Probe says extreme weather triggered Goa forest fires, also points to unintentional man-made causes

The report said that the role and intention of forest right claimants, under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), in kindling fires were also being probed. Out of 74 fire incidents reported in the state in the first half of March, seven fire affected sites that have forest rights claims, the report added.

Weather conditions, such as low rainfall last year, unprecedented high summer temperatures, low humidity and high winds, made the forest fires more intense in 2023 than in previous years, the Forest Department’s probe found.

As there was less rain in the previous year i.e., 2022, all the luxuriant ground vegetation which have grown in the past three years due to excess rain converted into huge dry fuel/biomass, due to a prolonged dry spell from November 2022 to March 2023, for the current year’s fire incidences, the report said.

The report also identifies the practice of ‘slash burning’ at cashew plantations as one aspect of man-made fires. Other factors such as burning grass for pastoral and agricultural purposes, and the burning of dry leaf litter in cashew plantations for ease of collection of cashew fruits were among the main causes for the forest fires, according to the report.

The matter of prime concern is that most of the cashew orchards are either contiguous to forests or forest rights settlement pockets inside forest areas, so the spread of fire to the forest is consequential and inevitable in such situations,” the report said.

When the forest fires were raging across Goa, the state Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane had said that prima facie, the fires appeared to be man-made and deliberate. Opposition parties had sought a high-level investigation into whether the fires were man-made.

While forest fires in Goa are an annual phenomenon, with the deciduous to semi-evergreen forests of the coastal state impacted during the months of March to May on a minor scale every year, the fires in the first two weeks of March this year saw fires at a much bigger scale.

As the fires spread on hilltops, in inaccessible forest areas, and across wildlife sanctuaries, the Forest Department had called on the Navy and the Air Force to deploy helicopters to douse fires.

According to the Forest Department, 74 fires were reported between March 5 and March 14, out of which 59 were reported in government forests (including protected areas), 12 in private land, three in private forests and in communidade land. As many as 32 fire incidents were reported in three wildlife sanctuaries, including 17 in Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, seven in Bhagwan Mahaveer Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park and eight in Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary. Approximately 418 hectares were affected by the fires in the state, out of which 348 hectares were in the government forest area, as per the report.

In the past five years since 2017, a total of 187 forest fires have been reported in Goa, affecting more than 587 hectares of land. In 2017-18, 58 fires were reported followed by 34 fires each in the next two years. In 2020-21, the fire incidences increased to 46 while only 15 fires were reported in 2021-22.

The government inquiry further said there was no loss reported to any endangered flora or fauna.

As forest fire in the state was surface/creeping fire, mammals and birds had a great chance to escape to safety compared to slow moving reptiles on the ground. Deaths of two snakes were reported. The wildlife habitat,
especially of reptiles, rodents, birds (damage to anag trees) and others was affected in burnt areas,the report said.

The report said there was no loss of human life, livestock and property, while crops such as cashew and coconut were damaged mostly in areas outside forests.