Stakeholders claim that the national electricity transmission line had to be cut down when it was laid through this forest, and that the sensitive forest has become a dumping ground for waste.
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Barandabhar Forest connects Chitwan National Park with Chure and Mahabharat. Chitwan Park is also connected to the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in the Indian state of Bihar. Therefore, conservationists believe that Barandabhar Forest connects the international protected area with the Mahabharat region of Nepal and the protected area of India. The government has made it a protected forest.
The government had declared Barandabhar a protected forest by publishing a notification in the gazette on 15 Falgun 2068. The problems and prospects of the forest were discussed in the main council meeting of the Barandabhar Forest Conservation Area Council held on Thursday. Bishnu Prasad Acharya, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of the Division Forest Office of Bharatpur, said that this forest is like a lung for Chitwan.
‘This forest has divided the eastern and western parts of the district.’ This forest is located in the same part of the district as the lungs of humans. It has protected the environment here. It has purified the air,' said DFO Acharya. But he said that even such a forest is facing many problems. Encroachment has started destroying it, and many people are poaching it like vultures.
He said that many trees had to be cut down when the national electricity transmission line was laid through this forest and that the sensitive forest has become a place for dumping waste. He opposed the plan to cut down 1,200 hectares of forest in Shaktikhor to make an industrial area. 'This is the habitat of tigers and rhinos. Animals have made Chitwan famous. People come from all over the country and abroad to see animals. Why put an industrial area in such a place?' he said.
He said that activities like jeep safari, evening safari, jungle walk (walking through the forest with a guide to see animals) can be done for tourists in Barandabhar. There are currently 34 small and large lakes in Barandabhar. He said that this number can be increased to 50. He suggested that the water of Khageri and Than rivers be brought in and used for tourist activities and wild animals.
‘This forest is crossed by the East-West Mahendra Highway in Tikauli and the Narayangadh-Muglin road in Ramnagar and Bhateri. And rural roads have entered from three more places inside. Some of these roads have been blacktopped, some are in the process of being blacktopped,’ said DFO Acharya. He said that the construction of roads in as few places as possible will help in the unhindered movement of animals.
Council Chairman Deepak Thapa Magar said that there are problems like fire, open grazing, illegal extraction of forest produce, encroachment by individuals and organizations. Council First Vice President Keshav Thapa said that the government has managed 6,922 hectares of the Barandabhar forest spread over 10,302 hectares and the community has managed 3,251 hectares of forest. There are also five religious and 36 communal forests.
Four percent of the forest is grassland. Barandabhar forest is 14 kilometers long and five kilometers wide. About 80,000 people living in about 20,000 households in the Barandabhar forest, which is touched by Bharatpur Metropolitan City, Ratnanagar and Kalika municipalities and Ichchakamana Rural Municipality, are directly benefiting, First Vice President Thapa informed.
Tourism entrepreneur and conservationist Vasu Dhungana from Sauraha said that safaris are also held in the evenings at the safari sites, but since this has not been done in Nepal so far, Barandabhar can benefit from it. He said that linking conservation with tourism will benefit the locals and it will support conservation.
Kalika Municipality Mayor Binod Regmi said that since the issue of waste management has been a major concern for the local bodies, it is necessary for everyone to work together for this. Birat Ghimire, Head of the Environment Branch of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, informed that the metropolis has made a long-term plan to prevent the increasingly complex waste management from becoming a further problem.
Divisional Forest Officer Bishnu Prasad Acharya said that there is a provision in the Forest Act to make areas outside the parks and reserves, rich in biodiversity, having lakes and ponds, and biological routes that flow through them, forest protected areas. He said that the policy is to focus on the protection of wildlife while managing lakes and grasslands, but not to prohibit the consumption of forest products.
‘We focus on wildlife, but we also want the basic foundation of the people not to be diminished and the work of wildlife management, lakes and grassland management not to be reduced.’ This is a mixed area, Acharya said. He informed that there are 11 such forests across the country. The council has been formed with representation from community forest officials.
