Rising Forest Fire Threatens Seven Sister States

Forest fire has emerged as the latest threat to the lush, green expanse of Northeast India often called the 'Seven Sister States'.

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A new scientific study has revealed an alarming rise in the intensity of forest fires in this ecologically fragile region due to climate variability.

A team of climate and geospatial experts from India and Brazil have mapped over 3.6 lakh fire incidents across Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura during 2001-2022 and analysed active fire points by using NASA's MODIS satellite, linking fire patterns to climatic factors like temperature, rainfall, solar radiation, and wind speed.

Approximately 80% of annual forest fires were observed between March and April, with the years 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010 marked by anomalously high fire incidences. Fire events were predominantly recorded in woodlands, shrublands, regrowth areas, evergreen forests, and cropland mosaics.

The highest frequency of fire occurrences was reported in 2009 contributing 7.40% to the overall. This was closely followed by 2006, which contributed 7.34%. Among the Seven Sister States, Mizoram experienced the highest number of fire incidents, accounting for 24.2% of the total 3,60,383 incidents recorded during last two decades. It was followed by Assam (19.8%), Manipur (16.3%), Nagaland (11.8%), Arunachal Pradesh (9.1%) and Tripura (6.6%).

The study has identified a strong correlation between fire occurrence and climatic factors, particularly low rainfall and high solar radiation. "It is a vicious cycle. As climate change intensifies, we see more extreme dry spells and hotter conditions, which in turn trigger more frequent and intense fires," said lead researcher of the study Manoranjan Mishra, a professor of Geography at Fakir Mohan University.