Managing Forest Fires in a Changing Climate Study: CEEW

In News 

• Recently, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) has released the study named, ‘Managing Forest Fires in a Changing Climate’.

Major Points of the Study

• Increase in forest fires:
  • There has been a ten-fold increase in forest fires in the past two decades, and more than 62 per cent of Indian states are prone to high-intensity forest fires.
• Occurrence:
  • Significant forest fires have been reported in states such as Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.  
  • Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra are the most prone to high-intensity forest fire events caused by rapid change in climate.
    • The Forest Survey of India report in 2019 found that 36 percent of forest cover in India falls in zones that are prone to forest fires.
  • Mizoram has had the highest number of forest fire incidences in the last two decades, with more than 95 percent of its districts being forest fire hotspots
• Make Forest Fire under NDMA purview: 
  • The report recommended that forest fires to be treated as “natural disasters” and be brought under the National Disaster Management Authority.

• Unlike cyclones, floods and earthquakes, which are big disasters, forest fires are not categorised as a natural disaster.

• Proper forest fires handling shlould be done under the purview of forest departments which are understaffed.
• But the NDMA does. Moreover, by designating forest fires as natural disasters, there will also be a financial allotment made to manage them

What are Forest Fires?

• About:
  • National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), India defines forest fire as an unclosed and freely spreading fire that consumes the natural fuels. When a fire burns out of control it is known as WildFire.
  • There are two types of a forest fire:
    • Surface Fire: A forest fire may burn primarily as a surface fire, spreading along the ground as the surface litter on the forest floor and is engulfed by the spreading flames.
    • Crown Fire: The other type of forest fire is a crown fire in which the crown of trees and shrubs burn, often sustained by a surface fire.
  • It is the most common hazard in forests.
• Causes:
  • Natural Factors:
    • Such as lightning, rubbing of dried leaves and tree trunks and increasing temperatures can sometimes result in fires.
    • An advanced heatwave with the early onset of summer further deteriorated the condition in Simlipal’s case.
  • Anthropogenic Factors:
    • Dropping a burning matchstick, torchwood or a bidi/cigarette.
    • A spark can also be produced when dry pine needles or leaves fall on an electric pole.
    • When temporarily built hearths are left behind with fire, they can lead to massive forest fires.
    • Sometimes the fire spreads to the adjoining forest when people burn their fields to clear them of stubble, dry grass or undergrowth.
• Concerns:
  • Damages the regeneration in the forests and their productivity.
  • Adversely affects the products and capacities provided by the forests.
    • Forests help maintain aquifers and continuous flow of streams and springs, and provide firewood, fodder and non-timber produce to the local communities.
  • Destroys the organic matter in the soil and exposes the top layer to erosion.
  • Impact on the wildlife by burning eggs, killing young animals and driving the adult animals away from their safe haven.
  • Sometimes, these may get out of control and extend to human settlements, thus posing danger to human life and property.
• Prevention:
  • Forecasting fire-prone days using meteorological data.
  • Clearing camping sites of dried biomass.
  • Early burning of dry litter on the forest floor.
  • Growing strips of fire-hardy plant species within the forest.
  • Creating fire lines (strips in the forest kept clear of vegetation to prevent the fire from spreading) in the forests.
  • Controlled burns are also used to prevent forest fires.
    • A controlled burn is a wildfire that people set intentionally for a specific purpose. Well-thought-out and well-managed controlled burns can be incredibly beneficial for forest management because they can help stop an out-of-control wildfire.
    • The technique is called backburning and it involves setting a controlled fire in the path of the approaching wildfire.
      • All the flammable material is burnt up and extinguished and when the wildfire approaches, there is no more fuel left for it to keep going, and it dies out.
• Control:
  • Early detection and quick action by fire-fighting squads are crucial.
    • For such activities, the forest departments have a fire protection and fire control unit.
  • The best way to control a forest fire is, therefore, to prevent it from spreading, which can be done by creating firebreaks in the shape of small clearings of ditches in the forests.

Forest Fire Management Initiatives in India

• National Action Plan on Forest Fires:
  • It focuses on holistic management of forest fire scenarios in the country including fire prevention, fire control, post-fire activities, community mobilisation etc.
• Near Real-Time Forest Fire Alerts (FAST 1.0)
  • State Forest Departments have been alerted of forest fire locations detected by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer) sensor onboard Aqua and Terra Satellites of NASA since 2004. 
  • From 2017, FSI has incorporated another sensor SNPP-VIIRS (Suomi-National Polar-orbiting Partnership-Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite), which has a good night time detection capability as compared to MODIS and can also detect small fire and under canopy fire.
  • With the launch of “Forest Fire Alert System 2.0”, this entire process has been made completely automated which has effectively reduced the dissemination time lag.
• Forest Fire Pre Warning Alerts:
  • In 2016, FSI developed an indigenous “Pre Warning Alert System”.
  • The alerts are based on parameters like Forest Cover, Forest Type, Climatic Variables (Temperature and Rainfall) and recent fire incidents over the area.
  • These alerts which are generated based on short term weather variables, are valid for the ensuing week.
• Burnt Scar Assessment:
  • It is important to assess forest areas affected by the forest fires to assess damage to forest and biodiversity as well as to plan restoration measures.
  • In the year 2015 and 2016, high temporal data from Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) AWiFS (Advanced Wide Field Sensor) was used to delineate burnt scars.
• Large Forest Fires Monitoring Programme:
  • In 2019, FSI launched the beta version of the Large Forest Fire Monitoring Programme using near-real-time SNPP-VIIRS data.
    • This programme is a part of the FAST 3.0.
  • Herein, FSI tracks large fire events across the country and disseminates specific Large Fire alerts to identify, track and report serious forest fire incidents so as to help monitor them and also seek timely additional assistance.

Source : IE