Land classification National budget

109 colonization by alien species can slowly inhibit the growth and potential of regenerating forests and infestations can ultimately affect entire forests. •฀ Illegal settlements – encroachment drives forest degradation and may lead to the permanent conversion of forests to non-forest land uses. Until the late 1970s, encroachment was never considered a factor in forest degradation. It was rather used as a cost-effective tool by the government to clear forests for resettlement programmes COMFORTC 2007. Due to an inappropriate distribution mechanism, most of the poor and landless were excluded and consequently they continued to stay in forests. A total of 70 256 ha of forest land was found to have been encroached in 24 Terai and Shiwalik districts Adhikari 2002. •฀ Forest fire – every year forest fires destroy many forests in Nepal. They are common during the dry spring season, when they spread over a large area destroying considerable amounts of biodiversity over hundreds of hectares of forest and croplands. High intensity crown fires in Himalayan National Parks and Conservation Areas have occurred for the first time in history Wagle 2011.

3.2 Underlying causes

Market failure: Widespread commercialization of forest products, especially the trade in high-value timber from the Terai, has been one of the least successful aspects of Nepal’s Forest Sector Master Plan 1988-2010. The open border system and sales of smuggled timber, and timber trade practices characterized by controls and distortions have resulted in considerable loss of revenue from forests. Institutional failures: The DoF, which is understaffed and low in morale, is unable to control illicit felling, timber smuggling and other forest-related offences. Absence of proper management has further expedited degradation. Political and socio-economic factors: There are regular media reports of deforestation and encroachment, illegal logging and corruption in forestry organizations. Recent estimates claim that some 84 000 ha of forest are being lost through illegal encroachment annually. Inappropriate policy: Government policies have historically had the largest impact on forest degradation in Nepal. Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Nepal had taxes on both land and labour. Land taxes amounted to the payment of one-half of a farm’s produce to the government. These taxes could be avoided if a farmer chose to convert forest into agricultural fields, wherewith shehe could enjoy a three-year tax break. The labour tax in Nepal during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries required each family to work at least 75 days per year for the state. The tax could be avoided if the family was willing to supply a fixed quantity of fuelwood, iron, charcoal or other materials. This policy often increased the degradation of forests. One village, for example, had to supply 2.4 kg of charcoal each day, for which it had to clear 3 ha annually. On the other hand, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, exploitation of forests was formalized through the legal judicial process under the rule of Janga Bahadur Rana 1847-1877. A number of rules were drawn up and reformed between 1870 and 1940 to regulate access to forests and removal of forest products, meeting the costs of the regime and timber needs of British India. Remaining within the strategy, ‘The Act of Private Forest Nationalization – 1957’ was enacted HMGN 1957. All privately- owned forests larger than 1.25 ha in hills and 3.5 ha in the Terai were nationalized. The Act also recognized the traditional practices of forestry by communities. Promulgation of the Private Forest Nationalization Act 1957 appears to have led to degradation MoEST 2001. Forests around and in the vicinity of villages were cut recklessly. The policy took a shift with the introduction of a people-based forest management system. The Forest Act 1978 re- introduced use rights to forest, this time through communitygroups retaining the earlier rights over the national forests. The Act outlined rules and regulations to implement the use rights of the public.