The koala has been listed as a threatened species in parts of Australia due to its shrinking population, according to officials.

One of Australia's most iconic marsupials, the koala is facing a range of threats, including habitat loss, urban expansion, dog attacks, vehicle collisions and disease. Its specialised diet of eucalyptus leaves confines it to quite specific habitats, while increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere may be reducing the nutrient content of the leaves it eats.

To offset the effects of climatic change and global warming in the country, the Pakistan Forests Institute (PFI), Peshawar has completed a comprehensive study to determine the climatic change scenarios in Pakistan’s various ecological zones and its impact on forests resources.

In an attempt to shore up the green cover at Ludhiana’s Mattewara reserve, the forest department has begun replacing the traditional eucalyptus trees with Shisham and Acacia ones instead. The forest cover, spread across 1755 hectares, has remained static in the last few years despite repeated plantation drives. Forest officials have found that the cause for this is that on an average around 6,000 eucalyptus trees are dying every year because of drought like conditions in the forest reserve.

India’s forest cover decreased by 367 square kilometers between 2007 and 2009, and it was primarily tribal and hilly regions that were to blame, according to the biennial forest survey released last week by the Ministry of Environment and Forest.

The report showed some areas of progress. Among the 15 states that increased their forest cover in the period are Orissa and Rajasthan. In Punjab, the nation’s grain bowl, enhanced plantation activities and an increase in agro-forestry practices contributed to the highest gain in forest cover with 100 square kilometers.

The country recorded a decrease of 367 square km in forest cover last year, compared with 2009, according to India State of Forest Report 2011, released here on Tuesday.

The forest and tree cover of the country stands at 78.29 million hectare, which is 23.81 per cent of the country's geographical area, said the report. “Compared with the 2009 assessment, after taking into account the interpretational changes, there is a decrease of 367 square km in the country's forest cover,” the report said.

Andhra’s Khammam Alone Accounts For Almost 50% Loss: FSI Report. India recorded a net loss of 367 sq km of forests between 2009 and 2011, with Khammam district in Andhra Pradesh alone losing 182 sq km of green cover in the period, the latest ‘state of forest’ report has found. The report, prepared biennially by the Forest Survey of India — the Dehradun based wing of the environment and forests ministry — was released on Tuesday.

The trees spanning many of the mountainsides of western Montana glow an earthy red, like a broadleaf forest at the beginning of autumn.

But these trees are not supposed to turn red. They are evergreens, falling victim to beetles that used to be controlled in part by bitterly cold winters. As the climate warms, scientists say, that control is no longer happening.

Across millions of acres, the pines of the northern and central Rockies are dying, just one among many types of forests that are showing signs of distress these days.

Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehradun, is for the past one year, trying to find a way to control the gall disease that has affected almost 50 per cent of the eucalyptus trees being grown in the North’s forest region as well as those grown by private persons.

More than three lakh trees in Kandi area of Punjab alone are under the attack of Leptocybe Invasa, a gall insect, which causes swelling in the veins of the leaves of young trees and hampers their growth.

The Punjab Forest Department had decided to give a big push to agro-forestry in the state and 18 lakh seedlings of fast-growing and economically important tree species such as eucalyptus, shisham and drek had been produced.

Stating this here today, Forest Minister Arunesh Shakar said the state Forest Department in order achieve the target of 15 per cent forest cover in the state by 2020 had dec