By IPS Correspondents
NEW DELHI, Jun 21 1995 (IPS)

FOREST FIRES ARE RAGING ALL OVER THE FOOTHILLS OF THE HIMALAYAS IN NORTHERN INDIA, CONSUMING PRIME WOOD, AND GUTTING MILLIONS OF TREES.

ENORMOUS QUANTITIES OF VALUABLE BIOMASS HAS BEEN REDUCED TO ASHES THIS YEAR IN THE WORST SPATE OF FOREST FIRES IN LIVING MEMORY.

WHAT DISTINGUISHES THE PRESENT SITUATION IS ITS UNPRECEDENTED GEOGRAPHICAL SPREAD, UPWARD MOVEMENT OF FIRES FROM THE GROUND TO THE CREST, AND THE SUPINE RESPONSE OF INDIA’S FOREST DEPARTMENT.

THE AREA REPORTED TO BE IN THE GRIP OF FOREST FIRES IS MIND- BOGGLING: 800 SQ KM IN THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH ALONE. THIS IS 15 TIMES HIGHER THAN LAST YEAR, AND THREE TIMES GREATER THAN IN THE PREVIOUS PEAK, IN 1988.

THE ECONOMIC DAMAGE IS STAGGERING. ASSUMING THAT A FULL-GROWN CONIFEROUS TREE COSTS A MINIMUM OF 645 DOLLARS AND THAT THE TREE DENSITY IS 1,000 PER HECTARE, THE ECONOMIC LOSS ALONE WORKS OUT TO 53 BILLION DOLLARS, EXCLUDING THE PRICE OF THE RESIN, SMALL- DIAMETER WOOD AND IMMATURE TREES.

BUT FIRES ALSO KILL ANIMALS, BIRDS, VEGETATION AND MICROBES. THEY DRY OUT WATER SOURCES, CHANGE THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE SOIL AND DISRUPT THE ECOLOGICAL CHAIN.

THE LONG-TERM DAMAGE TO THE HIMALAYAN ECO-SYSTEM WITH ITS GLACIERS, MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS — WHICH ARE HIGHLY SENSITIVE TO TEMPERATURE AND BIOTIC CHANGES — IS PROBABLY INCALCULABLY HIGHER. THE CONSEQUENCES COULD INCLUDE FLOODS, DROUGHTS AND ERRATIC RAINFALL THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY.

THIS AWESOME DESTRUCTION IS YET TO SHAKE INDIA’S FOREST DEPARTMENT INTO ACTION. FORESTERS GIVE TWO EXPLANATIONS FOR THE HIGH INCIDENCE OF FIRES. ONE, THAT PEOPLE ARE CARELESS, AND THROUGH SHEER NEGLIGENCE, MIGHT THROW, SAY, A BURNING MATCH ON TO PINE NEEDLES AND START A FIRE.

AND SECONDLY, SAYS THE UTTAR PRADESH CHIEF CONSERVATOR OF FORESTS, THE WEATHER IS TO BLAME. THERE HAS BEEN A HEAT WAVE IN THE NORTH AND THE HILLS RECEIVED NO SEASONAL RAINS IN MID-MAY. HENCE THE BIOMASS ON THE GROUND REMAINED COMBUSTIBLE.

BOTH EXPLANATIONS ARE SPECIOUS. PEOPLE’S CARELESSNESS HAS NOT SUDDENLY INCREASED OR DECREASED. WHAT HAS CHANGED IS THE MONITORING OF FIRES, THE REPORTING SYSTEM AND METHOD OF CONTROL.

EARLIER, THE FOREST DEPARTMENT WOULD EMPLOY FIRE WATCHERS — LOCAL VILLAGERS — TO PATROL AND LOOK OUT FOR FIRES AND REPORT THEM, AS WELL AS PUT OUT MINOR FIRES. THIS YEAR, THIS SYSTEM BROKE DOWN, THANKS TO A BUDGET CUT.

BLAMING THE WEATHER IS EQUALLY WRONG. THERE WAS NOTHING UNIQUE ABOUT LACK OF RAINS LAST MONTH. BUT THE FOREST DEPARTMENT IS SIMPLY NOT EQUIPPED TO HANDLE SEVERAL FIRES AT A TIME. FOR INSTANCE, IT HAS ONLY ONE FIRE TENDER FOR A WHOLE DIVISION THAT MEASURES 130 KMS ACROSS.

THERE IS ALSO DEMORALISATION AMONG THE STAFF AND CALLOUSNESS AT THE TOP OF THE BUREAUCRATIC PYRAMID. THIS HAS MEANT ABSENCE OF ROUTINE PREVENTIVE MEASURES SUCH AS CLEARING THE FOREST FLOOR, MAKING PROTECTIVE TRENCHES, AND SETTING OFF CONTROLLED FIRES IN VULNERABLE AREAS.

INDIA SPENDS A PATHETIC 600,000 DOLLARS ON FIGHTING FOREST FIRES — PROBABLY THE LOWEST RATIO TO REVENUE ANYWHERE.

UNDERLYING THIS IS A PERVERSE VIEW OF FORESTS AS A RESOURCE TO BE EXPLOITED FOR REVENUE, NOT CONSERVED. THUS PRIMITIVE METHODS SUCH AS BEATING BURNING TREES WITH BRANCHES ARE STILL USED AS THE PRINCIPAL MEANS OF FIRE CONTROL.

