Perception of Forest Managers on Fire Management in Two Major Landscapes of Nepal

Abstract

Each year forest fire is causing enormous damage to the Nepal's forest ecosystems and landscape. Various studies suggest that anthropogenic factor is one of the major reasons for forest fire occurrences. There is an immediate need to identify perception and priority for analyzing the preference of forest fire management tools and activities from the local communities. This research used the perception test and statistical tools for developing priorities of forest fire management in community level in two major landscapes of the country i.e. Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) and Chitwan Annapurna Landscape (CHAL). Perception survey was carried out in six districts in order to know the priority of community forest managers using Kruskall-Wallis and Kendall tau's test. The findings show that majority of the fire incidents were of anthropogenic origin (96.1%) where fuel management and infrastructure were considered as the most important safeguard by the respondents. Respondents are keen to see the insurance mechanism, firefighting equipment's and training in their areas. Highest level of agreement was in the strategy and actions (Kendall's tau= 0.8501) followed by fuel management and infrastructure (Kendall Tau= 0.6757). The results of the study are expected to help will help the decision makers to implement preventive measures by identifying and minimizing the risk and impacts caused by forest fires.