MORANG, Dec 23: Despite the government’s efforts to conserve forest areas through different ways, forest fires have remained a major challenge in Morang district. A total of 185,600 hectares of land is covered with forest in Morang.
Officials said that the district is rich in biodiversity but forest management is becoming more challenging due to rising cases of wildfires.
Forest guard fire aerial shots to disperse timber smugglers
According to the Division Forest Office, Biratnagar, forest areas covering 150 to 400 hectares have been destroyed in forest fires every single year in Morang.
Assistant Forest Officer and Information Officer of the Office Ram Lakhan Thakur said that endangered animals and invaluable species of trees have been affected due to fire fires, endangering the biodiversity. He, however, said that the Office has been conducting awareness programmes and network building to curb forest fires.
He added that networks of local users’ groups, security agencies and forest officials have been formed to educate the society and also to douse the forest fires.
Likewise, Forest Officer of the Division Forest Office Anirudhra Kumar Sah claimed that the district has made impressive progress in combating forest fires amid limited resources. He added that trained technicians and required equipment have been kept standby to control forest fire.
