Incidents of forest fire are likely to increase this year, as the prolonged drought and accumulation of biomass in the wild for a long time provide ample fuel, experts warn.

Wildfires have not only threatened years of progress made by the country in forest conservation, but also risked lives and livelihoods, ecology, and environment, they say.

“The forest fire season has just started and we have already recorded around 200 incidents,” said Sundar Sharma, an under-secretary at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, speaking at a disaster dialogue on Sunday. “More forest fire incidents happened in the year, which saw dry winter.”

Wildfires are common in Nepal during the dry season. They may happen naturally or through human activities and errors, but hotter and drier conditions make them fierce and uncontrollable.

Human actions—discarding cigarette butts without stubbing them out, burning dry vegetation to clear farmlands, and deliberate burning by grazers and poachers—are considered the main reasons for forest fires.

“Humans are responsible for almost all incidents of forest fire in our country,” said Sharma. And what is concerning is that over 60 percent of fire incidents are intentional, according to studies.

In Nepal, the forest fire season starts in March and reaches its peak in May.

The number of fire incidents is expected to rise in the coming days throughout the country, as the mercury is rising with a little chance of precipitation in the next few days.

Nepal’s valuable forests, which took more than six decades of restoration, face a worsening wildfire reality with scarce resources and nearly zero strategies to prevent or contain them. The country has increased forest coverage by 45 percent from around 41 percent earlier. However, the growing incidents of forest fires threaten progress, according to Bhusan Tuladhar, an environment expert.

“Forest fire has a direct link in the rise in pollution in the country,” said Tuladhar. “Along with the environment, forest fire directly affects people’s health, threatens the ecosystem and endangered species. Lessening the forest fire incidents is not only the responsibility of the forest ministry and National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, but of all people and agencies.”

Experts say that the general public, as well as agencies concerned, should be cautious, as forest fires not only destroy forests but also pose a serious threat to humans and other beings and property.

They say that raising awareness about the consequences of deliberately causing forest fires, and penalising those involved in the incidents, could make a huge difference to lessening incidents of fire.

Strengthening local governments, imparting training to locals, providing them with necessary kits to deal with possible fire incidents, and building artificial ponds, are among the ways to deal with fire incidents, according to them.

Dr Binod Pokhrel, a climate expert who is also an associate professor at the Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology at Tribhuvan University, said that this is a high time to take measures to lessen forest fire incidents.

“Exploring early warning systems, launching awareness drives among the public, imparting training to douse fire, providing fire fighting equipment including water pumps, making fire lines are among the measures which could be effective in lessening the impact of forest fires,” said Pokhrel.

“Strengthening local level governments, imparting training to locals, providing them with kits necessary to deal with fires, and building artificial ponds are among the ways to deal with fires.”