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were destroyed in 2010 alone. 153 A research survey by
the conservation group Resources Himalaya, estimated
that four trees were cut in the Terai region every twenty
minutes. 154 Saal is the timber species primarily logged in
the Terai, while various pine species are illegally cut in the
Himalayas. The cut saal and pines ares both consumed
domestically and exported – in the north to China and
in the Terai to India. The endangered and highly-prized
sandalwood is also smuggled via Nepal from India to
China. 155
Illegal logging in Nepal likely employs greater numbers
of people than drug cultivation. The fairly high labor
intensiveness of logging in Nepal can be partially explained
by the fact that tree-cutting methods in Nepal can be
somewhat archaic, with logs cut down by handsaw instead
of chainsaw and removed from the forest by bullock carts.
Nonetheless, sawmills are emerging in southern Terai near
areas of particularly intense illegal logging, and a switch to
chainsaw methods and hence rapid expansion of the scale
of illegal logging can be expected. Forest communities in
particular are often dependent on illegal timber and other
non-timber forest-product extraction for basic livelihoods.
Barely eking out a subsistence existence and among the
poorest in Nepal, they continue to encroach on national
park land, often with highly detrimental effects on the
ecosystem. 156
of human encroachment on protected areas is lower in
areas with buffer zones than in protected areas without
buffer zones. 157 Indeed, forest wardens, community
members, and conservationists all prefer the current policy
to a previous “fence and fine only” approach of excluding
forest communities from protected areas, removing their
customary rights, and completely restricting their use of
forest resources. Such a policy used to be prevalent when
the government was the sole owner of forests. 158
Yet many problems beset current regulatory arrangements.
In theory, the local community should receive up to
80 percent of national park revenues. Nonetheless,
both in the Terai and the Himalayas, local community
representatives reported receiving far less and in some
years nothing, with park revenues reportedly diverted
for other priorities (and possibly for personal profits). 159
Frequently, neither the resources available from a buffer
zone nor alternative livelihoods projects for communities
living in or around national parks have been sufficient
to assure even subsistence living and prevent continued
illegal resource extraction in the national parks. 160 Such
problems were particularly intense in protected areas in
the Terai. In contrast, mountaineering and tourism in the
Himalayas significantly improved the economic status of
the Sherpa community. Nonetheless, illegal logging and
wildlife poaching were reported even t<strong>here</strong>. 161
79
The creation of so-called buffer zones around national
parks – w<strong>here</strong> local communities can collect thatch
grasses and other products – and the policies of involving
communities in forest conservation and of transferring
some of the park revenues to local communities have had
definite positive effects on conservation. Comparative
research shows, for example, that the level of illegal
resource extraction from protected areas and the intensity
felbabbrown/03_illegal_logging_felbabbrown.pdf
153. Surya Thapa (2011). “Neither Forests Nor Trees,” Nepali Times, January 7, 2011.
154. Author’s interviews with representatives of Resources Himalaya, Kathmandu, May 29, 2012.
155. It is difficult to estimate how much of the sandalwood intended for the Chinese market
is diverted for sale in Nepal. Out of eight tourist shops visited in Bhaktapur, only two carried
sandalwood statues, ranging between two and ten inches in size. Selling them for hundreds of
dollars per statue, both stores claimed to have only five or less such sandalwood figures. Both
sellers in both stores also indicated that Chinese customers were the most frequent buyers,
followed by buyers from Germany and Europe. Author’s interviews conducted with shop owners
in Bhaktapur, May 17, 2012.
156. Author’s interviews with forestry officials, wardens, officers of army units in charge of
national park protection, and members of forest communities living in park buffer zones,
Solukhumbu, Chitwan, Bardia, and Solukhumbu districts, May 13-16, 18-20, and 25-27, 2012.
Local community members frequently complained about
a lack of responsiveness from forestry officials and park
wardens to their needs and, particularly in the Terai,
also about limited horizontal accountability of village
development committee (VDC) members. VDC members
who interact with park officials are often local elites, with
women and disadvantaged groups rarely represented.
Since committee members can obtain significant political
157. Author’s interviews with two leading environmental conversation researchers in Nepal,
Kathmandu, May 29, 2012. See also: Shova, Thapa and Hubacek, Klaus (2011). “Drivers of Illegal
Resource Extraction: An Analysis of Bardia National Park, Nepal,” Journal of Environmental
Management, 92. (pp. 156-164)
158. Joel Heinen and Suresh Shestra (2006). “Evolving Policies for Conservation: An Historical
Profile of the Protected Area System of Nepal,” Journal of Environmental Planning and Management,
49. (pp. 41-58) See also: Nabil Baral and Joel Heinen (2007). “Resources Use, Conservation
Attitudes, Management Intervention and Park-People Relations in Western Terai Landscape of
Nepal,” Environmental Conversation, 34. (pp. 64-72)
159. Author’s interviews with forestry officials, village committee members, and local community
members, Solukhumbu, Chitwan, and Bardia districts, May 13-16, 18-21, and 26-28, 2012.
160. Author’s interviews with forestry officials, wardens, officers of army units in charge of
national park protection, village development committee members, and other members of forest
communities living in park buffer zones, Chitwan and Bardia districts, May 18-20 and 25-27, 2012.
161. Author’s interviews with businessmen and law enforcement officials, Solukhumbu district,
May 13-16, 2012.
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