This article was originally published in 101Reporters under Creative Common license. Read the original article.
By Himanshu Latwal
Almora, Uttarakhand: Chir pine forests are often blamed for the spread of forest fires in Uttarakhand. Yet the trees are also an important economic resource for the state's hill districts, supporting livelihoods, generating revenue through resin extraction and supplying raw material to several industries.
But the economic benefits are unevenly distributed. Much of the revenue goes to the government and contractors, while resin workers remain dependent on seasonal employment. Van Panchayats, which manage community forests, also often receive their share of the revenue after considerable delays.
The Forest Department has introduced initiatives to expand the economic use of chir pine, including schemes to collect pine needles. But these remain limited. Uttarakhand still lacks a comprehensive policy to ensure the sustainable management of pine forests and a fairer share of their economic benefits for local communities.
Forests cover 71% of Uttarakhand's geographical area. Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) is widespread across the state, which has the third-largest area under these forests after Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Government data shows that resin extracted from pine trees generates annual revenue of around Rs 90 crore to Rs 200 crore. Besides Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, India also imports resin from China and Indonesia.
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The resin economy has largely benefited the government and contractors. Illegal traders have also profited, while workers remain unorganised and dependent on seasonal employment. Horse and mule operators, too, find work transporting resin.
Van Panchayats, village institutions that manage community forests, are entitled to receive resin royalties. An average annual income of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh per village could support public works, plantations and forest regeneration. But where planning and oversight are weak, much of the income goes to traders and contractors.
In Kumaon, chir pine forests in districts such as Bageshwar, Almora, Pithoragarh and Nainital support economic activities centred on timber, resin and pine needles.
Resin is used in paints, medicines and turpentine oil. Pine wood is used for fuel, houses, furniture and agricultural implements, while needles, locally called pirul, are used to make paper, bio-briquettes, packaging and decorative products.
Until about two decades ago, many villagers earned a year-round livelihood transporting resin and timber and extracting resin from trees. Today, families continue to depend on chir pine, although fewer women participate in resin extraction.
In Daal gram panchayat in Almora district's Hawalbagh block, 25 families are directly involved in the resin trade.
Pratap Singh Chauhan, a resident of the village, has been tapping resin for 29 years. He works in the occupation for around eight months a year. During the remaining four months, he earns a living through chirwani, agriculture and daily-wage work.
“I started extracting resin in 1997. At that time, we supplied resin to contractors at Rs 480 per quintal. Today, we give resin to contractors at a rate of Rs 1,800 per quintal,” he says.
Pratap works in the forest for seven to eight hours a day. He earns around Rs 400 to Rs 500 a day, or Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 a month.
Van Panchayat Daal, established in 2003, covers 205.42 hectares. For the financial year 2026-27, the Forest Department has set a target of extracting 73 quintals of resin from the Van Panchayat. Around 10 male workers are engaged in the work.
Local women also transport the resin collected in tins from the forest to the road. They are paid Rs 50 per tin. Fourteen women from the village are involved in this work and use the income to support their families.
Trilok Singh Chauhan has been extracting resin since 2002. After spending two years seeking work in metropolitan cities, he returned to the village and has continued working in the same forest.
“This is my main source of livelihood. This work does not have any adverse effect on my health. I can stay in the village and manage the work according to my farming schedule. I am satisfied doing it,” he says.
Kunwar Singh became the Van Panchayat's sarpanch in 2021. He says resin tapping is taking place on 1,703 pine trees within the Van Panchayat and another 450 trees on recorded land this season.
However, the village has not received any resin royalty since 2023.
In the past, when the Van Panchayat received royalties, the money was used to buy utensils for the village club, construct check dams and chaal-khals, conduct cleanliness drives and help extinguish forest fires.
About 65 km from Almora district headquarters, Chandan Singh Rawat of Gatoli village in Tarikhet block has also been extracting resin since 2002. He works in the forest from March to November and has no employment for the remaining three months.
“At present, six people from Gatoli, Lotna, Talla Salauni and Malla Salauni are engaged in resin extraction. All of them are local. Horses and mules are used to transport the resin from the forest to the road. They are paid Rs 1,600 per quintal. They ask the contractor for money as they need it. In one season, I earn around Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000,” Chandan says.
He uses the income to support his children's education and meet his family's expenses.
“Many people from the village were previously involved in this work, but after they died or grew old, their children did not want to take it up,” he says.
