Worsening wildfires

Local tribes should be involved in forest upkeep and management

Wildfires have, typically, not been a major threat to forests in India. But their incidence, as also intensity, has tended to escalate in the recent past. Uttarakhand, the Himalayan state having over 70 per cent area under forests, has been the worst victim of jungle blazes. It has lost tree cover over 48,000 hectares in the past two decades. This year again, over 1,100 wild infernos have already been recorded, though the prime forest fires season of hot and arid May is yet to come. The state has received almost no rainfall since the last monsoon. Unless well-advised preventive measures are taken urgently, the situation might turn all the more worrisome in the coming weeks.

Disquietingly, the frequency of forest blazes in other states is also on the rise. Going by the last report of the Forest Survey of India, around 30,000 jungle fires were recorded across the country in 2019. Worse still, the report reckons that about two-third of the country’s forests are now vulnerable to fires. Experts believe that the global warming-induced changes in climate are not the only, or even the prime, cause for the upswing in forest fires. Human beings are more to blame for this. Forest department officials readily concede that the majority of wildfires are sparked deliberately by the locals. This is done to cover up the illegal felling of trees by them or to facilitate emergence of fresh grasses of good quality or just to spite forest officials for personal grudges. Carelessness in handling forest products, farming-related activities and thunder lightening are among the other common causes. Fallen leaves and twigs serve as fuel for starting the fires. A country like India, where the overall forest cover falls considerably short of the ideal one-third of the geographical area, can ill-afford to lose tree cover due to wood fires. Nor can it afford the loss of biodiversity and wildlife habitats due to fires.

Unfortunately, not much attention has been paid to ramping up fire-fighting capabilities of forest departments. The present protocols for fire prevention and control can, at best, be described as rudimentary. Routine precautions like removal of dry leaves to reduce fuel availability for fire-initiation and putting up firebreaks by creating tree-free belts of suitable width are often ignored. Nor are customary water-charging holes dug up at suitable locations to keep the surface soil moist enough to prevent fire ignition. The task of dousing fire after it has set in is often entrusted to the fire brigade and the local police, both of which are ill-equipped to handle this specialised job.

It is, therefore, worth considering the creation of a forest fire-fighting wing of the National Disaster Response Force. It can, over a period, build up the needed expertise and skills and acquire necessary wherewithal, including water dispensing gear, to put out fires, as it has done for tackling other disasters. But the most important and rewarding move would be to end the alienation of local tribes from the forests and, instead, involve them in their upkeep and management. The concept of joint-forest management, which has been successfully tried out in the past, can come in handy for this purpose. This might require minor tweaking of the existing legal regime governing forests. But turning predators into protectors and preservers of forests would surely be a rewarding exercise.