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Budget boost for Chure conservation
KATHMANDU, JUL 15 -
The National Planning Commission (NPC) has proposed to include the Churia Area Conservation Programme in the government’s upcoming budget.
The multi-million-rupee programme will be announced in the upcoming budget for the fiscal year 2010-2011 and will be implemented in the Chure (lying between the Tarai plains and higher hills) region with an aim to controlling environmental degradation in the east-west strip and facilitating economic development of the poor communities there. NPC has earmarked about Rs. 400 million for the conservation programme.
Speaking at a programme on ‘Churiya environmental study’, NPC Vice Chairman Jagadish Chandra Pokharel on Thursday said there is an urgent need to launch a special programme for the conservation of the Chure region that has seen rampant deforestation and environmental degradation recently.
The programme was organised by the Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management (DoSCWM) under the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation.
Baman Prasad Neupane, secretary at the Office of the President, said President Dr. Ram Baran Yadav had asked the NPC to include the Chure Conservation Programme in the new policies and programmes of the government.
Experts working on Chure conservation expressed concern over rampant deforestation and forest degradation in the range in the recent years through illegal smuggling of forest products and encroachment of the land by so called ‘landless squatters’.
Presenting a paper on ‘environmental issues of Churia region’, Prem Prasad Poudel of the DoSCWM said being a weak geographical region highly vulnerable to destruction compared to other regions of the country, there is a lack of adequate and coordinated conservation efforts in Chure.
Chure region is spread over 33 districts from Mechi in the east to Mahakali in the west and covers 13 percent of total area of the country.
Around 76 percent of total forestland falls in the region, prime target of timber smugglers. Annually, 20 to 40 bighas of land is destroyed in the Chure hills and other parts of this region due to various natural and man-made disasters, according to a study undertaken by independent researcher Bijay Singh.
Dinesh Raj Bhuju of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology said conservation of the region remains a huge challenge despite the investment of billions of rupees for conservation in the past decade.
About four million marginalised people live in or around Chure and the fund is not used for their economic empowerment since it is focussed on tiger conservation, he said.
“The eastern part of the Chure is facing serious challenges of deforestation and environment degradation but the donors are pouring money in the western part just because it makes good habitat for tiger,” Bhuju said.
Panel gets more time
POST REPORT
KATHMANDU, JULY 15
The Natural Resources and Means Committee (NRMC) of the Legislative-Parliament has extended the tenure of the sub-committee formed to study the status of forests across the country by 45 days.
The committee’s meeting on Thursday took the decision to this effect following the sub-committee’s request for additional time to study the status of both the government and community-owned forests, according to NRMC Chair Shanta Chaudhari.
The 15-member panel led by Ram Prasad Sharma was formed on June 1 to study the condition of forests following reports of rampant deforestation across the country.
The panel has completed the initial field study in 27 districts and has urged for the formation of a government probe team to conduct a comprehensive study and to take legal actions against the people who are found responsible for rampant deforestation and timber smuggling.
NRMC had mobilised seven teams in different parts of the country to study the condition of forest resources.
Meanwhile, the sub-committee in its initial report has directed the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation to prohibit tree felling for commercial purposes in 24 districts of the Tarai and inner Tarai regions.
Posted on: 2010-07-16 08:25
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