FOREST FIRES JUMP BY 38% BUT POLICY IS STILL LACKING

Recognising the threat of forest fires, the government has published comprehensive data on them for the first time in its State of Forest Report 2017.

Between 2003 and 2016, the forest fires jumped by almost 38% from 24,450 to 33,664, in part because of better reporting but also from degradation of forests and dryness of foliage due to rising temperatures. “Over 95% of the fires are caused by humans,” Siddhanta Das, director general of forests, said recently.

Experts believe the threat of forest fires is increasing as the soil is unable to retain moisture with a warming climate. The number of incidents has shown a rising trend, but there are also yearly spikes captured by the data, with the highest number of incidents being reported in 2009 (46,152).

“We now use more advanced methods of reporting fires. Thermal imagery data is overlaid on the forest maps,” Rajesh Kumar, a senior official at the Forest Survey of India, said.

Forest fires also release large amounts of carbon dioxide, threatening India’s greenhouse gas emission targets.

“The quality of forests should improve for them to store more carbon. The rate at which we are doing it now, we will not be able to meet the Paris goals. Climate change has some relation to forest fires. The drier the forest is, the more prone it is to fires,” Das said. Northeastern states have reported a greater number of forest fires than any other region. The higher numbers are linked to ‘jhum cultivation’, also called ‘slash and burn’ agriculture.

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