Forest and Environment Minister Ain Bahadur Shahi has said that development and environmental protection should go together. He said that development in Nepal will be sustainable only if that happens.

While answering the questions raised by the parliamentarians on the allocation of the Ministry of Forest and Environment, Minister Shahi said that the campaign of development and environment protection should be taken together in the meeting of the House of Representatives on Monday.

He also said that the government has adopted a policy of always encouraging development in which environmental cleanliness is maintained. Our development will be sustainable only if development and environment can be taken together. Therefore, the ministry is aware of various environmental study reports related to development,' he said, 'Environmental protection regulations are going to be amended to simplify the approval process of environmental study reports.'

Minister Shahi said that the relevant laws and regulations will be amended in time to make the policy and legal documents related to forests and environment more people-friendly and enforceable. He said, 'The Ministry of Forestry and Environment will always facilitate the implementation of the environmental study report including the approval of the environmental protection act, regulations and other policy provisions.'   He also said that to achieve the goals mentioned in the

policy and program and budget statement, the parliamentarians have raised issues such as forest conservation, sustainable forest management, human-wildlife conflict management, land and water body protection. "I express my commitment that the suggestions received will be addressed in every possible way and that the budget will be used to the maximum, operationalized and the program will be run." As the matter related to forest and environment is not only of the ministry, but is equally connected with other ministries, government and the community, I expect constructive cooperation and coordination from all levels and agencies,' he said.

Minister Shahi said that it is proposed to develop the forest area as an economic and productive sector by sustaining the production of firewood by sustainable management of forests, plantation in private public and river development areas, land and water body protection, protection of forest wildlife and biological diversity, protection and use of herbs, integrated protection of Chure area, climate change mitigation and adaptation and environmental protection . The integrated strategic plan of the national forest and the national standards of sustainable forest management have been approved and implemented. It is expected that this will lead to sustainable management of the forest and an increase in the production of wood and the revenue of the forest sector, employment will be created and the import of foreign wood will decrease,' he said .

He also informed that a conditional subsidy has been arranged to be implemented through the provincial government to increase the production of firewood by collecting fallen, dry and old trees in the forest, to supply firewood and to replace the import of wood products by simply providing raw materials to the industry that produces wood and furniture.

Minister Shahi also said that the government will facilitate the development of forest-based industry, entrepreneurship and nature-based tourism to significantly increase the contribution of forests to the economy. He informed that the budget has been arranged to be implemented by the National Park and Wildlife Conservation Department and the offices under it to control forest encroachment, forest fires and the theft and export of forest resources and wildlife within protected areas.

'On the one hand, success has been achieved in the protection of forests, wildlife and biological diversity, on the other hand, human-wildlife conflict has also been seen to be increasing . In order to protect the wild animals in the forest, habitat improvement programs such as management of grasslands and water resources have been put in place, he said, 'to prevent the conflict of wild animals coming out of the forest and to prevent conflict as much as possible, the budget has been allocated this year for solar fencing, electric fencing with mesh, this year as well . The necessary early warning system and infrastructure will be organized to make human-wildlife conflict mitigation work more effective.