His Majesty’s Government of Nepal has developed a 20-year Master Plan for the forestry sector in 1988. It has identified conservation of ecosystem and genetic resources as a primary programme to protect special areas.
The Forestry Sector Master Plan (MPFS 1988) put people at the centre of conservation and development process. By giving adequate priority to the Community Forestry Programme and developing subsequent programmes to cover a major part of the renewable natural resources, it has empowered people for the conservation and sustainable utilisation of the resources. Likewise, the Nepal Agricultural Perspective Plan (APP 1995) has realised the significant role of agrobiodiversity and also envisaged the linkages between forestry and agricultural sectors. The Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007) continues the past programmes and puts emphasis on the preparation and implementation of the National Biodiversity Strategy that covers all aspects of biodiversity conservation, sustainable utilisation and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the conservation efforts.
Nepal signed the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) during the Earth Summit, 1992 and ratified the same on 21 February 1994. Thus, the CBD has become the guidepost for biodiversity conservation efforts in Nepal. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) through its Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement urges to register and patent biological diversity and associated property rights in order to fully obtain benefits in near future.
The Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation in Nepal has been designated as the national focal point for the CBD. In order to successfully implement the CBD and to meet the requirements of the WTO, Nepal has initiated certain policy measures and started to implement them.
Accordingly, the National Biodiversity Steering Committee (NBSC) was formed in 1997 under the chairmanship of the Secretary, MFSC. Representatives from various ministries (including the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, and the Ministry of Population), the National Planning Commission and NGOs (IUCN and WWF) were among the members to this committee. A National Biodiversity Unit (NBU) was formulated within the MFSC as a secretariat to the NBSC. A total of six meetings were recorded by the end of 2001.
Similarly, the Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives has established a National Agrobiodiversity Conservation Committee. The National Planning Commission (NPC) has also formed a National Coordination Committee for Biodiversity Conservation (NCCBC) in 2000 under the coordination of the NPC Vice-Chairman and a Biodiversity Registration Coordination Committee was formed under the coordination of the NPC Member for Agriculture. As an outcome of all these efforts, Nepal Biodiversity Strategy (NBS) has been prepared and recently approved by the government, a draft bill and policy on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing has also been prepared and the Implementation Plan for the NBS is being prepared at the present.
As has been indicated in the previous chapters, some activities have already been initiated on biodiversity conservation. A policy has been formulated to facilitate the formulation and implementation of biodiversity conservation. However, conserving alone is not enough. There is a need for well-balanced planning to promote the concept of use and improve. The concept is very important in the context of this country. Nepal has successfully formed 12 584 FUGs and more are in the process.
More forest area will be handed over and more households will be involved in the future. The government plans to hand over all the assessable forest if the communities demand and if they are able to manage the area. Therefore, a national forest policy should not be formulated to implement the CBD and meet requirements of the WTO alone, but it should also consider the context of development of forest management by the people of Nepal. Policy should be made to enhance the productivity of forests both qualitatively and quantitatively as circumstances demand.
