Recently a study published in Nature Sustainability has reported that over 50 lakh large farmlands trees disappeared from India between the years 2018 and 2022 which is quite a concern.
The research implies that alterations in the farming practices led to this loss including the transformation of agroforestry to paddy rice. Some level of tree loss was inevitable but the rate experienced in the period under study poses serious concerns about the future of the environment.
The trend of replacing mature trees in agroforestry systems with single-species-block-plantations is also being observed and practiced; this has significantly decreased the ecological value of the plantations- again, villagers of states of Telangana, Haryana, Maharashtra and other states have reported the same to the research team.
The team, which includes researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, added that the decision to chop down may largely be due to the perception that offer only a few values. It is also noted that the shading effect of trees, including Neem trees, has been perceived as a threat to crop yields. The authors also stated the desire to increase crop yields as the catalyst for the expansion of paddy rice fields.
This expansion was made easier by improved water supply, achieved through the installation of new boreholes. They said, “This finding is particularly unsettling given the current emphasis on agroforestry as an essential natural climate solution, playing a crucial role in both climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, as well as for livelihoods and biodiversity .”
Trees in agroforestry play a crucial role in India’s landscapes, providing both socio-ecological advantages and serving as a natural climate solution by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
The researchers identified that even though trees in agroforestry systems are valuable, the focus on the methods of management and lack of interest in the distribution of trees on management practices causes an insufficient surveillance system. It also means that there is no oversight on their climate change impacts or diseases susceptibility.
For their research, the group of researchers employed Artificial Intelligence deep learning models to map out one by one each non-forest tree every year.
They recorded changes by following the tree crowns over time because what is known as a canopy is made up of several tree crowns. The researchers analyzed data from about 600 million farmland trees not included in block plantations and analyzed their trends for the past 10 years. This included that 10. 7% of large trees; each of which was estimated to have a crown size of 96 sqm and recorded in 2010/2011 were not present in 2018.
The researchers wrote, “Moreover, during the period 2018-2022, more than 5 million large farmland (about 67 square meters crown size) have vanished, due partly to altered cultivation practices, where trees within fields are perceived as detrimental to crop yields.”
The researchers explained that although their findings might seem contradictory to official reports and studies indicating an increase in tree cover, their study focused solely on gross losses without considering tree gains as a separate category.
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