The Uttarakhand fire highlights that our jungles are vulnerable to forest fires with as many as 20,667 fire incidents already reported till April 21 this year from different parts of the country. Experts tells SHAlINI SAKSENA that in order to deal with such regular incidents of forest fires, we need a prevention plan more than damage control methods
The recent forest fire in Uttarakhand highlights how vulnerable our forests are and that the various agencies are ill-equipped to douse the flames. The fire, which started sometime on April 27, 2016, has now been doused, thanks to rains in the region. The days that had witnessed heavy smoke, the heat from the fire and the smell of burnt trees were finally replaced by the smell of rain on a parched, burnt landscape.
The 2015 India State of Forest Report puts the total forest and tree cover of India at 79.42 million hectares. The vegetation varies from tropical evergreen to alpine forests. In between, there are semi-evergreen forests, deciduous forests, sub-tropical broad-leaved hill forests, sub-tropical pine forests and sub-tropical montane temperate forests. The coniferous forests in the Himalayas, comprising fir, spruce, cedrus deodara, chir pine and Himalayan pine, catch fire easily.
The Forest Survey of India report says that about 50 per cent of forest areas in the country are fire prone (ranging from 50 per cent in some States to 90 per cent in others) and about six per cent are prone to severe fire damage. While some of these fires occur naturally, many are man-made. Experts tell you that the recent forest fire in Uttarakhand is man-made.
“The problem is that in India, forests and people can’t be seen in isolation. People live in forests or at least on the fringes which means they are in constant contact, unlike in the US or Canada where one has 20 km or 50 km of forest cover with no human habitation anywhere near it.
“Where there are people there is bound to be interaction. In such situations, it is not surprising that fires break out. What is worrying is how long it has lasted,” Dr VK Bahuguna, former Director General of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, tells you.
It is common for villagers to burn dried pine needles so that young grass shoots emerge. This is done to provide fodder for the cattle. But in most cases, this is done under control with fire surveillance watchers ensuring that the fire doesn’t spread beyond the earmarked area.
This time round, however, all such efforts appear to have come to a naught and the damage has been beyond repair as far as the biodiversity is concerned.
“Besides the loss of timber which will be more than Rs1,000 crore, the damage that has been done to the area in terms of the biodiversity is irreplaceable. One can’t put a cost to this. It will take years before Nature will be able to recuperate in the area. The destruction can never be undone. It will be the locals who will pay a very heavy price for it,” Bahuguna explains.
Dr Ravi Chopra, director of People’s Science Institute, Dehra Dun, and a managing trustee of Himalaya Foundation, says that the non-timber damage in itself will be around Rs3,000 crore.
“One can gauge the loss to timber and smaller fauna. But what about the microbes that have been killed. Microbes keep the soil healthy; you lose biomass productivity if they die. Small animals also die. Nobody wants to talk of this destruction. One is not talking about what will happen when the fire dies down and the animals whose home has been destroyed in the fire will enter villages to find food. The man-animal interaction is bound to increase, with disastrous results. Then, the floor is very dry. When the rains come, there will be soil erosion. We all know it takes ten of thousands of years to form a couple of centimetres of top soil,” Chopra points out.
Dr Rajesh Thadani, executive director of the Centre for Ecology Development and Research, and a forest ecologist, says that if we compare the destruction that a forest fire leaves in the US, the impact in Indian forest fires is less because most of the forest floor in India is covered with pine needles which are lengthy and provide protection to trees. Also, the fires in India are mostly confined to the ground. “There is, of course, damage and destruction of trees but it is not as if they are lost forever. The only problem is that these trees become susceptible to fires in the future as they are weak and have not had the time to recover from the previous fire. Even if the entire tree burns, the roots are still alive and they regenerate maybe with a few mutations. But one will have to wait till after the monsoon to see the exact extent of damage to the flora and how the trees regenerate,” Thadani explains.
The reason for such largescale damage for the environment and for biodiversity stems from the total lack of co-ordination among various agencies. Protection of forests rests with the forest department. In areas where fires are a regular occurrence, the department needs to do a thorough check of equipment. There are pipes 25-30 metres that need to be cleaned and in working condition. There is also need to clean the forest bed of dried pine needles. This needs to be done regularly (in December) just before the forest fire season starts in February.
“The situation in our country is not the same as, say, California. Our terrain is different and hence fire has to be tackled differently. The most important thing to remember is that in India, there has to be a plan to prevent a forest fire rather than a plan on paper to control it. locals need to be involved and educated about the harm a forest fire can cause. There is need to increase the number of forest rangers who patrol the forests. At present, the figure stands somewhere near 18-20 sq km. It is not possible for a single person to be present everywhere. The villagers also know it and take advantage of it. So they burn the forest with no supervision and no knowledge of how to keep it under control,” Bahuguna says.
