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WILDFIRE STATISTICS
In India there are no comprehensive data to
indicate the loss to forests in terms of area burned,
values, and volume and regeneration damaged by
fire. The available forest fire statistics are not
reliable because they under estimate fire numbers
and area burned. The reason behind this is
attributed to the fear of accountability. However,
Forest Survey of India in a country-wide study in
1995 estimated that about 1.45 million hectares of
forest are affected by fire annually. According to an
assessment of the Forest Protection Division of the
Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government
of India, 3.73 million hectares of forests are
affected by fires, annually in India.
The Forest Survey of India, data on forest fire
attribute around 50% of the forest areas as fire
prone. This does not mean that country's 50% area
is affected by fires annually. Very heavy, heavy and
frequent forest fire damages are noticed only over 0.8%, 0.14% and 5.16% of the forest areas
respectively.Thus, only 6.17% of the forests are prone to severe fire damage. In the absolute term, out of
the 63 million ha. of forests, an area of around 3.73 million ha can be presumed to be affected by fires
annually.
In India there are very few cases of fire due to natural
causes. The majority of the forest fires (99 percent) in
the country are human caused. It is widely
acknowledged that most of these fires are caused by the
people deliberately and have a close relationship to their
socio-economic conditions. Grazing, shifting cultivation,
and collection of minor forest products by villagers are
major causes of fires in India. Carelessness of the
picnickers, travellers, and campers are also responsible
for forest fires.
Estimate (in %) of Forest Survey of India of the extent of
forest fire incidences in India
FOREST FIRE DAMAGES IN INDIA
Forest fires are a major cause of degradation of India's
forests. While statistical data on fire loss are weak, it is
estimated that the proportion of forest areas prone to
forest fires annually ranges from 33% in some states to
over 90% in others. Forest Fires cause wide ranging
adverse ecological, economic and social impacts. In a
nutshell, fires cause:
• Loss of valuable timber resources and depletion of
carbon sinks
• Degradation of water catchment areas resulting in
loss of water
• Loss of biodiversity and extinction of plants and
animals
• Loss of wild life habitat and depletion of wild life
• Loss of natural regeneration and reduction in forest
cover and production
A large fraction of rural people in India are living in
forest lands or are dependent on forest use.
Forest grazing is an important source of income.
Burning of forest understorey at the peak of the dry
season helps to stimulate grass growth before the
monsoon rains break.
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