Burning forests: We did start the fires that rage

livemint.com:

Mint finds out. They are a regular occurrence in India between November and June due to a rise in temperatures. The presence of a huge quantity of dry leaves acts as a catalyst but in 95% of the cases, fires are man-made.

Deciduous and dry forests of the lowlands and coniferous forests in the lower and middle elevations are regularly burnt for stimulating fresh under-growth—fodder for livestock. During summer, when chances of precipitation are low and temperatures are high, these fires can become uncontrollable. Forest fires contribute to climate change—a vicious cycle as the latter results in drier and more severe summers that cause fires.

Forest fires occur in around half of India’s 647 districts every year. More than 46% of the forest cover is prone to frequent fires in varying degrees of vulnerability. Every year large areas of forests are affected by fires.

Based on forest inventory records, 54.40% of forests in India are exposed to occasional fires, 7.49% to moderately frequent fires and 2.40% to high incidence levels. Around 35% of India’s forests have not yet been exposed to fires of any real significance. The forests of the North-east, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand are the most vulnerable.

With at least one in four people dependent on forests for their livelihood, India is losing ₹1,100 crore due to forest fires every year, says the World Bank. Forest resources including carbon locked in the biomass is lost in these fires. According to the World Economic Forum, forest fires cost $50 bn to the world economy every year.

The impact is more in real estate and tourism. More than half the districts of Uttarakhand are fighting forest fires. Since November 2023, over 700 forest fires have