Logged Wood Left to Rot in Forests due to Policy Vacuum

Five years after the government scrapped the Scientific Forest Management Work Procedure, a lack of new policy has left large quantities of logged timber rotting in Kailali and Kanchanpur forests.

Community forest user groups in the two districts say they are unable to collect or sell the timber, causing financial strain and wasting resources worth millions of rupees, the state-run national news agency RSS reported.

The problem mirrors a larger, ongoing issue across the country, where the lack of clear policy has left vast amounts of locally produced wood unused despite Nepal’s heavy reliance on timber imports.

Read: Imported Timber Dominate the Market as Home-Grown Wood Decays in Forests

A 2023 report states that Nepal requires 70 to 100 million cubic feet of wood annually but produces only about 20 million cubic feet from its forests. Government data suggest that domestic forests could sustainably produce up to 150 million cubic feet a year, yet much of this potential remains untapped due to regulatory hurdles. Timber worth billions of rupees is imported every year, while trees cut in community and national forests decay for lack of authorization to use them.

The Scientific Forest Management Procedure, introduced in 2014 to boost domestic timber supply and curb imports, had initially increased production. However, it was cancelled in 2020 following criticism from environmental groups and concerns over its implementation. Since then, tree felling has been halted in more than 800 forests nationwide, leaving logged wood to waste.

In 2021, the Ministry of Forestry introduced the National Standard for Sustainable Forest Management, but the guidelines have yet to be implemented. Experts say weak administrative capacity, lack of political will, and bureaucratic red tape have stalled the process.

According to Bir Bahadur Rajbanshi, secretary of the Community Forest Coordination Committee in Kailali, the policy gap has stalled community forest work plans in both Kailali and Kanchanpur. “This has created two problems: threats to forest conservation and the inability to collect wood,” RSS quoted Rajbanshi as saying.

Baijanath Community Forest Users’ Group Chair Bahadur Singh Mahara questioned why the government has not addressed the issue, noting that forest management is closely linked to livelihoods and community needs.

On Wednesday, a delegation led by Pushkal Bahadur Bam submitted a 23-point memorandum to Dirgha Narayan Koirala, secretary at the Provincial Ministry of Industry, Tourism, Forest and Environment, calling for the immediate introduction of a new policy for sustainable forest management and reform of the forest tax system, RSS further reported.

The delegation argued that the failure of the province government to draft a work procedure on sustainable forest management has hindered forest management.