest types in the near future. The remaining districts, namely Dindigul, Coimbatore, Kanniyakumari, Tirunelveli, and Tiruppur, exhibit decreased suitability for evergreen forest types. Krishnagiri is the district where habitat suitability for evergreen forest type has decreased the least.

Similarly, Salem is the most susceptible area in the Eastern Ghats, with a major decline in the evergreen forest’s viability as a habitat, soon to be followed by Namakkal.

The CCCDM’s director, Kurian Joseph, said that historical errors such chopping trees for lumber are to blame for the changes.

Fertility of forest soil declining

at the meanwhile, soil analysis has been conducted at 560 carefully chosen places within the forest regions by the CCCDM climate studio to determine the present soil organic carbon (SOC), which is directly related to the ecological health of the forest.

It was discovered that the current SOC was a pitiful 0.8%. One percent is the absolute minimum needed to sustain forest generation. According to Ramachandran, who created a website that provides information on the state of the soil in each district, “in certain areas, the soil is literally dead with zero organic carbon.” The forest department’s afforestation efforts to increase the amount of green cover will all be unsuccessful.

Currently, the evergreen and semi-evergreen forest has a good SOC value, ranging from 5 to 15%. “We should concentrate on regions of deciduous and thorn forests, which span 10.49 lakh and 5.31 lakh hectares, respectively. 3.16 lakh hectares are severely degraded out of them. In order to improve the soil in these deteriorated regions, the forest service must act quickly, requiring 59,891 tons of compost.

Head Wildlife Warden According to Srinivas R Reddy, there has been little attention given to the depletion of carbon and nitrogen in the soil.

The director of the Advanced Institute of Wildlife Sciences and PCCF, A Udhayan, said that the government has to consider passing laws to safeguard soil. “More people are unaware that soil retains carbon than evergreen forests.”