By Sumana Serchan

While growing up, the Nepali proverbs such as “Hariyo Ban Nepalko Dhan” (the wealth of the nation rests on the health of the forest) and “Char Kose Jhadi” (twelve kilometer/ seven miles forest in the Terai) were profoundly used to refer the country in our geography class. The myth about the forest spirit living in the forest and causing damage to those who cut trees and performed illegal activities in the forest was pervasive in my society after we watched a television serial depicting it. Another television serial, “Banpale” (forest guard), a fabulous work of art done by our famous artists, Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bansa Acharya has exerted a major influence in my perspectives regarding the strong ethic of the district forest officer in the serial who remains unshaken in his decisions despite the bribes of huge amounts of money he gets offered and constant threat to his life.

The reality is obviously far from the serial. Not every district forest officer at present in Nepal is true to his/her job like the “ban pale” in the serial. There has also been news about some district forest officers in Nepal for having been involved in corruption and taking bribes and allowing illegal logging. Recently, news have been circulating that the government is revising its Forest Act and considering the shift of power of community forest users group to the district forest officers. On one hand, the community forests of Nepal even though not perfect in structure, has gained popularity globally for helping local community and aiding in forest and wildlife conservation, and on the other hand the district forest officers are notorious within the country for being victims of corruption. In a research done by Burch et al. (2007) to examine the effects that the Maoist led insurgency had on the community forestry program in Nepal, they found out that even though the war between the Maoists and the Royal Nepal Army had severe impacts on the community forestry and the ability of Community Forest Users Group (CFUG) to function, it was not able to stop the program altogether. Even in the areas that witnessed high conflicts between the Maoists and Royal Nepal Army, the CFUGs continued to function and in the lack of services that would be normally provided by government offices, these CFUGs thrived to provide services to their communities such as maintaining schools and keeping them functional (Burch et al. 2007). The community forests in Nepal were able to survive the insurgency and proved their resilience and commitment to forest protection and now these same community forests are being threatened by the government who wants to hand over their responsibilities and their decisions to be controlled by the district forest officers. The government should acknowledge the fact that not all district forest officers are true, loyal “banpale” of the forests.

Reference:

Rechlin, M.A., Burch, W.R., Hammett, A.L., Subedi, B., Binayee, S., and Sapkota, I. (2007). Lal Salam and Hario Ban: The Effects of The Maoist Insurgency on Community Forestry in Nepal. Forests, trees and livelihoods, vol 17