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The experiences of resin workers and Van Panchayats point to a larger problem in the resin economy: a lack of transparency and delays in payments.
According to information obtained from the Forest Department, Rs 3,07,271 in royalty for the period from 2020 to 2022 was paid to Daal in August 2026. However, the village has received no royalty since 2023, according to the sarpanch.
Such delays make it difficult for villages to plan how to use the money. While an active Van Panchayat head can improve transparency, many heads do not clearly understand departmental rules or how Van Panchayats function.
The delays are linked to the absence of government-set resin sale prices and the failure to submit records at the range-office level. Royalties are paid only after the resin has been sold, but there is no clear mechanism for its sale.
One possible arrangement is to manage the process through district-level Biodiversity Management Committees, which could receive advance payments from the department. The Forest Department has shown little interest in this proposal.
The problems extend beyond revenue distribution to the way resin is extracted. Trees are often overexploited: resin is extracted from immature trees, more than the permitted quantity is tapped, and workers sometimes tap more trees than specified for a forest area.
Unscientific extraction shortens the productive life of pine trees. Deep tapping wounds and accumulated resin can make trees more susceptible to fire, while weakened trees may fall in strong winds.
Chir pine's commercial expansion in Uttarakhand accelerated during British rule, when the British promoted the species for its economic value. The first resin factory in the state was reportedly established in Kashipur around 1880.
The 1970s and 1980s saw forest movements and growing debates over local employment and community rights. Contractors profited from resin and other forest produce, while local people received limited, temporary employment. Movements emerged against resin and timber smuggling and the contract system.
Advocate PC Tiwari, who has been associated with the Forest Department and forest workers' movements, says local people demanded a greater share of the profits made by contractors and the government.
In 1977-78, students and other activists in Almora district, led by the Uttarakhand Sangharsh Vahini, demanded the formation of cooperative societies for resin workers.
The government and Forest Department subsequently established four labour-contract cooperatives in Almora district – Manan, Guruna, Chamtola and Naini. Tiwari says they remained active for only five to seven years because of a lack of departmental support and other reasons.
Pine needles can be used to make briquettes for fuel and are also suitable for pulp and paper production. Research indicates that Himalayan pine needles contain around 43% lignin and 52% holocellulose.
More than five lakh hectares of Uttarakhand's forests are covered by chir pine, producing an estimated 165 million kg of needles. At Rs 2 per kg, these would be worth Rs 33 crore. The estimated income from charcoal made from the needles alone is around Rs 250 crore.
Despite this potential, the Forest Department has no comprehensive strategy to use the resource, and its economic value has not translated into substantial benefits for Van Panchayats.
Under a scheme, two electricity-generation plants using pine needles were established in Balta-Hawalbagh and Nignarar in Nainital district, where women's groups were formed.
The plants generated less electricity than expected, but the communities earned around Rs 7 lakh by collecting needles, converting them into charcoal and selling some electricity.
Chir pine is often blamed for Uttarakhand's forest fires, even as it generates substantial revenue for the state.
In 2015, the Harish Rawat government considered cutting chir pine and deodar trees to tackle forest fires. It was reportedly preparing to seek the Centre's permission to cut 100 to 500 acres in each forest division, but the plan did not proceed.
The Forest Department also began promoting broad-leaved species in place of pine. However, chir pine forests continued to expand naturally.
Pine needles, locally called pirul, are highly flammable. They fall most heavily from mid-February to mid-June, forming a layer on the forest floor that can help fires spread rapidly. During dry periods, needles accumulating to depths of around one foot can act as tinder.
Forest fires threaten wildlife and can spread close to villages, causing human casualties.
In Almora district, 11 people died in forest-fire incidents in 2024 and two were injured.
On June 13, 2024, eight forest personnel were caught in a fire while trying to extinguish it at Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary. Six died – four at the spot and two during treatment. Two others were injured.
On May 2, 2024, four Nepali workers – two men and two women – died while trying to extinguish a forest fire at Syunrakot in Hawalbagh block. On May 17, a villager died after being caught in a forest fire at Khaikatta (Dangikhola) in Hawalbagh block.
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Abhimanyu, divisional forest officer of the Almora Forest Division, says the tree's contribution to livelihoods and the local economy should not be overlooked.
