COVID-19 Lockdown a Window of Opportunity to Understand the Role of Human Activity on Forest Fire Incidences in the Western Himalaya, India

The global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a complete lockdown of economic activities and movement across the world. This provides an opportunity to evaluate the impact of minimal anthropogenic activities on forest fire occurrences in the Western Himalaya, India. Significant reduction of 83.4% in the cumulative fire incidences during 24 March to 5 May 2020 was observed in this region compared to the average of fire incidences during the corresponding period of 2006–20. Though during the current lockdown period, precipitation was high (~281 mm) compared to the average for the last 15 years (~125 mm), it did not contribute to the build-up of soil moisture. Comparatively higher NDVI (by 30.59%) and EVI (by 12.18%) in the lockdown phase unlike the average of previous years which showed declining trend, indicates that the lockdown provided an opportunity for the canopy to sustain and have higher vigour; this was not visible earlier due to fire incidences. The present study emphasizes that anthropogenic activities play a major role in forest fire incidences in this region.