The District Forest Office (DFO), Makwanpur declared Chatiban the country´s largest open cattle grazing free zone amid a special function on Tuesday. [break]
With the aim of preventing soil erosion caused by rampant cattle grazing, the DFO declared the forest areas of the VDC the open cattle grazing free zone.
Prior to the declaration, the DFO organized awareness programs in the VDC with the support from community forest user groups. There are altogether 21 community forest user groups and 31 leasehold forest groups.
Each user groups had organized public awareness program in their respective areas and informed locals about the adverse effects of cattle grazing in the forest.
DFO has also prohibited the locals from leaving their cattle in the forest, said Sada Nanda Sharma, coordinator of the community forest user groups.
Stating that cattle grazing has adverse effect on the forests, Thir Bahadur Karki, deputy secretary at DFO, said, “We made the deceleration in order to discourage locals from grazing their cattle in the forest.”
Karki believes that the ban will help prevent soil erosion. Unlike past, there will also be abundant grass in the forest. Likewise, water availability will also increase in the forest.
Director General of the Department of Forests Bishowanath Oli said the ban would give the forest a new lease of life. It has also been speculated that the ban will considerably increase number of school-going children. Many children remained out of the school earlier as they had to go to the forest for cattle grazing.
According to DFO, there are 33, 153 livestock in the VDC, while the forest is spread in 10,254 hectares of land.
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Chatiban VDC declared open cattle grazing free zone
