Worsening wildfires a reminder that the country lacks clear policies
Despite their frequency, in which lives, wildlife and hundreds of thousands of hectares of green cover are lost, forest fire disasters have been largely ignored by authorities, experts say.
Forest fires have been a recurring problem for the country, with a green cover of nearly 45 percent. Every year, the country loses around 200,000 hectares of forest area to wildfires—a major challenge for forest and biodiversity conservation. Despite its annual occurrences, the state has not paid adequate attention to the management of wildfires, whereas forest fires have only got more disastrous every year, according to experts.
Chandan Kumar Mandal was the environment and migration reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering labour migration and governance, as well as climate change, natural disasters, and wildlife.
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