“Forest is our life, why are we destroying it. Please wake up. Local people can protect our forest, not by anyone. We will face shortage of water, oxygen to breathe. Why don’t we understand? Please wake up dear NGOs and CSOS. Let’s save our life and the future,” writes N Biren Singh, Manipur Chief Minister, on his facebook post, expressing his strong concerns on the spurt of forest fires in the state.

According to satellite data made available by the Forest Survey of India, Manipur has lost at least 3,823 hectares of forest in just 13 days, to forest fire that have occurred, between 1 April to 13 April, across the state. This only a preliminary assessment of the damage calculated using the conventional thumbs-up of a ‘hectare lost to one case forest fire’.