India’s Primary Forests Are Rapidly Declining — Here's Why It Matters In 2024 alone, India lost over 18,000 hectares of primary humid forest — the highest in recent years. These forests, often overlooked in policy discourse, are crucial for carbon storage, biodiversity, and climate regulation. Since 2002, over 3.48 lakh hectares of mature, undisturbed forest have disappeared — a significant portion in the northeastern states, where shifting cultivation, agriculture, and development pressures are accelerating degradation. Unlike plantation forests, primary forests are irreplaceable ecological assets, hosting complex ecosystems developed over centuries. Their loss contributes significantly to CO₂ emissions, biodiversity decline, and disruption of forest-dependent communities. Using satellite data, platforms like Global Forest Watch are mapping these changes in near real-time, raising urgent concerns for conservation, governance, and policy planning. Read in English: https://www.dhyeyaias.com/current-affairs/daily-current-affairs/india-primary-forest-loss-2024-ecological-climatic-impact Read in Hindi: https://www.dhyeyaias.com/hi/current-affairs/daily-current-affairs/india-primary-forest-loss-2024-ecological-climatic-impact