Strategies for Forest Fire Control andManagement to Safeguard India’s Ecosystems
06 May, 2024

R Raghu Prasad

Inspector General of Forests
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Forest fires are a major threat to world’s forests•

Increase in scale and duration of forest fires

around the world••

Annual area affected by forest fires

Affects biodiversity, ecosystem services, human~1003%

well-being, livelihoods, and national economies

Millionhectares

World’sforests

Anthropogenic factors leads to most forest fires

13%•Important to prevent and manage forest fires
and restore fire impacted lands•

Imperative to develop comprehensive and long-term strategy to prevent and combat forest fires

Increase in total forest fire alerts
between 2020 and 2019

Forest Fires: The Indian Context
Forest Types of India• Each year fires affects forests across India.

• Severe fires occurs in deciduous and pineforests• Forest fire season November to June

• 1.7% of tree cover loss in India between
2001 and 2021 due to forest fireMore than 22% of India’s Forest Cover is highly prone to fire

Forest Cover of India
under different fire prone classes

Fire prone classes

7.85%

2.81%

Less Fire Prone

11.61%

Moderately FireProne
Highly Fire Prone

13.19%

Very Highly Fire
Prone

65.54%

Extremely FireProneNear Real Time Forest Fire Monitoring
Satellitesignals

Signals transmitted toEarth Station

Forest Survey of India
Data Processing Centre

Forest Fire Control andMitigation

Alerts to State
Forest Departments
Alerts to Subscribers
Large Forest Firealerts
FSI Van Agni Portal

Automated
Processing

Forest Survey of India (FSI)

Organization under the Ministryof Environment and Forests &Climate Change, involved in

FSI’s role in Forest Fire Management• Remote sensing and communication technology• Near Real-Time Forest Fire Monitoring•

Forest Fire Monitoring•

Forest Cover Mapping• Forest Fire alerts•

Forest Inventory• Early Warning Alert based on Forest Fire Danger Rating System• Large Forest Fire MonitoringForest fire alert dissemination

Number of Forest Fires Detectedby FSI across Nov-June
FSI disseminates forest fire alerts••

214,000 registered users•

3 types of alerts are generated

345,989

223,333

1. Pre-Fire Alerts (5 km x 5 km) grids every Thursday

212,249
165,300

2. Near Real Time forest fire alerts (1 km x 1 km)
3. Large Forest Fire Alerts (375 x 375 m) grid•

Large forest fire – fire that burn over 40 ha area

2020-212021-222022-232023-24 (tillApril)Monthly progression of forest fire in India
Fire Season November 2022 - June 2023
Fire Season peaks February to May<100 Alerts
100-500 Alerts
500-1000 Alerts
1000-2000 Alerts> 2000 Alerts

Van Agni Portal for detection of forest fires•

Web Portal for disseminationof forest fire alerts•Provides

accurate

geolocation data on forest
fires

•

Monitor large forest fires•

Provideapproximatearea/pixels on the spread of largefiresForest Fire Prevention & Management
Central and State Governments provides financial assistance to forest department for preparedness,
response and control of forest fire.

FireFighting Tools

Communication &Information Technology

Creation & Maintenance offire lines

Engagement of firewatchers

Water harvesting andstorage tanks

Strengthening forest
infrastructure

Incentives to local
Community

Community mobilization &Awareness generation

Forest Fire Prevention & Management

Monitoring the response and control of forest fires•

Response and control of forest

Response time to douse forest fires (Nov’22 to June’23)

fire by field staff; participationof local communities< 24 Hrs

16.76%

1<Day<22<Day<364.15%

Response time taken to douse

3<Day<4forest fires being monitored
5.3%>4 Day5.1%

Response time to douse forest fires (Nov’22 to June’23)

662

290

138

110

46

30

13

9

3

2

3

2

4<Day<5

5<Day<6

6<Day<7

7<Day<88<Day<9

9<Day<10

10<Day<11

11<Day<12

12<Day<13

13<Day<14

14<Day<15

1,078
2<Day<3

1<Day<22,097

3<Day<48,023<24 Hrs•

8.61%

Community participation crucial for forest fire management and control•

Livelihoods of local communitiesintricately

linkedwithforest

ecosystems•

Forest-dependentcommunities

are actively involved to preventand manage forest fires•

JointForest

Committees

Pine needles collected for reducing fuel load.
Collected Pine needles converted into handicrafts

Managementand

Eco

Development Committees

Preventing forest fires through harvesting Mahua flowers in nets

Overcoming challenges restoring forest fire affected areas

Major Challenges••••

Assessing baseline conditions
Conflict of interest among stakeholders
Long term commitment in terms of effort and funding
Scaling up of projects due to high costs in restoration

Possible approaches to land restoration of forest fire affect areas
Ecosystem based approaches
for restoration of Forest fire
affected landscapes

Use of Technology forest firemonitoring, response & restoration

Community involvement in forest
fire response

Eco restoration of forest fire affected landscapes in Southern India; Case Study•

Bandipur Tiger Reserve in southern India ishighly fire prone.

•Eco restoration of fire affected areas initiatedin 2019•

Invasive species like Lantana camara removed•Restoration through planting of native grass,bamboo, trees and other palatable species•

Subsequent years
secondary weeds
Parthenium.

•Efforts continued for 4 years led to restorationof native species

removed primary
like Chromolaena

andandFire risk area and selected plots at Bandipur

Removal of weeds manually and with elephants

Afforestation and maintenance of fire affected area

Thank You