India’s reserves are already under a lot of stress, they cannot afford more losses in biodiversity as it happened in the Bandipur fires. It’s a wake-up call for the Government and officials
Last week’s forest fires in Karnataka must serve as a reminder that forest management in our country is in urgent need of attention. More than 3,000 hectares of forest land were gutted in the inferno in the Bandipur National Park in Mysuru district of Karnataka. The Bandipur National Park is spread over more than 900 sq km area and bears dry deciduous forests, which are vulnerable to fires. Bandipur is one of the most vital habitats for the tiger and has the highest density area wise, almost one tiger per 7 sq km. It is home to around 80 tigers besides several elephants, deer, bisons and antelopes. It shares a contiguous landscape with the Nagarhole National Park And Tiger Reserve, which in turn connects with the unique ecosystem of the Niligiri hills and ultimately merges with the rich forests of Kerala.
The fires are very damaging to the ecosystem as they kill the entire gamut of ecological capital built over thousands of years. With India being most vulnerable to climate change and hosting sensitive tropical ecosystems, it is all the more necessary for us to pay adequate and immediate attention to the prevention of forest fires. These not only cause irreparable ecological damage to life-sustaining natural resources for both humans and wild animals but also threaten the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities, and particularly results in destabilising the agriculture and water sources.
In recent times, forest fires have become a regular phenomenon in our country. Over the last few years, Uttarakhand and the hills in the Northeast have seen forest fires with regular frequency, causing severe damage to the vegetation and precious bio-diversity. Similar incidents have been noticed in other States, too. If fires continue ravaging our forest resources, days are not far enough when the country will be in the vortex of social strife as the life sustaining resources will be gradually lost and precious bio-diversity may become extinct. It is essential that we draw up an actionable plan to control forest fires so that remedial steps can be taken with all seriousness by the Government as well as the civil society. Forest fires are but a national calamity and must be classified as a disaster of the highest magnitude.
The Bandipur fires were so severe that more than 1,000 village people and the available forest guards were not able to control it. The Karnataka Chief Minister had to seek the support of the Defence Minister, who readily obliged and deployed two helicopters of the Indian Air Force, who due to the availability of water bodies inside the park, were able to spray 30,000 litres of water to douse the fire.
There are three main reasons why such infernos are occurring so frequently. First, is climatic vagaries and recalcitrant local weather conditions. Last year, Bandipur received ample rains in September, which allowed the grass to grow very tall and soon after the end of the rainy season, they became a veritable fuel load, waiting to set the forest afire.
The second reason is the culpability of the local population, who lit the fires accidentally by throwing cigarette butts and sometimes deliberately to facilitate the timber mafia. It is said that in Bandipur, the fire was set off by graziers. However, what contributed a great deal to this inferno was the sheer negligence of the forest staff and officers of Karnataka, who failed to take timely action as per the fire control protocol sent to all States regularly by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. In forest fire management, the best strategy is prevention rather than fire-fighting and control. The moot point to ask is: Are the foresters of Bandipur, or for that matter all over the country, prepared with a fire management plan? Each year, a strategy has to be made with respect to the actual fuel load, maintenance of fire lines, burning the forest fuel load and involvement of the local population. Based on this, early warning systems must be prepared, vulnerable areas mapped and strategies suggested. It is also to be ascertained if the Forest Survey of India’s (FSI) fire warning system reached the field officers. The FSI is well-equipped to detect the forest fires through satellite within seconds and once a fire incident is detected, it sends SMSes to field divisional forest officers and wildlife wardens and other officers. Yet another cause of a galloping blaze, which many foresters rightfully argue for, is the lack of adequate funds to place a sound forest fire management system in place.
The Government of India, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) as also the Karnataka Government must inquire into these lapses, find the real cause of fires and fix responsibility. In most cases, the incident is forgotten after sometime when the matter subsides, especially in the media. Now, the time has come that the MoEFCC must take a call and put a national programme in place on forest fire management and pin-point the role of officers at various levels, including of those who are responsible for providing funds. Without control of forest fires, we are putting up hiccups in achieving our targets for climate change. It is felt by a large number of people and professionals within and outside the forestry circles, that fires happen due to the lackadaisical attitude of policy planners and programme implementers.
The Compensatory Planning and Management Authority (CAMPA) has huge funds parked with it and a portion of it must be earmarked for fire prevention. The Government’s Disaster Management authorities in respective States should — in collaboration with financial support from MoEFCC (for which CAMPA funds could be lined up), FSI and forestry research organisations — come out with a proposal to develop a three-month course for all field formulations of the forests and other departments on fire prevention and control. For senior and middle level officers, special modules of one to two weeks duration should be created and mock drills conducted. Similar programmes should be arranged for local people and every year, District Magistrates should constitute a committee for coordination in fire prevention, planning and control. All of those, who receive emoluments from the Government, must be duty-bound to assist the forest department for fire control. At the State level, the Chief Secretary should monitor the preparation at the beginning of the fire season. Incentives must be given to the local people for fire prevention and punitive action must be taken against those who deliberately set twigs fire. It is high time that MoEFCC takes these initiatives and the country is rid of the menace of forest and bio-diversity destruction.
(The writer is a retired civil servant)
