Hamro Aawaj Hamro Ban (Our Voice, Our forest)
Namaskar, welcome to this new episode 'Hamro Aawaj Hamro Ban'. This is Samjhana Poudel from the studio of Nepal FM 91.8 at Ravi Bhawan, Kathmandu. This program has been prepared with the support of CSE's Media Resource Centre. You can listen to this program every Sunday from 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm at 10 different radio stations located in different parts of the country. You can also listen to us online at
The last few years have seen a rapid decline in the snow in the Himalayan region of Nepal. Recent studies show that many of the rivers originating from the glaciers in Himalaya have turned into dry gravel beds and many snow-capped mountains, which received snow previously, have not seen snow in recent years. The mountain, Annapurna III is enough to demonstrate this reality. Besides Annapurna, most of the beautiful mountains in Manang District, a remote district in the Himalayan region of Nepal, have changed to rocky mountains.
Glacier above the Ganga Purna Lake in Manang has completely melted so that the water level of the lake has risen.
Weather experts have also warned that melting of glaciers have turned dangerous for Himalayan countries like Nepal. The rise in temperature by 0.06 degree every year is leading towards the problematic situation.
In the last episode we presented a radio report and an interview with the officer of hydrology and meteorology department of Nepal. In today’s episode we will present a discussion with the local officer in the Banke district of Nepal regarding the ongoing rampant encroachment in the local forests.
During our visit to different places in Banke district, we found that people from Badi community, which is considered to be one of the marginalised communities, have been involved in most of the cases of encroachment in the local forests. These people have set–up their huts and changed the forests into the farmland. We talked to Rama Devi Badi, co-ordinator of this group, about the impacts of deforestation.
Rama Devi Badi: This is wasteland that belongs to the local community. Before we make our settlements here, consumer of this forest came and threatened us. Time and again they have destroyed our huts with bulldozers. Finally, we went to land reform office in Kathmandu and brought an agreement paper. Land reform office ruled that the consumers of this forest cannot destroy our huts until government implements the land reform policy.
Samjhana: Do you have any comments on the charges that you were creating problems towards the conservation of forests?
Rama Devi Badi: We are also serious and sincere towards the deforestation. We do not want to be the problem of this society but we do not have any alternative. Local consumers and District Forest Office is not our enemy but it is our struggle with the government. Government should provide land for its people. Until government makes arrangement for us, we have nowhere to go.
Samjhana: Do you know that deforestation of forest leads to the erosion, scarcity of water and different other problems?
Rama Devi Badi: We know that. We fulfil our daily necessities from the forests. It provides us timber and water resources. But what can we do now? We would abandon this forest after government makes the arrangement for our settlements. Government officials have said that they will make arrangements for our settlement. But they have not implemented it yet.
Samjhana: After hearing from her, we decided to take comments from Shyam Prasad Sharma, the chief of the District Forest Office in Banke district. We asked Shyam Prasad Sharma about what he was doing to prevent these people from encroaching the forests.
Shyam Prasad Sharma: Among the total land in Banke district, we have about 50 percent of land covered with forest. But these forests have been under rapid encroachment. At the same time people have also used the forest for firewood. We are serious towards this problem and we are planning to take strong action against this anarchy.
Samjhana: What kind of preparations has been made by the government to end this anarchy on natural resources?
Shyam Prasad Sharma: We have formed a committee under the co-ordination of the chief of regional forest department. Other committees have also been formed. They are given the responsibilities of monitoring the forests in Banke district. Alternately, every member of these committees would take the lead and their performance will be evaluated by the head committee. This committee will prepare a report every 15 days. Strict rules have been circulated to all the mechanisms to patrol the forest areas every hour. We are also coordinating with the Nepal Police and Nepal Army in patrolling the forests areas.
Samjhana: How have you evaluated the work performances of the committees during these days?
Shyam Prasad Sharma: We are taking feedback from the local people and our staff. Till this date our strategy has been effective and successful. A message has gone out that government has taken strong steps against encroachment and deforestation so that those people who were active previously have been discouraged. Trafficking of timber from these forests has almost stopped.
Samjhana: It is said that people encroaching the forests are supported by political parties. How would you remove them from forest areas?
Shyam Prasad Sharma: Definitely, it is challenging. But we are taking support from the local people. People encroaching forests claim to be landless. Political parties are using them for their political interest but we have gained support from the local organizations and the people. It has also been proved that joint effort between District Forest Office and local people can stop the irregularities going on in the forests.
Samjhana: The past experiences shows that District Forest Office removes the huts and sheds from the forest areas but when the government turns passive again these people return to the forests. How have you taken this?
Shyam Prasad Sharma: We are not alone in this campaign. Local people, organizations related to the natural resources and some political parties have also joined us. Civil society and media persons are also with us in this regard. We are stronger now than we were previously. So we think that we will overcome this problem.
Samjhana: At the national level government is planning to join the carbon trade but at the same time forests are being encroached at the regional and district level? Do you think government would be able to meet its goal?
Shyam Prasad Sharma: This campaign is also a part of reaching that goal. We are preparing prerequisites for carbon trade. But rather than putting all the responsibilities over the head of government, people themselves should take the initiative.
Samjhana: People are talking about global warming. Do you think that government's effort is enough to prevent climate change?
Shyam Prasad Sharma: Global warming has been alarming human civilization. It is the matter of concern to all the people in the world. Nepal government is also serious in this case. Government has given high priority for the preservation of the forest. We are also planning to organize trainings and seminars throughout the district related to the global warning. We would make people aware on how climate affects our life. We would launch door-to-door program encouraging people to take active participation for the preservation of the forest. We are also promoting community-based forests. Government is gradually handing over the public forests into the hand of respective communities.