“Chir pine is widespread in the central Himalayas and in Kumaon it is used for resin extraction and other purposes. The pine-needle collection scheme has benefited the department and local women. Entrepreneurs are also making briquettes and pellets from the needles. Chir pine can support energy production, livelihoods and self-employment,” he says.
The state introduced a pine-needle policy to incentivise villagers to collect the needles through the Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency. However, the policy has been implemented only partially.
Collecting pine needles in every village through the Forest Department and Van Panchayats could reduce the accumulation of dry needles on forest floors. This would need to be accompanied by measures such as fire lines.
Pradeep Dhaulakhandi, divisional forest officer of the Civil Soyam Forest Division in Almora, says the perception that chir pine is responsible for forest fires is misplaced.
“Most people assume chir pine is responsible for forest fires, but this is a wrong perception. Forest fires are largely caused by human activity. Chir pine is connected to ordinary people and helps prevent erosion and conserve soil on mountain ridges,” he says.
Forest Department data shows that the Almora Forest Division recorded 1,687 forest fires between 2006 and 2026. They affected 4,220.46 hectares and caused estimated losses of more than Rs 32.56 lakh. Between 2021 and 2026, Almora district recorded 996 fires affecting 1,958.98 hectares.
Research in the Central Himalayas has found that chir-pine-dominated forests can have higher annual carbon sequestration rates than banj-oak forests. However, oak forests can store substantially more carbon in their vegetation and soil.
The debate over chir pine is also tied to a longstanding conflict between the Forest Department and local communities over control of forest resources.
Communities say that without traditional rights over forest resources, they have little incentive to protect them. They have long demanded greater autonomy for Uttarakhand's Van Panchayats.
Social and environmental activist Ishwar Joshi says the relationship between Van Panchayats and the Forest Department has changed considerably.
“Under the 1931 Van Panchayat rules, Van Panchayats had considerable rights over income from panchayat forests. For decades after Independence, they played an important role in forest and village development. But in 2001, the Uttarakhand government amended the rules and increased the Forest Department's intervention. Van Panchayats' autonomy has weakened and their dependence on the department has increased,” he says.
Joshi says that under the 1931 rules, resin royalties went directly to Van Panchayats until 1976. The rules were amended that year.
“Administrative expenses were deducted and income from panchayat forests divided – 40% for the Forest Department, 20% for the district council and 40% for the Van Panchayat. The money did not go directly into the Van Panchayat's account but remained in a fund controlled by the district magistrate. The rules said it should be spent on forest protection and development through a working plan, but the department failed to do so,” he says.
The Van Panchayat rules have been amended several times since then. Under the current system, the actual expenditure incurred by the Forest Department is deducted from the income generated by Van Panchayats, and the remaining amount is paid as royalty.
Of this amount, 70% goes to the Van Panchayat and 30% to the gram panchayat. At least 60% of the money received by a Van Panchayat must be spent on forest protection and development, while up to 40% can be spent on community works.
The institutional disconnect also affects how the economic and ecological value of forests is documented.
People's Biodiversity Registers have been prepared in some parts of the district and include pine trees. But PBRs are linked to gram panchayats, while agencies involved in pine extraction operate within Van Panchayat boundaries.
The lack of gram panchayat-owned land in Uttarakhand and the absence of independent management of Van Panchayat forests contribute to this gap. A stronger role for Biodiversity Management Committees and greater recognition of Van Panchayats could help bridge it.
The scale of chir pine's presence in Almora district illustrates the importance of the issue. Around 65% of the district is covered by chir pine.
The district has 2,089 Van Panchayats, covering 49,648.49 hectares, or 18.62% of all Van Panchayat land in Uttarakhand. Resin extraction is currently taking place in 623 Van Panchayats across the Almora and Civil Soyam forest divisions.
For the financial year 2026-27, the Almora Forest Division has set a resin extraction target of 29,500 quintals, while the Civil Soyam Division has set a target of 5,241 quintals. In 2025-26, the Almora Forest Division earned net revenue of Rs 18 crore from resin extraction. The Civil Soyam Forest Division earned Rs 2 crore and Rs 7,400.
The challenge is to reconcile forest conservation with the livelihoods of communities that depend on chir pine. This requires strengthening Van Panchayats, ensuring communities receive their share of forest revenue and involving them in biodiversity conservation and fire management.
Without such a framework, chir pine will continue to generate revenue for the state while the communities living alongside these forests have limited control over the resource and its benefits.
This story was supported by Informed Earth.
[Wc/HP]
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