With summer setting in, forest fires have begun to take a toll on the state’s sylvan wealth even as officials gear up to contain the damage. More than 120 hectares of forest cover have been destroyed by wildfire in Bolangir district this year. While this has led to a significant reduction in the district’s forest cover, which has come down from 23 percent to 17 percent, the phenomenon is also contributing to a rise in temperature in and around the forest areas. On a conservative estimate, Bolangir district is losing more than 500 hectares of forest cover every year.
The district forest areas include the ecologically vulnerable Gandhamardan, Mahakhand, Kiribanji, Chhatartandi and Raju with more than 534 Vana Surakhya Samitis (forest protection committees) guarding these forests. The Forest department has constituted as many as 12 teams equipped with modern fire-fighting equipment to keep a watch on these areas, but fires are still taking place.
Some other areas of the state have also witnessed forest fires. Last year, a devastating fire took a heavy toll on the forest wealth of Simlipal national park, the first and the most famous tiger reserve of the state. Following this experience, forest officials started mobilizing resources to fight these fires with focus on the protection of major wildlife habitats.
District-level action plans for preventing and controlling forest fires have been laid out for 23 districts and GPS mapping of vulnerable points has been done. With the state government adopting a Forest Fire Free (3F) strategy this year for every panchayat, the emphasis is on maintaining firelines and reaching out to villages on the fringe of forests. The Forest department has reportedly sought to mobilize funds from various sources to tackle wildfire hazards in different parts of the state. Even the CAMPA funds are likely to be used for the purpose.
The Simlipal national park had faced manpower problems last year after slashing of funds under Project Tiger for the 2021-22 fiscal. This made tackling forest fires even more difficult. The park had reported 428 fire points between January 1 and March 4 last year. The park authorities are reported to be better prepared this time with more than 2,000 firelines having already been created. Around 700 fringe villages have been identified in Baripada, Karanjia and Rairangpur divisions of the national park for awareness generation on prevention and tackling of wildfires.
As it is, tackling forest fires effectively is important not only from the point of view of saving wildlife but also ensuring the livelihood sustainability of the communities living close to the forests. Most of these are tribal communities which depend almost exclusively on forest produce for livelihood. Although too much dependence of these communities on neighbouring forests is not good as this can adversely impact the food stock of animals, it is important that people living in the peripheral villages draw required sustenance from the forests. For this, forests must be healthy.
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