Dzukou Valley

• 13 Jan 2021

Why in News

The two-week long forest fire in Dzukou valley on Nagaland-Manipur border has been doused.

• The 90-sq km green valley has been prone to forest fires for decades - in 2015, 2012, 2010 and 2006.

Key Points

• Location: The Dzukou Valley, popularly known as the ‘valley of flower’, is located at the border of Nagaland and Manipur.
• Features:
  
  • Situated at an altitude of 2,438 metres behind the Japfu mountain range, it is one of the most popular trekking spots in the North East.
    
    • Dzukou valley and Japfu peak are located adjacent to the Pulie Badze Wildlife Sanctuary (Nagaland).
  • There are no human habitations within the forests, but they are home to rare and ‘vulnerable’ (as per the IUCN Red List) birds - Blyth’s Tragopan (Nagaland’s state bird), the Rufous-necked Hornbill and the Dark-rumped Swift, among many others. Also found in the forests are endangered Western Hoolock Gibbons.
  • It is covered with bamboo and other grass species. The valley harbours many species of flowering plants including the endemic Dzukou Lily- Lilium chitrangada.
  • The valley is a source of conflict for ownership between local tribes and the state governments of Manipur/Nagaland.
  • It is home to the Angami people.

Forest Fires

• Description:
  
  • Wildfire, also called forest, bush or vegetation fire, can be described as any uncontrolled and non-prescribed combustion or burning of plants in a natural setting such as a forest, grassland, brush land or tundra, which consumes the natural fuels and spreads based on environmental conditions (e.g., wind, topography).
• Causes:
  
  • Wildfire can be incited by human actions, such as land clearing, extreme drought or in rare cases by lightning.
  • One of the major reasons for forest fires in the north-east is slash-and-burn cultivation, commonly called jhoom or jhum cultivation.
    
    • The fires happen between the months of January and March. The north-east has tropical evergreen forests and, unlike the dry deciduous forests of central India, these are not likely to catch fire easily.
• Impact:
  
  • Globally, forest fires release billions of tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere, while hundreds of thousands of people are believed to die due to illnesses caused by exposure to smoke from forest fires and other landscape fires.
• Some Findings from the 2019 Report by the Forest Survey of India (FSI):
  
  • About 21.40% of forest cover in India is prone to fires, with forests in the north-eastern region and central India being the most vulnerable.
  • While the overall green cover has increased in the country, the forest cover in the north-east — particularly in Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland — has decreased. Forest Fires could be one of the causes.
• Measures Taken:
  
  • National Action Plan on Forest Fires (NAPFF) 2018
  • Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme.

Source: TH