Panaji: The Forest Department is planning to strengthen coordination with villages bordering forest areas, recognising that preventing forest fires will require the involvement of communities on both sides of the forest-revenue land boundary.
The department is stepping up preventive measures, including creation of fire lines, controlled burning, patrolling and reduction of biofuel load, while planning greater interaction with neighbouring communities to prevent fires from spreading between forests and adjoining revenue lands.
Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife and Tourism), Naveen Kumar said fires could originate on either side of the boundary, making coordination with neighbouring communities essential for prevention and response.
“Even if the forest fire starts from the forest, they are coming towards revenue fringes. So people should be aware of how to tackle it and how to avoid it,” Kumar said.
He said the department was also considering the possibility of fires originating in revenue areas or agricultural fields spreading into forests.
“So vice versa, when a forest fire starts in a revenue field and spreads to the forest, that needs to be taken care of. So that interface building is planned,” he said.
Kumar said the department was strengthening preventive operations to reduce the risk of fires developing and spreading.
“We are firming up and strengthening the control, the pre-emptive activities. So we do controlled burning, fire-line creation and reducing the biofuel load. So these have been emphasised this year,” he said.
Goa is categorised as a state with the least vulnerability to forest fires. However, Kumar said the state’s forest wealth meant that even a relatively limited fire could result in significant losses.
“Goa is not categorised as a fire-prone state. It is kept in the least vulnerable state category. But given the size of the state and the wealth of forests, any loss is a big loss,” he said.
The department is therefore preparing across the state rather than limiting preventive measures to locations identified as vulnerable in previous assessments.
Kumar said the possibility of El Nino conditions had further increased the need for preparedness, particularly as the department had not experienced the phenomenon to this extent previously.
“We cannot work on the template model where only a few areas that have been identified. It will be given more importance. The entire forest will be properly treated. So that is why we cannot take a chance,” he said.
