58 percent forest fire due to human activities
58 percent forest fires are intentional
13 October 2007
published byHetauda Sandesh
Nepal — Mr. Norbert Meyer, Deputy Chief of Mission / Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany stated that “58 percent forest fire in Nepal is due to intentional”. He further mentioned 22 percent fires are due to negligence and 20 percent due to accident according to the research finding. He stated it during the seven days Community-based Fire Management Training programme supported by the German Foreign Office in Sundar Community Forest in Hetauda started from 9 October 2007. In the forth day of the training programme, he handed over the fire fighting equipments and tools to the community forest user group. He also highlighted “about 100 housed are burnt every year due to negligence”.
The coordinator of the Regional South Asia Wildland Fire Network Mr. Sundar Prasad Sharma stated that to develop a model for fire management in south asia this programme is being implemented in Nepal. He requested to the community for the need of preparedness and continuous monitoring for the fire disaster risk reduction. He further expected that after the training the trained manpower will disseminate the knowledge and skills not only among the user group but also to the district level impacting to the national policy implication.
In the occasion, the district forest officer (DFO) of Makawanpur district appreciated the assistance provided by the government of Germany for the forest fire disaster mitigation and stated it will further deepen the friendly relationship between two countries.
Mr. Meyer handed over the equipments and tools to the chairman of the community forest user group Mr. Buddi Prasad paudel also chairing the handover ceremony.
Photo: Equipment handover ceremony
(Mr. Meyer from the Embassy at right)
Mr. Basanta Raj Paudel (Ranger, Hetauda Range Post), Mr. Puspa Raj Parajuly (Federation of Community Forest User Groups Nepal), Mr. Daniel Kraus (Global Fire Monitoring Center, Germany) and Mr. Kristian Georg (Germany) were also presented in the occasion. German Government provided 12 sets of swatter, 12 sets of rake, 12 sets of rake-hoe, 12 sets of swivel, the 24 sets of safety wears, 1 set of water pump and tank, 2 sets of first aid kit and others.
(an unofficial translation from Nepali News by Sundar Prasad Sharma-GFMC)