Then there are other reasons like an old practice of shifting cultivation (especially in the north-eastern region); the use of fires by villagers to ward off wild animals; fires lit intentionally by people living around forests for recreation and fires started accidentally by careless visitors who discard cigarette butts.
If social media is to be believed, the Uttarakhand fire is a deliberate act by some locals. There are reports wherein locals have gone on record to say that they had been paid to set the forest on fire. This, some tell you, could be a way to clear the land for human settlement and even cultivation. Another reason could be that there are large farm lands and run-ins with elephants and other wildlife is commonplace. Deliberately setting a forest fire is an effective way of keeping these animals at bay permanently.
“This is speculation though it is true that people do start fires accidentally and deliberately. There is no denying that there has been no rain for two years, that the temperatures shot up and in such a scenario it is normal to have massive forest fires; it has happened in the past as well. The forest floor is so dry that even a rolling stone or two trees close to each can rub against each other in a breeze and cause a fire, as can the rustling dry leaves.
The weather makes the forests a tinderbox. Then, some locals believe that if one sets the forests on fire, the new grass that appears post-monsoon is of better quality. Areas where people use the mountain side for grazing, there is temptation to set the forest floor on fire,” Chopra says.
There are some lessons to be learnt here. We know that due to global warming, such weather patterns are likely to repeat. Therefore, it is important for the State Government to recognise that as soon as the winter rain fails, there is need to be prepared for forest fires. This doesn’t mean fighting the fire with helicopters is good. In reality, they don’t work. What is needed is huge military aircraft that can carry huge amounts of water. But they are difficult to manoeuvre in the mountains. So while it may work in the plains of Madhya Pradesh, they won’t in a State like Uttarakhand. In such States, traditional methods are the best bet — getting villagers to help douse the fire and digging trenches. For the former, you need people’s co-operation. People are alienated from the forest because they feel it is Government property so why should they bother.
“We have been arguing that the forests be given back to the people which are, at present, being managed by the forest department,” Chopra opines.
Even though this is not the first time such a huge forest fire has broken out, what makes the Uttarakhand fire big is that it has caught the media’s attention. The total area of the State is approximately 55,000 sq km. In that sense, the fire has only spread to 32 sq km 8x4 km which is not a huge area. The State has been in bad news since the 2013 water tsunami, now the politician upheaval, followed by the fire. Experts say that the forest department needs to come up with a census of the forest cover; most of these figures are fudged for now. The department also needs to plant a certain percentage of trees which is not done. Forest fires are one way of providing a cover-up, they say.
Whatever be the reason, there is no denying that forest fires are on the increase and there is need for national focus and technical resources for sustaining a systematic forest fire management programme which is lacking at present. The important forest fire management elements like strategic fire centres, co-ordination among Ministries, funding, human resource development, fire research, fire management and extension programmes are missing.
“In India, Joint Forest Management (JFM) Committees at the village level involve people in forest protection and conservation. At present, there are 36,165 JFM committees throughout the country, covering an area of more than 10.24 million hectares. These committees also have the responsibility to protect forests from fires. For this purpose, the Modern Forest Fire Control Plan has to be revised and JFM to be made an integral component of the forest fire prevention strategy. Use of aircraft and helicopters has not been very cost effective. However, in emergencies, a provision for hiring aircraft for transportation of crew and water should be maintained. There is need to have forest fire prevention and control guidelines which should include identification of vulnerable areas on maps, creation of a data bank on forest fires, evolving fire dangers, fire forecasting system, provisions for a crisis management group, involvement of JFMs, and efficient enforcement of legal provisions,” Bahuguna tells you
With a similar take, Chandan Ghosh, professor and head National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), says what is needed is a system wherein experts can be roped in to understand how a forest fire works. “These are people who have spent their lives studying and understanding them. A person from a city will never be able to understand the dynamics. If we don’t have the expertise in India, we should get people from abroad and ask them to train the concerned officers. Forest fires are a common occurrence and what is needed more is prevention rather than control. There are so many agencies whose task is to monitor forest fires. It doesn’t matter whether the budget is Rs40,000 crore or Rs400 crore; one has to see how and where it has been spent,” Dr Ghosh says.
The fire is almost under control. But the administration will have to remain alert for the next 35 days to prevent fresh forest fire incidents.