Hyderabad: At a time when climate change, greenhouse effect, melting of glaciers and many more have emerged as major threats to lives, human activities in India are extensively contributing in the foliage of Earth making it a better place to live in.
According to a NASA report, the Earth has turned out to be a more greener place as compared to it was 20 years ago.
India contributes majorly to Earth's foliage Data from NASA satellites revealed that India and its neighbour China, the two emerging countries with world's largest population, are responsible for the greening on the land.
Ambitious tree planting programs and intensive agriculture in both the countries are the main reasons behind the good change, the report said, adding that, land used for agricultural purposes in India and China is nearly 7,70,000 miles which has not changed much since 2000s.
Contribution in Earth's foliage "China and India account for one-third of the greening, but contain only 9% of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation – a surprising finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from over-exploitation," said Chi Chen of the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University, in Massachusetts.
While the change in leaf area rate due human activity remains at an average of 2.3 percent globally, China tops list with over 10 percent. India stands second in the list with more than six percent where as Indonesia comes last in the list with less than 1 percent contribution in Earth's foliage.
