The government is organising a nationwide campaign to make people aware of the hazards of forest fires and preparedness measures to deal with their increasing menace.

The Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, with support from its line departments including the Department of Forests and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, is organising a week-long campaign from Sunday with participation of the local communities and forest user groups. Wildfires are common across the country between February and April.

“Forest fire has emerged as the biggest threat to forest conservation in the country in recent times. The changing climatic patterns, rising temperatures and human activities have fuelled bush fires” said Bijay Raj Poudel, joint-secretary at the Forest Ministry. This is the first time the government is organising an awareness campaign against bush fires even though the Forest Fire Management Strategy-2010 envisaged nationwide programmes at least once a year. In the wake of a series of devastating wildfires, the government came up with the strategy six years ago but there is no effective plan of its implementation. In recent years, however, the government has been engaging community forestry user groups in training on fighting forest fires for mitigating its risks.

Nepal was listed among the countries most vulnerable to wildfires in 2009 by the US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The fires killed 49, 9, 1 and 2 people in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively.