A new study by the Centre for Wildlife Studies has mapped a strikingly uneven pattern of fire activity across India's major forest regions, finding that the Eastern Ghats and Central India have seen an increase in fires over the past two decades, even as the Western Ghats have experienced a decline. The findings add fresh urgency to debates over forest management, climate vulnerability and the long-term resilience of protected areas in a warming country.
The research, which examined fire activity across 13 reserves over more than 20 years, estimates that approximately 16,667 square kilometres burned during the study period. Importantly, the figure does not represent a single contiguous burn scar. Some areas burned more than once, indicating recurring exposure rather than isolated incidents. That pattern points to a deeper management challenge: repeated fire events can gradually degrade habitat quality, alter species composition and weaken the ecological function of reserves that are meant to serve as biodiversity strongholds.
Regional Fire Shift
The study's most consequential finding is not simply that fires occurred, but that their distribution changed over time. The Eastern Ghats and Central India, both landscapes already under pressure from fragmentation, human use and seasonal dryness, showed rising fire activity. By contrast, the Western Ghats, one of India's most biologically rich and moisture-dependent ecosystems, recorded a decline.
This divergence matters because fire is not ecologically neutral. In some systems, periodic low-intensity burning can be part of natural cycles. But in forest landscapes under stress from heat, drought, invasive species and human encroachment, more frequent or intense fires can push ecosystems beyond their recovery thresholds. The study's regional split suggests that local climate, vegetation structure, land use and enforcement capacity are interacting in different ways across India's protected areas.
For policymakers, the findings reinforce the need to move beyond a one-size-fits-all fire response. A reserve in the drier interior may require different surveillance, fuel management and community coordination than a rainforest or montane forest in the south-west. The study also implies that fire risk is becoming more spatially selective, which can make it harder to detect through national averages alone.
Repeated Burns Matter
The estimate of 16,667 square kilometres burned across 13 reserves is significant not only for its scale, but for what repeated burning can do to forest systems. When the same landscape burns multiple times, regeneration becomes more difficult. Seedlings may fail to establish, soil moisture can decline, and wildlife may lose cover, forage and breeding habitat. In protected areas, repeated fire can also complicate anti-poaching patrols and increase the burden on forest staff already stretched by routine conservation duties.
The study's emphasis on repeated burns also raises questions about the drivers of fire. In many parts of India, forest fires are linked to a combination of natural conditions and human activity, including accidental ignitions, land clearing, grazing practices and the collection of minor forest produce. Climate change is intensifying the background conditions that allow fires to spread, but the immediate triggers often remain local and preventable.
That makes the policy response inherently multi-layered. Better early warning systems, stronger ground-level monitoring, community engagement and more precise seasonal planning are likely to be as important as emergency suppression. The findings also strengthen the case for integrating fire risk into broader forest governance, rather than treating it as a standalone disaster-management issue.
Policy Implications
The study arrives at a time when India is confronting more frequent climate-linked extremes, including heatwaves, erratic rainfall and longer dry spells. Forest fires fit squarely into that wider pattern. As temperatures rise and moisture stress deepens in vulnerable landscapes, the probability of ignition and spread increases, especially where human activity and forest edges overlap.
For the Centre and state governments, the research offers a practical warning: conservation strategies must be tailored to regional fire regimes. The Western Ghats' relative decline should not encourage complacency, just as rising fire activity in the Eastern Ghats and Central India should not be treated as an isolated anomaly. Instead, the study suggests a shifting national baseline in which some ecosystems are becoming more fire-prone while others remain comparatively stable.
That unevenness will likely shape future conservation priorities. Reserve managers may need to map fuel loads more carefully, improve inter-agency coordination and use satellite-based detection more aggressively. Equally important will be the role of local communities, whose seasonal dependence on forests can either heighten risk or help reduce it through timely reporting and fire-line maintenance.
The broader message is clear: India's forest fire challenge is no longer uniform, and neither can the response be. The new research shows that the country's protected landscapes are experiencing different forms of stress, with some regions burning repeatedly and others showing relative relief. In that sense, the study is not just a record of fire activity. It is a warning about the uneven geography of ecological risk in India's forests.