The Forest Survey of India (FSI) released the 2019 report on Forest Fires. It is based on a study carried out by the FSI along forest fire points identified across the country from 2004 to 2017.
Key Findings:
About 21.4% of forest cover in India is prone to fires, with forests in the north-eastern region and central India being the most vulnerable.
Extremely fire prone areas account for 3.89% of total forest cover, very highly fire prone areas account for 6.01% and highly fire prone areas for 11.50%. Together, the three categories come to 21.40 % of forest cover.
Central Indian States also recorded a high number of forest fire alerts, with Madhya Pradesh accounting for 2,723 alerts; Maharashtra 2,516; Odisha 2,213 and Chattisgarh 1,008 alerts between November 2018 to June 2019.
Reasons:
The reasons for fires here are manmade, particularly in cases where people visit forests and leave burning bidis, cigarette stubs or other inflammable materials.
In cases of natural reasons, the scientist pointed to thunderstorms as the most likely cause.
One of the major reasons for forest fires in the north-east is slash-and-burn cultivation, commonly called jhoom or jhum cultivation. The fires happen between the months of January and March.
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