Sniff the smoke before the fire

It rained the day before terrorists struck at Baisaran meadow in Pahalgam on 22 April. The rain helped douse the forest fires raging for the better part of April till then. In any case, hunting for the terrorists in the dense forest would have been a daunting prospect for the security forces.

This time it posed fresh complications because of the possibility of forest fires catching the security forces off guard. There was always the possibility of the terrorists themselves starting a forest fire to keep the security forces at bay. The terrorists, as per rough calculations, would have taken a minimum of nine days of daily trekking through the forest to reach the Line of Control (LoC) near Rajouri or Poonch.

Call it coincidence, there were reports of forest fire on 30 April from Nagarouta in Rajouri district bordering Pakistan. Did dry weather cause it or was it human negligence or intervention? That will never be known, though. However, only about five per cent of forest fires in India are attributed to human interventions.

A spark lit while smoking or cooking can also cause an accidental fire and it is virtually impossible to determine whether the fires were caused by mischief or by design. The forests of Kashmir, known for their natural beauty, lush green hills, meadows and rare flora and fauna, were actually burning till the third week of April.

Last year too, some 3,551 hectares of forest were destroyed in 1,024 incidents of forest fire in the state. This year, forest fires were reported at 91 places in February–March alone. In just 10 days in April, several kilometers of forest were reduced to ashes at 20 places, including Tral in South Kashmir.

Areas in Kupwara, Udhampur, Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar and Rajouri have forest cover that constitutes 54 per cent of the tree cover in J&K. In April this year, however, forest fires were reported from several other areas including Anantnag.

But then it is not just in J&K where dry weather and suspected human-induced fires, in addition to inadequate monitoring and combating systems, are creating a recipe for an ecological disaster. In Bastar, Chhattisgarh, known for its dense jungle, forest fires have been burning around Chitrakote for the last one-and-a-half months.

In the last one year, fires broke out at 512 places in which more than 25 hectares of dense forest was burnt. At the time of writing this, there have been 5,997 cases of forest fires in Chhattisgarh this year. This fire is a threat to greenery and life as well as the security forces deployed in the anti-Naxalite operation there.

There is only one reserve forest in Bihar—the Valmiki Tiger Reserve Forest— and as soon as summer arrived this year, fire broke out in many places here too. The Bihar Economic Survey Report 2024–25 shows that the incidents of forest fire in this forest have increased from 283 to 771 in just a year.

The forests near the Bhil settlement of Mount Abu, the only hill tourist destination in Rajasthan, blazed thrice in 20 days before the advent of May. The forests of Ranthambore and Rajsamand in Rajasthan are also witnessing this phenomenon. Environmental agencies indicate a worrying trend: wild forest fires are not only starting earlier but also growing more intense.

Warmer temperatures, dry weather combined with stronger winds and lower humidity levels, are helping the rapid spread of these fires, devastating ecosystems and human communities alike. Global Forest Watch estimated that India lost nearly 1.65 million hectares of forest due to fires between 2001 and 2023.

According to the India State of the Forests Report, 2.81 per cent of the country’s forest cover is extremely prone to fires, 7.85 per cent is very highly fire-prone, and 11.61 per cent is classified as high fire-prone. Some beneficial aspects of forest fires have also been pointed out from time to time, among them the burning of unnecessary weeds.

However, with the earth’s decreasing moisture and increasing number of hot days due to climate change, forest fires are not just destroying forests but are adding to the climate crises. Forests that are carbon sinks and absorb carbon dioxide, lose their impact due to becoming net emitters, worsening climate change.

Forest fires therefore contribute to the increase of greenhouse gases, thus worsening global warming. Thousands of hectares are lost to forest fire every year in Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh. This endangers biodiversity and affects forest-dependent communities and the entire ecosystem. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns and prolonged drought conditions are leading to loss of moisture in the vegetation.

This makes them catch fire easily and fire spreads rapidly. According to a report recently presented in Parliament by the ministry of forest and environment, 10 per cent of the country’s forest area has been marked as a highly sensitive area prone to fire. According to the report, incidents of forest fires are assessed from November to June.

Between November 2022 and June 2023, a total of 2.12 lakh incidents of forest fires were reported in the country. For the period between November 2023 and June 2024, this number was reported at 2.03 lakh. The traditional cause of forest fires in most of central India has been human negligence.

A large number of people go to forests to pluck tendu leaves and mahua and a small spark left while cooking or smoking reduces substantial sections to ashes. In Kashmir, Uttarakhand and the North-East, the single most important reason for forest fires is the long dry season and reduced snowfall. Forest fires release many greenhouse gases and aerosols, including carbon dioxide, methane and black carbon, which reduce air quality.

The biggest threat is for animals like reptiles that live in burrows or dens in the forest and cannot run far. The damages to the economy, biodiversity, livelihood, ecological balance and to the community living close to the forests are evident.  Attempts have been made by the Union government to put a plan in place. In 2018, it implemented the National Action Plan on Forest Fire (NAPFF) which aims to empower communities living on the outskirts of forests.

The scheme encourages these communities to collaborate with state forest departments, enhances their capacities and provides training to forest personnel to effectively use modern technology in the fight against forest fires. But on the ground, all this has not moved beyond paper and platitudes.

Making local communities and the general public aware about fire prevention measures can be an important step. It is also the responsibility of the forest department to regularly monitor the forests and identify areas prone to fire and remove dry leaves and other flammable materials on time.

A robust and quick-response system is also the key. As the saying goes, anybody can see the forest fire, the trick lies in smelling the first whiffs of smoke. With satellite imagery now available along with technology and faster communication, it should not be difficult. Above all, strict legal action should be taken against those who set fire to forests by accident or by design.