Forest conversion is blamed as one of the several bottlenecks affecting the timely completion of major infrastructure projects in Nepal, especially in the energy and transportation sectors.
Each year 292-519 ha (average 212 ha for the period 2006-2016) of forest land has been handed over for infrastructure development. The cumulative forest handover for non-forestry purposes so far has been more than 17,000 ha, which accounts for more than 15 percent of the forest-encroached areas in the country.
Similarly, the second international airport project in Nijgadh, at present, seems hell-bent in felling a large number of trees. As of yet, there is no clear plan on how the loss of trees and biodiversity would be mitigated.
The area of forest being utilized for infrastructure development is growing even more in recent years. In the last two years, the average forest land handed over for development purpose has remained 492 ha/year.
Tense situations surface at times over this issue between the Ministry of Forests and Environment (MOFE) and the “Brown” sector agencies. Take the case of Arun 3 and Upper Karnali where the Prime Minister had intervened on the behalf of the hydropower companies forcing MOFE for a very unfair deal.
Similarly, the second international airport project in Nijgadh, at present, seems hell-bent in felling a large number of trees. As of yet, there is no clear plan on how the loss of trees and biodiversity would be mitigated.
Replacement planting is a major issue and needs to be addressed seriously to ease the forest conversion bottleneck. It needs to be addressed on four major fronts: harmonizing government procedures, revisions of the legal framework, setting up of an efficient mechanism of fund flows in regards to compensation money, and raising awareness and capacity building of developers and officials of government agencies.
The new guidelines will fully come into force after the NPV standards are adopted by the MOFE. The one-time compensation amount received by the federal government based on Net Present Value Standards would be channelled directly for the purpose of plantation and management.
MOFE has achieved a milestone by the adoption of the revised Forest Guidelines in 2018 with the provision of land-for-cash compensation mechanism. Equally important, MOFE is also preparing to launch a compensation computation system based on NPV (Net Present Value) standards and for replacement plantings and their management.
Previously, paying compensation for the use of the forest for infrastructure development was quite cumbersome. The developers were required to buy equivalent private land and hand them over to the government after planting trees and managing the plantations for five years.
The new guidelines will fully come into force after the NPV standards are adopted by the MOFE. The one-time compensation amount received by the federal government based on Net Present Value Standards would be channelled directly for the purpose of plantation and management.
The federal government will keep the annual lease-royalty for the forest land, but the NPV payments will directly be made available to the respective provinces. The Authority Act and the Provincial Act/Regulations will spell out how this amount would be spent and which body in the Province will be responsible for.
To address the issue of replacement planting, a concept of an independent authority has been developed in consultation with government agencies, donor partners and other concerned stakeholders. It addresses the unique problem of forest diversion to non-forestry use and the compensation plantations and their management.
The National Plantation and Forest Product Development Authority (NPFPDA) has been proposed to be created by integrating three organizations of MOFE namely: Timber Corporation of Nepal (TCN), Forest Product Development Board (FPDB), and Herbs Production and Processing Company Limited (HPPCL).
The pre-feasibility study, recently completed, confirmed that the Authority would be financially viable and technically feasible, and would support the respective governments in all three tiers in the execution of plantations, their long-term management; forest harvest and product delivery; promotion of herb-based industries; and biodiversity conservation in the country, among others.
The interim measure being adopted by MOFE will integrate TCN and FPDB only to address the immediate need of forest harvest and maintaining the functioning of these organizations before they are finally integrated into NPFPDA.
While MOFE agrees to implement this modality on a long-run, it is currently working on an interim arrangement before the NPFPD Act is tabled at the Parliament. Details for drafting the bill for NPFPDA has been prepared by a team consisting of prominent legal experts by following a rigorous consultation.
The interim measure being adopted by MOFE will integrate TCN and FPDB only to address the immediate need of forest harvest and maintaining the functioning of these organizations before they are finally integrated into NPFPDA.
NPFPDA would proactively look for barren public land, degraded forest land or procure private land to create forest blocks (larger than 250 ha in a location) in each province. Also, under consideration has been to create forest land banks in each province for developers who prefer to pay their compensation in land.
With the adoption of this new vision, MOFE would not only accomplish an effective solution to the problems associated with the forest conversion for infrastructure development in the country but also would be launching a new era of an organized commercial plantation in Nepal’s forestry to provide a sustained supply of forestry resources to forest-based industries.
(The writer is former government secretary)
Views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Khabarhub’s editorial stance.
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