Mar 17, 2021, 11:50 IST
As India celebrated
World Wildlife Day this month, an inferno continued to rampage across eight of the 21 forest ranges of Odisha's Similipal National Park. It continues to endanger mammals, amphibians, birds, butterflies, and over 94 species of orchids and many indigenous trees specific to the region. But this disaster is not an exception as more than 36% of Indian forest cover is prone to frequent forest fires, according to a World Wildlife Day (FSI).
This coupled with rapid deforestation has endangered India’s flora, which is one of the richest and most diverse in the world. Experts estimate that there are over 18,000 species of flowering plants and more than 50,000 species of plants, including endemics in the country. India's forest cover also ranges from the tropical rainforests, grasslands, deciduous and coniferous tracts with a wide variety of pine, fir, spruce, cedar, larch, and cypress trees lending to India’s indigenous biodiversity.