Why Kashmir's verdant forests are burning this summer

India Today

2 days ago

Kashmir's Pir Panjal mountains, part of the western Himalayas that cleave the Valley from Jammu, are known for their towering, snowbound peaks and ridges. But beneath the snowline, its famed forests, with their splendid stands of pine, fir, oak, spruce and Deodar, are smouldering, then blazing away, as if in barely-concealed fury.Jammu and Kashmir topped the forest-fire map in India for half of June, with 338 fires. Overall since April, 883 forest fires have been recorded across J&K, mostly in the Jammu region. This comes amidst a severe heat wave gripping the region, with Jammu recording temperatures up to 44 degrees Celsius and Kashmir 33 degrees Celsius in early June. This year, Srinagar recorded the hottest June month since 1978.advertisementThe first series of fires broke out from April 1 to 9, when around 80 firefighters fought against time and punishing winds that fanned the flames, devouring roots, pine needles, fir cones and a tangle of biomass through a 7,000-hectare forest area. Finally, rains brought in some respite.But before that, acrid air filled the air, befouling the pristine surroundings through which the famed spring waters of Kokernag—in the Valley's Anantnag district—wend their way. 'In the past three decades, I haven't seen forests burning en masse like this. We firefighters have been combating it for days without sleep,' Farooq Ahmad Mir, range forest officer, Kokernag, tells INDIA TODAY.
If forest fires in spring are rare in Kashmir, dozens of forests going up in flames in southern Kashmir—along with Anantnag, Kulgam district is affected too—is unprecedented. Predictably, climate change is a villain. Earlier, the Valley's snow-intensive winters and the thaw in spring moistened the soil and kept fires away. But prolonged dry spells and less snowfall have left both forests and the soil dry and defenceless against fires.advertisementIn the first six days of April, a record 179 forest fires blazed through south Kashmir, impacting 397 hectares, say official records. This marks a threefold increase from last year—between April 2024 and March 2025, there were only 63 such incidents across 71 hectares.'We usually experience a few fires in autumn...this is shocking for us,' says Mudasir Mehmood, district forest officer, Anantnag. The district forest staff—there are 30 casual labourers amongst the 80 men—can barely cope with the mayhem. The forest department had to appeal to locals for help.'The fires were uncontrollable; we had no other option but to call locals for help through mosque loudspeakers. Over 60 men joined us,' shares Mir.This year's fires may have been devastating, but records show J&K has been gradually careening towards a crisis. Out of its total area of 42,241 sq km, 47.8 per cent, or 20,194 sq km, is under forest cover. According to the World Forest Watch, from 2001 to 2023, J&K lost 952 hectares of tree cover to fires.The Forest Survey of India (FSI), under the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, tracks fires through remote satellite sensors such as MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). According to its State of the Forest Report 2023, J&K recorded 9,084 fires from November 2021 to July 2024, with 438.56 hectares of forests damaged by fires between November 2023 and June 2024.advertisementMehmood says the number is higher as satellite sensors detect only major fires. Based on ground reports, the Omar Abdullah government revealed in March that 1,243 forest fires were reported in 2024-25 in J&K, impacting 3,503 hectares.Though most of the conflagration this year comprises ground fires, with lesser impact to trees, the damage to the ecosystem with all its biodiversity—including the food chain—remains substantial. Forest fires are also behind growing human-wildlife conflict in Kashmir, which has resulted in 36 deaths over the past three years.'Habitat destruction forces wild animals to venture into public spaces in search of food, which leads to conflict with humans,' says Khursheed Ahmad, head of wildlife sciences at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Srinagar.According to officials, climate change is not the only culprit. A post-pandemic surge in trekking through the picturesque mountain forests, along with the annual migration of Gujjars and Bakarwals to higher reaches in Kashmir in spring and down to Jammu in autumn, are also to blame.advertisementSadly, J&K is struggling to contain the damage. The National Action Plan on Forest Fire (NAPFF) 2018 prescribes controlled burning, capacity building and biomass incentivisation to fight fires, but there have been no significant measures despite a state-level action committee on forest fires.'We're putting 120 control rooms in place to monitor fires and map low-level forests on satellites, and are drafting standard operating procedures to prevent and manage fires,' Suresh Gupta, principal chief conservator of forests, J&K, tells INDIA TODAY.Forest lands in Kokernag and other affected areas need a lasting salve plan urgently. The forest department's own forest fire management plan is outdated, say experts. It suffers from a serious manpower crisis, with 60-80 poorly equipped staff members patrolling 7,000 to 40,000 hectares of mountain forests.There is more—Rs 727 crore earmarked for J&K under the National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority in 2024-25 is left unspent. When this was red-flagged by J&K chief secretary Atal Dulloo on April 17, directions were passed to plant trees over 14,680 hectares of degraded forests and create fire lines—clearing land to stop fires from spreading—covering 2,061 km this year.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- Ends
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