NATIONAL10 [RELIGION (Spotlight Weelky)]

Unwanted Intervention

The government's decision to allow district forest office to regulate community forestry sparks a new round of controversy

By KESHAB POUDEL

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At a time when Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala is leading the country by saying that he will hand over the power to the people in remote areas, the Minister of State for Forest and Soil Conservation is doing exactly the opposite by making a decision that allows the district forest office to have a share of its authority on the community forests.

Even the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Koirala himself is said to have accepted the new regulation which authorizes the district forest office to have a share of the community forestry.

As the government is trying to introduce regulation to interfere in the community forestry, user groups of community forests around the country are worried.

After nearly three decade long efforts, the communities in particularly the hilly areas were finally understanding the importance of conserving forests.

The people there were making the community forestry program a thumping success by maintaining and preserving forest resources by themselves for their own benefit.

But now the government's latest decision is sure to have a far-reaching effect on the forest conservation efforts of the country.

At a time when the government-owned forests in the country are dwindling in alarming rate, the government now wants to maintain its control over the community forests as well.

According to high level source at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation, Minister of State for Forest and Soil Conservation Mohammad Altaf Alam is intending to introduce the regulation that will allow the government to intervene in the community forests.

The government's intentions are being eyed with suspicion by the user groups as well as environmentalists given its poor track record in maintaining what it already owns.

The government's intervention in the maintenance of community forest, however, will not be an easy task as community forest users group are quite influential in many parts of the country. In fact, at places they are so organized that they can even change the fate of any political parties there.

The western donors, too, are not happy with the government's latest decision to intervene in the community forestry of the hilly regions. According to an estimate, there are 11,000 community forest user groups in the country. They are handling the forest for the benefit of the local community.

Some envoys of the western governments have already visited the ministry and expressed their grave concern over the decision of the government.

"We believe that the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation will understand the concerns raised by the people of the remote country and give up its intention (to control community forests)," said a western diplomat on condition of anonymity.

As the development of community forests had helped conserve the otherwise fast-dwindling natural resources in the country, the decision by the government to have its share on their control can not be welcomed especially when it has been unable to maintain the forests it already has in its bag.