National
Jajarkot pine forests under threat
Unregulated resin extraction practice is threatening the pine forests in Jajarkot. Four community forests in the district have reported deaths of more than 10,000 pine trees owing to excessive resin extraction.Bhim Bahadur Singh
Unregulated resin extraction practice is threatening the pine forests in Jajarkot. Four community forests in the district have reported deaths of more than 10,000 pine trees owing to excessive resin extraction.
“The pine trees of Nahada Community Forest, Chinte Danda Community Forest, Balle Community Forest and Chomepatal Community Forest are dying as a result of rampant resin extraction. But the authorities are doing nothing to control the trend,” said Surendra Bahadur Budha, a local man.
Bangalamukhi Resin and Turpentine, Swastik Resin and Turpentine, Deuti Resin and Turpentine, Mount Resin and Turpentine, Manakamana Resin and Chemicals, Deepmala Resin and Turpentine, Jaya Bageshworee Resin, and Global Chemicals Pvt Ltd are the companies that have obtained permits to extract pine resin in the district.
Budha said these companies were not following the government regulations while extracting pine resin in the district. The government directive issued in 2007 states that companies can only extract resin from trees that are standing at 1.30 metres above the surface and are at least 36 inch in diameter. The resin extracting companies should also leave at least five mother trees per hectare and extract the sap from a single point of the tree.
It is said that illegal pine resin extraction in Jajarkot is taking place in collusion with the employees at the District Forest Office, representatives of community forest users’ groups and local politicians.
District Forest Officer Upendra Prasad Patel was unaware about haphazard resin extraction in pine forests. “We do not have sufficient human resources to conduct regular monitoring,” he said when asked about the absence of forest authority in places where rampant pine resin extraction was causing trees to die out. Patel also vowed to take stern action against the resin extraction companies that are found violating the regulations.