Lessons for India from the California forest fires

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India’s forests are also facing similar challenges [to California's]. In 2015, there were 15,937 forest fires in India. In 2017, that number rose to 35,888, a 125% spike over two years, says the 2017 State of Environment Report of the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. In 2017, the maximum number of forest fires were reported in Madhya Pradesh (4,781), followed by Odisha (4,416) and Chhattisgarh (4,373). In fact, 23 out of 33 states and Union Territories reported an increase in forest fires. A National Institute of Disaster Management report on forest fires says 50% of the country’s forests are prone to fire. Such uncontrolled fires not only burn down the vegetation but also the surface organic matter, increasing the frequency of flooding and soil erosion. In addition, wildlife patterns and habitat are also disrupted.

The Forest Survey of India Report, 2011, says the country has forest cover of 692,027 km2, comprising 21.05% of the total geographic area of the country. Unfortunately, our firefighting potential is not as good as it should be.

First, the country lacks fire protection planning knowledge and incentive. Second, the statistics on forest fire damage are poor, and so it is difficult to arrive at accurate losses from the forest fires. Third, as the number of incidents showed a rising trend, all that was done was the replacement of the Intensification of Forest Management Scheme with the Forest Fire Prevention & Management Scheme in December 2017. However, in the last two years, nearly 46-65% of the money allocated under the forest management schemes has not been released, says the CSE report. Fourth, foresters still fight forest fires using outdated methods, when systematic modern fire management techniques and methods have been adopted in the rest of the world. Last, as the National Green Tribunal said in 2017, India doesn’t have a strong and clear national policy on how to tackle forest fires.

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