This organisation provides training to fight forest fires in Uttarakhand

“99% of the times forest fires in Uttarakhand are human induced,” says Manoj Matwal, fondly called Manu Dafaali, founder of Uttarakhand's Harela Society. Preparation of slopes for cultivation, demand for timber, mismanagement of forests by the Forest Department, even misconceptions that burning forests will lead to better fodder among villagers have resulted in large scale destruction of forests. Since February 2016, the state has seen nearly 1900 hectares of forest land been obliterated in fire across 13 districts.

“In the recent forest fires, we realised that not only are common people ill-equipped but even the officials from forest department lack the necessary gear and training,” says Manu with respect to the rescue efforts in Pithoragarh. Thus, he decided to not just procure more firefighting gear but also invest in better training for a group of fire fighters. Also, spreading awareness among the villagers and educating them to take the required steps in such times are parts of the intervention plan that Harela Society has in mind for the Pithoragarh district. Nukkad naatak, videos, etc. are some mass communication tools to be used to spread the message. To achieve this, it is raising funds on Milaap.

Manu, a marine biologist by profession started Harela (Hands Applying Reconciliation Ecology through Local Archetypes) Society in 2012 to address the sheer lack of interest on the public’s side when it came to the environment. “The rivers and forests were being destroyed and no one was taking any serious action.” He found it ironic that despite the state being home to premier research institutes like Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Forest Research Institute and Wildlife Institute of India, when it came to on ground execution, no one was doing anything. It was necessary to do something to at least make people start thinking about it.