With expert advice from various government and non government organizations, people from the surrounding 12 VDCs had planted pine trees in the barren hills. But the very fact that pine trees can absorb water better than other plants to survive in drier lands has compounded matters for the common people who have received far less than average rainfall in the past few years. [break]
“This valley falls in the rain shadow area and receives lesser rainfall than Kathmandu valley. But in the past few years it has not received even its average share of rainfall,” Madhukar Upadhyaya of Institute of Social and Economic Transition said.
The scarcity of water has affected locals in every aspect of their lives. “We don´t have water for vegetable farming, cattle and we have to make do with around 40 liters of water for a family everyday,” said Secretary of Panchkhal VDC Tanka Prasad Adhikari.
The reason for decrease in precipitation in the last few years has not been known and there has been no extensive research but villagers now believe they were better off before planting pine trees. There are eight community forests in Panchkhal valley covering around 5,000 hectares with predominantly pine trees.
The increasing population and flourishing vegetable farming -- locals claim 60 percent of the vegetable supply to Kathmandu came from Panchkhal until a couple of years ago --stretched the water source in the valley that was further hit by the drought in the last few years. The pine trees have exacerbated the situation absorbing the scarce underground water from the soil.
“Water sources below Bhashme jungle, that has natural distribution of other plants, still give some water but those around the community forests where pine trees have been planted have dried out completely,” Bhojraj Panta, a local, revealed. “We didn´t know that pine absorbed more water and are now bearing brunt of the result,” Panta added.
Experts agree that massive plantation of pine trees in the surrounding hills have made matter worse for the villagers but stop well short of taking responsibility for their plight.
“Plantation of pine trees should be taken in another context. We wanted to make the barren hills green and pine was the best option,” argued Kumud Shrestha, a government forestry official, who currently is in the National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) Thematic Working Group on Forestry and Biodiversity.
premdhakal@myrepublica.com
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