Forest fires- Man-made disaster, managing plantation could quell them…

Shimla, April 6

This is just the first week of April and forest fires have nearly started engulfing large tracts of forest land in Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Forty-five incidents of forest fires in the last 24 hours in Uttarakhand state, captioned the headlines in most of the national dailies. Similar reports are coming from Himachal Pradesh too.

Both the state governments will have to ensure that they take decisions on a war footing for not letting the situation become extremely precarious. Though signs of desperation, impulsiveness and more bureaucrat driven intervention are already seen as reported in the press. The chief minister of Uttarakhand is pushing for helicopters for managing these fires; instead, it is the people that must be in the forefront, the earlier learnt, the better.

Forest fires in the mountains is not a new feature, thanks to the successive government’s policies of monoculture plantation. Equally abetted by massive dole out of funds from the World Bank for pushing green cover and planting varieties which were exotic to mountains and highly effervescent; this we will discuss a little later. But for now, more important is the early start of these fires which can be disastrous as a long spell of summers is to follow for at least 60 more days.

One of the foremost reasons cited is the obvious climate change and its repercussions on the entire geographical region. Less snow, relatively dry winters, even lesser rainfall in the mid-Himalayas from 3,000 feet to almost 7,000 feet altitude, etc., are the other reasons cited.

Forest fires are a man-made phenomenon

But this is a classical style of expression, giving excuses and evading responsibility. Responsibility of government agencies, forest department and the disconnect between the people, the forest right holders/ the forest dwellers and the government agencies.

Forest fires are a man-made phenomenon with faltered interventions at many layers. Let us discuss that. So, what is required is to step up disaster risk reduction measures and work more on adaptability.

War footing plantation of Chir-pine

A paradigm shift in the plantation policy was brought in the state of Himachal Pradesh, under the aegis of the World Bank that pushed for increasing the green cover in the state. Species of trees that would grow quickly were planted. Chir- pine is one of the species which was taken on a war footing for plantation as it grew quickly even in arid zones. Pine is not a natural species of the Himalayas, the British brought it and planted it in their TB(tuberculosis) sanitariums for fresh air.

The mountain governments both Uttarakhand(then UP) and Himachal undertook massive plantation drives and planted them even in mixed forests and grasslands. Sanjeeva Pandey, a well know forester and a former IFS(Indian Forest Services) office of Himachal cadre terms such a drive as “Pine Colonising”. Pine plantation colonised the native forests and created havoc after a few years. Why? Because the pine trees drop needles that are highly effervescent and are responsible for these fires. Secondly, no green vegetation survives beneath the pine tree, the only exception is Lantana Camara, which is another exotic species and has denuded large tracts of forests in the mountains, also an enhancer of the forest fire. Thirdly the pine tree roots are deep and suck water even from deep rocks and turn the region into an arid zone. No water body remains beneath a pine forest.

Merciless cutting of Oaks

There are instances where, Sanjeeva Pandy points out that the names of some of the villages in the Kullu district were linked to the make of the forests. Most of these forests were linked to oak variety of trees, which is the best suited for the mountains. However, oak was mercilessly cut down for fuel and charcoal making and now in most of these villages’ pine has taken over. Oak trees are one of the finest water coagulants and large oak forests in the regions, especially around Shimla town, Taradevi and Shoghi have some of the finest water bodies.

It is high time that both these governments start revisiting their plantation strategies and completely disband using pine in these drives.

Protectors of the forests now considered encroachers

The second important reason is the massive alienation of the mountain people from forests. Interestingly, the forest dwellers had their rights in forests registered for a long. The British, while monopolising their control over Indian forests in 1865, introduced the Forests Rights Act in the same year. Even back then, the rights of the traditional forest communities were secured under a provision called Wazi Wul Urge. The rights of the forest communities were restricted but registered. These rights included the right to timber for the construction of houses, grazing animals and access to fodder and fuel. Forests are part of the “village commons”. This is the thin line which the governments have tried to encroach and to appease big capital who consider forests as a mere resource for aggrandising them for maximising their profits.

The commons amount to the rights of the people over land, water and forests. This is being seriously encroached upon by the private corporate interests facilitated by the successive governments. The Himachal government draws a higher distinction in it. It withdrew some of the amendments in the provisions of providing a no-objection certificate by the village community through its gram panchayats. This was done to appease companies like hydropower, cement etc. Sanjeeva Pandey says forests must be considered as a complete eco-system and the present discourse of mere development would not only shun the people away from the forests, but this strategy will also completely ruin the forests.

The same people who were protectors and guards of the forests are now considered encroachers. Not a single case of the Forest Rights Act 2005 has been settled in these mountain states. The government stated that all forests rights are settled long ago. Not realising that some of the land pattas awarded to the people in the 1980s are still not recognised and land entitlements have not followed yet. In such an environment the people are forced to alienate from the forests which were part of the larger ecosystem including their habitat.

Overall slide in governance and limiting the human resource to meet the fiscal deficit standards in the states

The third reason pertains to the overall slide in governance and limiting the human resource to meet the fiscal deficit standards in the states. Earlier the forest department used to employ “Forest Rakhas”(forest protectors)from amongst the village people. For many years now this scheme is gone and some of those employed in the forest department work as domestic help in the officers’ quarters.

The natural guards of the forests are the people and it is they who should be prioritised in the larger strategy of forest management. Instead, the governments are handing over forests to private capital for extracting profits, minerals, water, forest wealth etc., all of this is being used to keep aside the forest dwellers. This is not a sustainable model, rather it would be perilous for the forests and the people.

The strategy of what to plant would also play a big role in not just managing forests but also controlling forest fires.

People and not helicopters will manage the forests and fires. High time to realise it.