Forest and Environment Ministry upbeat to work for greater good

Kathmandu, Jan. 8  

The Committee on Sustainable Development and Good Governance of the Parliament has sought information with the key responsible persons from the Ministry of Forest and Environment on contribution of forest in meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the COP 24: UN climate change conference. 
 

During the meeting, Minister for Forest and Environment Shakti Bahadur Basnet said that the government was moving ahead in a right direction to address the problems prevalent in forest sector. Efforts are on to establish coordination among the bodies to reduce the smuggling of the wildlife and forest products, he said. 
 

Likewise, Ministry Secretary Dr Bishwanath Oli said the laws would be made timely to promote tourism and studies are being made on the capacity of the reserve areas in relation to the number of the wildlife. 
On the occasion, the Ministry shared that more than 38,000 jobs were created in the forest sector in the fiscal year 2074/075 BS and a total of Rs 2.77 billion revenue was collected. 
 

Similarly, 19,249 saplings were produced while groups formed for community-based forest management and 585 forests handed over to the communities during the review period, the Ministry's officials informed the parliamentary committee. 
 

Furthermore, 962 water sources, pond conservation and wetland areas were managed while a total of 442 landslide managements were the major achievements of the Ministry during the time, according to the officials. (RSS)