Increasing forest fires: An emergency for India to look into

Forest fire in simple term means burning (acres of land) of forest, bushland, vegetation and agricultural land killing thousands of animals and birds along with their living habitat. It is also known as wildfires. It could be human-made as well as natural (due to scorching heat and temperature).

In India, According to Global Forest Watch, there have been the peak fire season typically begins in early March and lasts around 9 weeks.  There were 24,058 VIIRS fire alerts reported between 4th of May 2020 and 26th of April 2021 considering high confidence alerts only

VIIRS - (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite), it has the latest fire monitoring product called FIRMS (Fire Information For Resource Management System), which further provides near real time images. In other words, it is specialized in detecting fire worldwide. It includes the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) a sensor to capture images.

Photo by: Global Forest Watch (VIIRS)

In India there have been 17,028 VIIRS fire alerts reported so far in 2021 considering high confidence alerts only. This total is unusually high. (Global Forest Watch)

Whereas, In the last 3 months, there were 16,795 fires alerts detected in India, considering high confidence alerts only.

As we see the rate by which Forest Fires are increasing is heartbroken as well as creates question regarding our future.

Like the reports said, from the last 3 months we have witnessed dangerous forest fires in India.

Mizoram's Lunglei district, on 25th of April turned into ashes, as the season (January-April) is witnessing shifting cultivation out there in whole North-Eastern Region, which has tropical evergreen forests and, unlike the dry deciduous forests of central India, these are not likely to catch fire easily. 

But, unfortunately, while practicing that, a spark of fire went uncontrolled resulted burning, leading to took over three other districts as well namely: Serchip, Lawngtlai and Hnahthial are affected by the forest .

This fire burnt for 2 continuous days, and did not stop there, it further swallowed more than 10 nearby villages, which lead to some casualties, but no dead of humans. 

We can imagine a fire for some minutes in your house can turn your house into ashes if not extinguished then and there, So, the loss of biodiversity is beyond our imagination here.

But while considering human deaths is just not enough. Animals, who were inhabited there died. India, is famous for its rich culture, variety of flowers, plants, animals, birds, fruits etc. 

I want answers from everyone reading out there, Why we humans do not value of those who cannot speak? Who cannot tell us how they are feeling? Who are yelling to help, but we are so insensitive to hear them.

According to a Forest Survey Report, it has been found that, mostly forest fires are human made. Just like we forget to turn off the electricity while leaving the room, we forget to blow out of cigarettes, bidis (famous in India), lighting fire in winters to make themselves warm and forget to extinguish that as well, which ultimately converts in many situation to forest fires.

Even our small mistakes, can cause us heavy loss, which will not only hampers our tomorrow (which we are supposed to reserve for our future generations), but today as well.

Similarly, What happened in Simlipal (Odisha), is a matter of worry. Why?

Similipal (Odisha) is situated in the district of Mayurbhanj. It is a National Park as well as Biosphere Reserve (declared in 2009) by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) under the MAB (Man And Biosphere) programme.

It has its name as Simul (of red silk cotton trees), Sal (dominant tree) Teak and many more. It also has  94 species of orchids and about 3,000 species of plants. The identified species of fauna include 12 species of amphibians, 264 species of birds, 29 species of reptiles, and 42 species of mammals, all of which collectively highlight the biodiversity richness of Similipal.

On February 11th, due to people negligent behavior, a blaze of fire went out. First in the buffer zone then, in the core area. Due to the Dry Deciduous nature of the the forest, the fire got out of the hands. Resulted, lost of more than 20 reserved forests, Elephants and Tigers (proud of Similipal), and other small animals and birds.

According to the Forest Survey of India data suggests that between February 11 and March 15, a total of 348 fire points have been detected inside the Similipal Tiger Reserve, 1,242 in Baripada Division, 964 in Karanjia Division and 926 in Rairangpur Division, which continued till the rainfall begun and added some relief.

Imagine.....blazing a forest for about a month!

Further, GLAD says (Global Lands Analysis and Discovery) alerts of 122,742 were detected, which affected an area of approximately 8.66kha in India, in the last 4 weeks. That is huge right?

Forest Fires are not new for any of us, be it Amazon forest fire, Congo, Similipal (Odisha), Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Panna Tiger Reserve (Madhya Pradesh) or any other. 

How can we prevent Forest Fires?

1) Do not burn any campfires, dry leaves if it is too windy.

2) Keep all flammable objects away from fire.

3) Carefully extinguish fire when leaving away, be it cigarette, bidi or anything.

4) Clean the area near burn pile (in winters especially).

5) Keep some water near you in a good amount, so that you can use in emergency.

6) Attend the fire, until it is completely out.

7) Have some shovel with you (in case you are going to camp), because in Africa, when forest fire goes out of control, they dig a large gap in the direction of fire (cautiously), so that, fire do not go ahead and stop right there. (This one is great)

8) Have a contact of local community and fire fighters, so that you can contact them in case of situation going out of hands.

At last, all I want to say is, Forests are oxygen not just for humans, but for animals and birds as well. 

On Van Mahotsava, Earth Day, Environment Day, Forest Day...we talk a lot, but very less of us do something as actions. It is not about our Earth (only living planet in our solar system),it is about us (the living creatures).

We humans are making trouble not just for ourselves but for other life forms as well (for those who cannot speak, cannot tell their feelings to us). Forests our burning everywhere on Earth. Some due to humans, some naturally. 

We are greedy, very less of us may have planted a tree in our life, but when it comes to cutting it down or making some other use of tree we are ever ready.

The reasons being: 

• Growing human population, 
• Need of food (agriculture), 
• To make soil fertile (Shifting cultivation), 
• Other need (lumbering, paper industry, sports products, making houses, tissues and what not).

Gandhiji once said, Nature has everything for our need, but not for our greed.

By blinking an eye, the whole forest can turn into ashes, therefore "Cautious is to be exercised to reduce the tragedy".

As said by Dorothy Stang - "The death of the forests, is the end of our Life". Because, forests are beautiful, forests are life.