: Lesson For the World: IFS Officer Stops Forest Fires While Helping Villagers Earn More #IndiaNEWS #Civil Servants It was during his research to stop the horrendous forest fires of Jharkhand that Vikas

Lesson For the World: IFS Officer Stops Forest Fires While Helping Villagers Earn More #IndiaNEWS #Civil Servants
It was during his research to stop the horrendous forest fires of Jharkhand that Vikas Ujjwal, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Jharkhand’s Lohardaga district, came across a Class 6 physics chapter. According to the ‘Fire Triangle’ chapter, forest fires can be attributed to three components — fuel, heat and oxygen.
Considering that there is possibly no way of tackling heat and oxygen, Vikas focussed on the ‘fuel’ aspect, which in Lohardaga’s case was heaps of fallen leaves. Here he also saw a lucrative employment opportunity but, most importantly, found a way to save his ecosystem in a simple way.

The 2016-batch Indian Forest Officer (IFS) installed a machine in the Tisiya region to convert dry leaves into briquettes, an eco-friendly artificial fuelwood. The project commenced in April 2019. Since then, the forests in this part of Jharkhand have not witnessed any major fires.
The best part?
As briquette makes for good fuel, villagers have discontinued the illegal cutting of wood and stopped burning leaves, which are now an asset.
“Forest fires are a nightmare and result in ecological disasters that are impossible to control through conventional methods. I realised that we are fighting a war with the age-old conventional methods of dousing fires by beating them with bushes and tree branches. This is a ‘post-mortem’ approach where the response is meted out after the damage has already been done,??? Vikas tells The Better India.
He adds, “Moreover, there is hardly anything edible or drinkable left in the forest after the fires, which lasts for four to five months. As a result, wildlife migrates towards human habitations resulting in human-wildlife conflicts. In April 2019, a wild bear killed a villager and injured many others. This forced us to adopt a preemptive approach for forest fire mitigation. ???
Fortunately, the briquette solution proved to be in line with the National Action Plan on Forest Fire which provides a framework of forest floor biomass management. Using the government’s plan, the IFS officer executed the project.
Feeding Two Birds With One Scone
A meeting by the forest department explaining the leaf initiative
At first, it was hard for any villager to believe that their incomes would increase by selling leaves, that too, if the per kilo price was a meagre Rs 2. And rightly so. Why would anyone refrain from selling wood illegally or burning leaves to free up unclaimed land to grow crops, if it gave decent returns?
That’s when the forest department, led by Vikas, gave the case study of flourishing ecotourism.

Stock Market NEWS Best intraday tips Intraday Stocks below 100