Ahmedabad, dec 31 : The Forest Survey of India conducted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in 2003 says Gujarat has already lost 206 square kilometres of forests. This may be ascribed to a massive destruction of green cover in the tribal belt in south Gujarat and other parts of the state. It has resulted due to tribals claiming their lands under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forests Rights) Act, 2006. Asiatic Lions got a fresh lease of life after the government, for the first time, took the issue of lions seriously and equipped foresters on protection brief with new vehicles and more staff. The Leopard, however, continued to suffer with a many instances of cubs getting charred to death in the sugarcane fields during the traditional harvest process in south Gujarat. Foresters have no clue how to go about it.
Invoking Naari Shakti, the Forest department, for the first time, recruited women to guard forests and convince their counterparts in the tribal belt to preserve green cover and not to waste it as fuel.