Deforestation: causes and consequences

Deforestation is the permanent removal or large-scale clearing of forests and their conversion to other land uses such as farmland, settlements or infrastructure. Nepal's forest cover fell sharply up to the 1990s; community forestry has since helped forest cover recover to about 45% (Forest Resource Assessment), but forests are still lost in the Terai and the Chure (Siwalik) range.

Causes in Nepal

1. Population growth and agricultural expansion – clearing forests for farmland, especially in the Terai after malaria eradication and migration from the hills.
2. Fuel wood demand – a large share of households cook with firewood.
3. Timber smuggling and illegal logging.
4. Infrastructure – roads (often without proper planning), hydropower, transmission lines, airports, settlements.
5. Encroachment and squatter settlements in forest land.
6. Overgrazing and fodder collection.
7. Forest fires, often human-caused, increasing in dry springs.
8. Mining of sand, gravel and stone, especially in the Chure.
9. Weak governance – poor law enforcement and political interference.

Impacts (consequences)

1. Soil erosion and landslides – loss of root cover on steep slopes; more landslides in the monsoon.
2. Floods and sedimentation – rivers carry more sediment, filling reservoirs and damaging hydropower and irrigation; Terai floods increase.
3. Drying of springs and water sources – less infiltration and groundwater recharge.
4. Loss of biodiversity – habitat loss for tigers, rhinos, red pandas and medicinal plants.
5. Climate change – forests store carbon; clearing releases CO₂ and reduces carbon sinks.
6. Desertification of the Chure, affecting Terai agriculture.
7. Hardship for rural people – women walk farther for firewood and fodder; loss of forest-based income.
8. Loss of tourism and cultural value.

Remedies: community and leasehold forestry, afforestation, President Chure-Tarai Madhesh Conservation Programme, alternative energy (biogas, electricity), strict control of illegal logging and REDD+.