Forest Fire and its management strategies in Nepal
Fire is one of the important tools in forest management when used in planned and 
controlled manner, but uncontrolled fires lead to serious degradation of forests, 
ecological changes, as well as deterioration of social and economical conditions 
in some land-use systems and natural vegetation types. Uncontrolled forest fires 
in the fire season of 2009 alone caused 41 fatalities (civilians and fire-fighters) 
and destroyed hundreds of thousands of hectares of national forests, particularly 
in community forests, government managed forests, national parks and reserves. 
The major causes of wildfires are man-made. Erratic climatic variation, prolonged 
dry season and very low winter rainfall in recent years have increased the 
incidences of wildfires in Nepal. A study shows that about 58% forest fire is 
deliberate burning by grazers, poachers, hunters and NTFP collectors; 22% due to 
negligence and 20% by accident in Nepal. By duration, more than 80% forest fire 
occurs in March and April whereas about 60% forest fire occurs in April alone. 
The institutional capacity to combat wildfires is very weak. The government has 
approved the Forest Fire Management Strategy which has given high priority 
to participatory forest fire management; public awareness programmes; legal 
reforms and capacity building of government and community institutions. There 
are various agencies, institutions and NGOs working worldwide and in Nepal such 
as UN-ISDR Wildland Fire Advisory Group (WFAG) / the Global Wildland Fire 
Network (GWFN) and its secretariat the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC) 
and the Regional South Asia Wildland Fire Network (RSAWFN). Nepal Forest Fire 
Management Chapter (NFMC), an autonomous, non-profit, non-governmental 
organization, is working to institutionalize wildland fire management activities 
for sustainable forest resource management in the country.

There are different methods and tools to prevent forest fires that demand much 
resources both in terms of technology and economy. The introduction of continuous 
education and training programmes with proper follow-up that can have a 
positive response to forest fire prevention and control is needed. Coordination 
and cooperation must be required among wildlife clubs, environmental groups 
or Eco-clubs, community forest user groups, youth clubs and fire management 
professionals. These groups can assist in detection and prevention of fires. Use 
of mass media is one of the best means of public education in the prevention of 
wild fires in very short time duration.Posters or pamphlets can also be used in 
market place, bus stands, public offices and schools. Firebreakers or firelines may 

Banko Janakari 
A Journal of Forestry Information for Nepal



Banko Janakari, Vol. 23, No. 2

2

be natural barriers, such as road or stream, or especially constructed barriers to 
limit the spread of fires and to provide an established control line in the case of 
firefighting. The most effective fire hazard reduction is to eliminate most of fuel 
from hazardous areas. This can be done by burning off all hazardous fuel through 
controlled burning or prescribed burning; it should be however, done before fire 
season.

Fire awareness and educational activities are very effective tools in involving the 
community and other groups in a fire management programme and in engaging 
the communities as responsible partners. Those can assist in the prevention, 
detection and reporting of fires, work with fire personnel to control unwanted 
fires. Besides, fire prevention training at schools and colleges is an important part 
of any prevention effort. However, there is a lack of existing national capability in 
fire research and management, including monitoring, early warning and ecological 
and socio-economic impact assessment, and facilitating international cooperation 
in fire management. Now, there is an increasing interest in community-based fire 
management, and need for institutional and technological capability development 
at all levels. A reliable and timely fire detection and monitoring system is an 
important part of forest fire management. International Centre for Integrated 
Mountain Development, in close collabouration with the Department of Forests, 
has developed a forest fire detection and monitoring system for Nepal based on 
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrora diameter data. The system currently 
sends email notification on fires throughout Nepal to some 180 subscribers. 
Furthermore, some 220 text message subscribes, including District Forest Officers 
and focal persons of the federation of community forestry users groups of Nepal 
in all districts, receive fire alerts in their mobile if a fire incident is detected in the 
district of their subscription. The fire user database is currently managed by the 
Department of Forests through a customized web interface. It is a very high time 
to work on fire management towards the conservation of forest ecosystem as well 
as mitigating  the consequences of climate change for which we  need to develop 
synergies through coordinated and collective actions at local and national levels.