A HELICOPTER DONATED BY THE U.N. DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME TO THE ENVIRONMENT AND FOREST MINISTRY SPECIFICALLY FOR FIRE-FIGHTING WAS NEVER USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. INSTEAD, LAST YEAR, IT CRASHED, KILLING ENVIRONMENT MINISTER KAMAL NATH’S PERSONAL ARCHITECT, TO TRANSPORT WHOM IT HAD BEEN REGULARLY USED.

FOUR FACTORS, BESIDES FORESTERS’ CALLOUSNESS, EXPLAIN THE HIGH INCIDENCE OF FOREST FIRES. FIRST, GROWING MONOCULTURE, ESPECIALLY OF COMMERCIALLY VALUABLE ‘CHIR’ PINE, HAS REDUCED BIODIVERSITY AND ELIMINATED BROAD-LEAF DECIDUOUS TREES. HIGH COMBUSTIBILITY OF CHIR NEEDLES HAS MADE FORESTS MORE VULNERABLE TO FIRES.

THE SECOND CAUSE IS DEPREDATIONS OF RESIN AND TIMBER CONTRACTORS WORKING IN LEAGUE WITH FOREST GUARDS. SETTING A CLUMP OF TREES ON FIRE IS A MEANS OF SURREPTITIOUSLY CUTTING DOWN PRIME TIMBER, ILLEGALLY TAPPING RESIN, AND THEN COLLECTING CASH FOR THE REMOVAL OF BURNT TREES AS WELL.

RESIN CONTRACTORS, WHO THRIVE ON THE BOOM IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY — RESIN IS USED IN PAINTS AND VARNISHES — HAVE BECOME ENORMOUSLY INFLUENTIAL IN RECENT YEARS.

THIRDLY, THE LOCAL PEOPLE HAVE NO STAKE IN CONSERVING FORESTS OR PREVENTING FIRES. THIS IS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE ILL-CONCEIVED FOREST CONSERVATION ACT, WHICH HAS BARRED THEIR TRADITIONAL ACCESS EVEN TO MINOR FOREST PRODUCE SUCH AS FRUIT, LEAVES AND BERRIES.

SOMETIMES PEOPLE DO NOT EVEN BOTHER TO REPORT FIRES. AS ECOLOGICAL HISTORIAN RAMACHANDRA GUHA NOTES IN HIS BOOK ‘THE UNQUIET WOODS’, THERE IS IN SOME CASES A HISTORY OF PEOPLE STARTING FIRES DELIBERATELY TO GET EVEN WITH HOSTILE OFFICIALS WHO MAY HAVE DISPLACED THEM FROM FORESTS.

THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE WHERE WILDLIFE SANCTUARIES HAVE BEEN CREATED WITHOUT PEOPLE’S CONSENT.

FINALLY, WHERE THE STATE FAILS TO PROTECT CITIZENS’ INTERESTS, INDIVIDUALS START TAKING IRRATIONAL MEASURES TO PROTECT THEMSELVES. ONE OF THEM IS THE CREATION OF ARTIFICIAL FIREBREAKS LIKE A TWO FOOT-WIDE RING THAT GOES AROUND A PRIVATE HOLDING, WHICH ACTS AS A BARRIER TO THE SPREAD OF FIRE.

THE SIMPLEST MEANS OF DOING THIS IS TO BURN DRY LEAVES OR NEEDLES. BUT SUCH FIRES MAY GO OUT OF CONTROL.

THERE ARE SOME MAJOR POLICY LESSONS IN THIS. FORESTS ARE FAR TOO PRECIOUS TO BE LEFT TO FORESTERS ALONE. INDIA’S TREE COVER IS NOW A POOR 13 PER CENT AND DECREASING BY 47,000 HECTARES A YEAR. FORESTS ARE BEING DEPLETED FOR FIREWOOD AT THE RATE OF 200 MILLION CUBIC METRES WHEREAS THEY CAN SUSTAINABLY SUPPORT A RATE OF DEPLETION OF ONLY 40 MILLION CUBIC METRES.

FURTHER DEFORESTATION WILL BE NOTHING SHORT OF DISASTROUS. BUT PREVENTING IT MEANS THAT POLICY-MAKERS ABANDON THE COLONIALLY INHERITED EXPLOITATIVE APPROACH TO FORESTRY AND INVEST IN CONSERVATION, ENRICHMENT OF BIODIVERSITY AND PLANTING OF SPECIES THAT MEET THE FUEL AND FODDER NEEDS OF FOREST- DWELLERS.

EQUALLY, THEY MUST INVEST IN MODERN, EFFICIENT COMMUNICATIONS AND WARNING SYSTEMS AND FIRE-FIGHTING EQUIPMENT, SUCH AS HELICOPTERS AND SPECIAL HOSES.

THERE IS AN EVEN MORE IMPORTANT LESSON. THERE CAN BE NO FOREST CONSERVATION WHICH DOES NOT INVOLVE FOREST-DWELLING PEOPLE.

THEY MUST BE BROUGHT INTO THE PICTURE THROUGH JOINT FOREST MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMES, AND GIVEN A ROLE IN FORMULATING POLICY AND IN DRAWING UP PLANS FOR PLANTING, LOGGING, AND COLLECTION OF MINOR FOREST PRODUCE. THIS MEANS LEGISLATING A NEW FOREST LAW.

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