Lok Sabha Question No. 2189 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-23
Subject: Incidence of Forest Fire
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Gajendra Singh Patel, Ravi Kishan Shukla, Nayab Singh, Ravindra Kushawaha, John Barla, Manoj Kumar Tiwari

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 2189

TO BE ANSWERED ON 23.09.2020

## Incidence of Forest Fire

2189.    SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH PATEL:

SHRI RAVI KISHAN:

SHRI NAYAB SINGH:

SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA:

SHRI JOHN BARLA:

SHRI MANOJ TIWARI:

Will  the  Minister  of  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND  CLIMATE  CHANGE    be  pleased  to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  note  of  the  rise  in  incidence  of  forest  fires  globally causing widespread damage to bio-diversity including wildlife and plant-life;
- (b) if  so,  the  special  arrangements  formulated  under  Forest  Fire  Prevention  and  Management Schemes in our country;
- (c) the manner in which modern technology has been leveraged under this scheme; and
- (d) the funds earmarked/allocated/utilized in this regard during the last three years?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)

- (a) Yes  sir.  As  reported  in  'Forest  Fire  Management:  Global  Best  Practices'  a compendium prepared by National Disaster Management Authority, forest fires across the globe are increasing.  Large area of forest fires have been reported in many countries including in Australia, Brazil, California and Canada. Some fires are too severe, occurring in habitats where they were very limited, unseasonal, or even more intense and frequent. In these cases, forest fires pose a serious threat to forest ecosystems and humans well-being.

As  per  the  report,  the  forest  fire  engulfs  large  tracts  of  forest  in  the  USA, Australia, Siberia, and Amazon. In 2018, fires burned through 1.8 million acres in California,  USA.  The  Amazon  saw  more  than  80,000  forest  fires  in  2019,  an increase of 75% from 2018. The Australian State of Forest Report 2018 mentions that  annual  area  of  fire  in  Australia's  forests  in  the  period  2011-12  to  2015-16 varied from a high value 27.4 million ha in 2012-13 to a low value of 14.9 million ha in 2015-16. Cumulative area affected by fire in the period is 106 million ha. In 2018,  there  were  more  than  7,000  forest  fires  in  Canada,  burning  almost  2.3 million ha of forest.

As  regards  India,  an  area  of  2,56,710  ha  has  been  affected  by  fire  in  2019  as reported  by  the  States.  Most  of  forest  fires  in  the  country  are  ground  fires  in which ground vegetation, etc. get burnt. The number of incidents of forest fire in the country varies from year to year depending on various natural and anthropogenic reasons. The numbers of fire alerts sent by Forest Survey of India to  various  States/UTs  were  29547  during  2018-19  and  22447  during  2019-20 respectively.

- (b) As forests are managed by State Forest Departments, the responsibility of forest fire prevention and  management lies primarily with the respective State Governments.  The  Ministry  supports  the  efforts  of  State  Governments/Union Territory  Administrations  in  prevention  and  control  of  forest  fire  by  providing financial assistance for various forest fire prevention and management measures such as creation and maintenance of fire lines in forest areas, engagement of fire watchers,  creation  of  water  storage  structures  in  forest  areas,  strengthening  of forest  infrastructure,  procurement  of  firefighting  equipment,  soil  and  moisture conservation works in high risk areas, awareness creation, incentivizing villages/communities  for  protection  against  forest  fire  etc.  under  the  Centrally Sponsored Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme. State Governments prepare Annual Plan of Operation for prevention and management of forest fire under  this  central  sponsored  scheme  and  funds  are  released  as  per  the  Central Sponsored Scheme Guidelines.
- (c) The scheme provides for preparation of fire danger rating system and forest fire forecasting system. The States/UTs are provided satellite based forest fire alerts on  near  real  time  basis.  In  addition  members  of  Joint  Forest  Management Committee, Eco- Development Committees, NGOs, volunteers, etc also get forest fire  alerts  in  their  registered  mobile  numbers.  Till  date  around  1,  01,  550  users have been registered to receive fire alerts from the Forest Survey of India.
- (d) The details of fund released to the States/UTs under the Forest Fires Prevention and Management Scheme during the last three years are as follows:

(Rs. In Lakhs)

| Year    |   Earmarked/Allocated |   Utilized |
|---------|-----------------------|------------|
| 2017-18 |                  4525 |    3481.4  |
| 2018-19 |                  5000 |    4657.42 |
| 2019-20 |                  4700 |    4684.69 |