Coal mining in southern India leads to significant forest cover loss.
The article discusses changes in land use in the Godavari coal fields of southern India from 1990 to 2014. Using satellite images, the researchers identified different land types like water bodies, mining areas, forests, built-up areas, barren lands, and agricultural lands. They found that water bodies slightly increased, mining areas expanded, forests decreased, built-up and barren lands grew, and agricultural lands steadily increased over the 24-year period.