Estimating monetary loss of forest ecosystem goods following wildfire in a North Indian mountain state, Uttarakhand: Methodological improvement to capture various losses

In the recent decades forest fire (FF) has become a major issue across the globe causing colossal loss to forest wealth and quality of environment. In the north of India, the mountainous state Uttarakhand is one of the worst sufferers of recurrent FF causing enormous loss to the forest ecosystem goods and services (FES). Hitherto, the monetary loss estimation based on the norms of Forest Deptt. considers only timber, resin and tree regeneration, grossly undermining the other important tangible benefits of forest ecosystems making compensation policy ambiguous. We devised simple methodology to estimate the quantities and monetary value of various forest ecosystem goods (FEGs) lost to FF on per ha forest area basis across three major forest types of Uttarakhand. Study involved a total of 5,040 sample plots (840 for trees, 1680 for shrubs and 2520 for herbs) across the 42 study sites (burnt forest and adjacent unburnt control forest) considering severity of FF, slope, aspect and altitude of the forests, classified using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Simple Network Paging Protocol (SNPP) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite data. Monetary loss value of the FEGs thus estimated (mean= Indian Nations Rupees (INR) 1,30,387 ha −1 ; range= INR 9,595–3,52,752 ha −1 ) using the Market Price Method for marketed goods and stakeholder’s Contingent Valuation Method for non-marketed goods was found highest for timber (59% of the total loss), tree regeneration (15%), fuelwood (8%), wild edibles (7%), leaf litter (4%), resin (3%), fodder (2%) and MAPs (1%). Moderate fire accrued significantly (P<0.049) greater loss than the low severity fire, and the loss was positively related to altitude (P<0.048), slope (P<0.039) and aspect (P<0.041) of the forests. Thus, the monetary loss due to FF we estimated was 65-90 times greater than it was reported so far in Uttarakhand. We recorded some benefits associated with the FF such as better growth of grasses, plant species richness and yield of a few wild edibles. This pioneering study carried out under the restrictions of Covid-19 will redirect the attention of policy makers, forest managers, the media, and society toward the economic and ecological consequences of FF, and calls for detailed studies to better understand the loss of FES to FF.