The total forest cover in India has grown from 20.2 per cent to 21.3 per cent, said S.K. Khanduri, Inspector-General of Forests, Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). He was here for a two-day international workshop on ‘Across landscapes: conserving coastal and marine biodiversity’, jointly organised by MOEF, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Global Environment Facility (GEF). Talking to The Hindu, he said that people need not be alarmed about deforestation, as the total cover had improved by about 1 per cent over the last decade. “But that does not mean that we can sit and relax. Systems are in place and they need proper implementation,” he added. On the growing conflict between development and conservation, he said, “Development is part of economic progress and it cannot be halted, but at the same time conservation has to be the underlying factor in the principle of development.

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