Tackling forest fires
Summer season has made its presence felt in Jammu and Kashmir and the dry long period brings lot of concerns in mind. One such is the phenomenon of forest fires which is causing great loss to the green cover in our state.
It was this growing concern about the rising incidents of forest fires that the National Green Tribunal has directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to submit data related to such occurrences in the last five years and identification of hotspots.
The tribunal directed that the report be filed within ten days by email. The NGT had last year directed that there must be a nodal officer at the central level to continuously monitor and coordinate with states and disposed the plea.
The tribunal had earlier rapped the Centre for remaining a mute spectator to the recurring forest fires in the hilly states, and directed the environment ministry to formulate a national policy.
The green panel had said that advanced planning and implementation of fire management and crisis management plan for forest fires could have prevented massive fires that engulfed the Himalayan states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh in recent years.
However, Jammu and Kashmir with 20,441 sq.kms of forests is ranked 12th in respect of area under forest cover in India. The forests of the state are economically very rich and have great benefits.
However, during the recent years forest fires across the region have damaged the forest trees, forest soil, and natural herbs besides reducing the productive capacity of the forests and affecting the wild life.
Forest fires do not occur unless there is inflammable material such as dry grasses, shrubs, fallen leaves and fallen woods available in the forest .The more the inflammable material available in the forest, the more severe will be the forest fire. Topography is another factor for the forest fire in the hilly areas.
However, the state lacks a well planned mechanism or a plan of action to deal and tackle with forest fires, which are turning out to be a major cause for concern among the environmentalists.
A forest fire causes irreparable damage to wild life, biodiversity, water resources, forest based livelihoods and well being. Fire control measures such as creation of fire lines, effective information and communication technologies (ICTs), defined responsibilities and introducing the incentives to the local communities living in the fringes of these forests for participation in the fire management must be developed.
Given the immense and widespread forest cover in the state a fire management research and training institute for foresters and public should be established in the state for providing knowledge and skills.
This can be achieved once the government understands the need to enhance the forest cover which is otherwise depleting at a faster pace. Forest fires can be best tackled by involving the local community. It’s the local community’s dependence on the ecosystems that can be best transformed into a best mechanism to help safeguard the forests.
KV Network
