NEW DELHI: Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said only an “aggressive strategy” and involvement of locals can help in controlling forest fires, which cause an annual loss of Rs 1,101 crore in India.“Forest fire management is part of our long-term vision for sustainable forest management,” he said after releasing a joint report by his ministry and World Bank on ‘Strengthening Forest Fire Management in India’.Underlining forest fires as a leading cause of forest degeneration in India, the report notes just 20 districts (mostly located in the north-east) accounted for over 40% of all forest fires detected between 2003 and 2016. Similarly, the top-20 districts (mainly in central India) accounted for about 48% of the total fire-affected area in the country during the period.The report says forest fires occur in around half of the country’s total districts and in nearly all states every year. In 2014, nearly 49,000 sq km of forests — an area larger than the size of Haryana — saw such fires.“No problem can be solved without making it a social movement . There is a need to carry the findings of the report to communities impacted by it,” the environment minister said.The report discusses policies on forest fire prevention and management at the national, state and local levels