KAVRE, Nov 19: Pine trees in the community forests of Chaubas VDC of Kavre district have become a nuisance for the locals. The trees are being held responsible for escalating water scarcity in the VDC and for sucking most of the nearby water sources to dry.
"There used to be a water source in Chappani near Chaubas forest where most of us went to get water. Now it is completely dry. The situation is not so bad in other forests where there are no pine trees," said a local Sukurani Tamang of Chaubas VDC-5. [break]"We were overjoyed when the pine trees were planted on the barren hills of our village three decades ago. But today, the same initiative has created a great problem for us," said Tamang recalling the past days.
The pine trees were planted in Chaubas VDC in 1975 under Nepal-Australia Forest Tree Project as an experiment to test its adaptation in the local environment. The locals had themselves participated in the project. Hundreds of thousands of pine trees were planted on the vacant grounds of the VDC. In 10 community forests of the VDC, the number of pine trees far exceeds the other trees.
"In 414 hectors of total community forest area, 75 percent of the trees are pine trees," Lok Bahadur Kuwar Forest Warden of Chaubas Ranger Post.
In order to encourage locals into wood and furniture business, the pine trees plantation program had established a community saw-mill in the VDC, which was the first of the kind in whole South Asia. Unfortunately, the mill was closed after chopping down trees was banned during Maoist insurgency.
But now the scarcity of water is not only affecting the farmers of Chaubas VDC but of the whole district. Bhoj Raj Panta, a local farmer of Paachkhal VDC said, "Earlier, we enjoyed three harvests per year, but now we are forced to leave our fields barren after two harvests."
According to the locals, the increasing scarcity of water has also affected animal growers badly. "How will they raise domestic animals when there is insufficient water for their family in the first place," said Swathani Chimauriya, who heads Naya Goreto Women Development Group.
Even the amount of annual rain fall has been decreasing in our region, informed Chimauriya. "The 2000 ropani fields of Paachkhal VDC was nourished by water source running through the forest but today it is just a sweet memory," said Rajan Adhikari, chief of Rajkulo Consumer Committee.
According to Kavre District Forest Office (DFO), forty percent land of the district is covered by forest. Of the total 77,552 hectors of the forest area in the district, pine forest occupies 11,556 hectors.
"Since pine trees grow faster than other trees, they consume a lot of water, which eventually decreases the life span of other trees," said Raju Chhetri, assistant district forest chief. "But, despite the consequence, the trees have helped in maintaining the greenery of the district. Just imagine how this area would look if we cut down all the pine trees in the forests," said Chhetri.