Samjhana: You just listened to the conversation with Shyam Prasad Sharma, Chief DFO, Banke district. We also decided to talk with Ghanashyam Pandey, Chairman of the Federation of Community Based Forest regarding their attempts to prevent deforestation.
Climate change has been a much-talked issue among world leaders and other stakeholders. In this context Nepalese government has also stressed on carbon trade. Government officials say that community based forests are worthy of the credit for the preservation of the forests. How do you take this?
Ghanashyam Pandey: Definitely, community based forests are the best alternatives in the promotion and the preservation of forests. Government should hand over all the responsibilities of preservation of forests to local communities. Preservation of forests is inversely related with the change in climate. Huge amounts of donation have been allocated in the name of climate change and preservations of the forests. With the view of taking collective initiation national and international communities have boost up their effort in this regard. The world has come to a common point that there is no alternative to preserving forests to prevent the world from long term suffering from climate change. The world has also understood that to preserve the forest, people themselves should come to the forefront and the world leaders should show their solidarity in this campaign. A conference held at Bali of Indonesia also stressed that excessive production of carbon dioxide should be discouraged. The conference also agreed to support the developing countries financially for their reduction in emission of carbon dioxide.
The conference ensured the right of developing countries to join the carbon trade. Following consensus among the world leaders in Bali, developing countries are to be given a certain amount of money from 2012. Until then, these countries should make policies regarding the carbon trade and additional homework is required. Bluntly speaking, carbon trade is an opportunity for all the developing and least developed countries that unveils the possibilities of financial developments. But along with these possibilities certain confusions are still ahead. Who is to determine what amount of carbon dioxide has been absorbed by forests of a country?
Correcting these confusions and further implementing the agreements, the world needs to join hands together without any kind of prejudice to over come the challenge of climate change.
Samjhana: Do you mean that countries like Nepal need to do more home-work to join carbon trade?
Ghanashyam Pandey: Definitely. Nepalese are neither aware about the ongoing climate change nor do they know that our forests can make money. Government should launch a countrywide campaign for the preservation of the forest. Government should mentally prepare its people before joining carbon trade because people are the key role player.
Samjhana: Since the past few years, encroachment in forest has been rapid. Deforestation is escalating in western districts such as Banke and Bardiya. What is your organization doing to halt these activities?
Ghanashyam Pandey: We are working at two levels. From the policy level and political level, we are pressurizing the government and other stake holders to take initiative in this regard. In the case of rampant quarrying of stones in Jhyalungtar community based forest in Lalitpur district, we brought local people and government officials together for a dialogue and prepared the atmosphere to move collectively against the stone-mine agents. Due to joint effort by government, local people and our organization, stone mines were closed. Similarly, we are struggling to stop the encroachment in the forests of Western districts. Just few weeks back, we took the representatives of all political parties to these districts to observe the situation of forests so that common consensus among the parties is possible. We are also launching awareness programs in different districts.
With every encroachment activity in forest, there lies the economical background that needs be addressed at first to bring these activities to a halt permanently. We are also working with the government to make arrangements for these people to be relocated.
Samjhana: Do you mean that political parties themselves are active behind the encroachment?
Ghanashyam Pandey: There is no doubt that political parties have encouraged their cadres to encroach the forests. They have used forests to ensure their votes for the next election. They have maintained double standards regarding the forests. At one hand they stress to preserve the forest and at the same time they encourage their cadres to make settlements destroying the forest. We asked government to scrap the vagueness in policy regarding the forest. But they turned a deaf year to our appeal.
Samjhana: Can we say that people who are active in encroaching the forests are unaware of the climate change and its impacts?
Ghanashyam Pandey: To some extent it can be true but in most cases they have underestimated the effects of climate change. They are taking benefits from the transitional phase of the country. They are challenging the government. Our government and the political parties have turned mute spectator to this matter. They think that their decision against the encroachment may affect their vote for the upcoming election. They are in the whirl of vote and note. Leaders of political parties failed to estimate the critical situation, which is sure to impact us in the near future. If they were sincere and serious, they would not have thought of vote instead of the rapid climate change. Finally, I urge them to take strong and bold decision to tackle the climate change and encroachment in forest. They should not think for the present, but they should think for the future.
Samjhana: We just discussed with Ghanashyam Pandey, Chairman of the Federation of the Community-based Forest.
You are listening to the program 'Hamro Aawaj Hamro Ban' from Nepal FM 91.8 in Kathmandu. Through this program, we have been raising our voice for the preservation of the natural resources and encouraging people to tackle climate change.
The situation of forests in Nepal is deteriorating day by day. Specially in the Western districts like Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur etc, rampant deforestation is going on. This is leading the world to an environmental crisis.
Experts believe that if such activities are not halted soon, the world is sure to suffer in near future. Because of the deforestation, water resources are on the verge of drying up. Secretary General of United Nations, Ban Ki Moon has also stressed on the preservation of the forests to minimize the effects of climate change. Not only the Secretary General but all the people and the organisations working in this sector have expressed their deep concern in this regard.
We, the people in the world, are at the critical juncture where if we do not think seriously about the ongoing attack over the natural resources we will face hard times in near future. If we want to skip from this crisis we should work now for the sake of our secured future.
You can also join hands in this campaign. Your small support can produce better results in the preservation of forest and other natural resources .
Now we are ending the program. Did you like the program? Please don't forget to write to us. Our address is;
Hamro Ban (Our Forest)
Nepal FM Network 91.8
POB 19477
Ravi Bhawan Kathmandu .
You can also email us at
Before wrapping up the program, we offer our gratitude to CSE's Media Resource Centre for its support in the production of this program. And thanks to Mr Tanka Neupane for his technical assistance. Promising again to be back the next Saturday on your radio sets, me Samjhana would like to sign-off from the program. Good night!