Forest fire management in India: integrating ecological and cultural contexts and consequences

Improving poor standards of forest fire management could improve local livelihoods, biodiversity, and the supply of other environmental services from forests. Where the local socio-cultural and ecological context allows, this may include deliberate application of forest fires. Such fire management would require knowledge as well as a shared consensus about needs and purposes of forest fire regimes in meeting people’s livelihood needs, and its influence on ecosystem processes, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and the supply of other ecosystem services. Applicable fire management requires considering causes and impacts, that are often multifaceted, as well as perceptions of key stakeholders. It is therefore that a study is planned to look into these matters

The study would document fire occurrence in three sites, which will be located in three different eco-regions in India (Western Himalayas, Western Ghats and the plains of central India). It will examine the correlation of fire occurrence with different forest types, and assess the effects of fires of varying frequency on forest structure and functioning on the basis of satellite imagery and other available data. In parallel, using MLA methods, it will document people’s perceptions about the role of fire in their livelihoods, and the socio-cultural and economic drivers of fire occurrence. Analysing this information will help us to identify the reasons for forest fires, their link to existing forest formations, and their role in the supply of ecosystem services (ES). This will not only help us to extend the approach to other areas, but also to discuss the findings with decision makers, forest managers, and local communities aiming to implement these findings in forest and landscape management.

In 2007,  a first workshop was held to design the study. The workshop was jointly organized by Joachim Schmerbeck of the Institute of Silviculture, University of Freiburg, and Ankila Hiremath of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), in collaboration with the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) and the Evergreen Trust. CIFOR's Imam Basuki gave a presentation about MLA and suggested to the workshop how the project could approach the local perspective questions.

Fire effect on Sirumulai Hills

Fig and temple in South of India	Reforestation on hills top

See here the proceedings of the workshop