Impact of Bhutanese Refugee Settlement on Humse-Dumse Community Forest: A Case from Beldangi, Damak, Jhapa, Nepal
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Department of Environmental Science
Abstract
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees defines four main reasons for
refugees flows: political instability, economic tensions, ethnic conflict, and
environmental degradation. Movement of thousands of people and the establishment
of refugee camps often has a serious impact on local environment, as well as on the
welfare of nearby communities. Nepal has also hosted Bhutanese refugees in the
eastern region since 1990. In this context, Humse-Dumse Community Forest was
selected to study the impacts of Bhutanese refugee settlements on the forest, as three
refugee camps (Beldangi I, Beldangi II and Beldangi III) have been established inside
the forest. The reconnaisance survey was conducted during October 2010 and field
survey during January 2011. Vegetation analysis and questionnaire survey (to both
refugees and Community Forest User Groups) were done by using stratified random
samplings. Socio-economic status of the Bhutanese refugees and CFUGs, their
resources (fodder and fuelwood) need and access, and their extraction practices are
highlighted in the questionnaire survey, and status of forest resources and its supply
scenario are highlighted in the vegetation part. The camp settlement inside the CF has
reduced the forest area by one fifth. As the refugees had no strong income source,
they had no other better alternative (for the fuel resource) than extracting fuelwood
from the nearby village, Community Forest and from market. From the CFUGs,
landless were more depended on the C.F for both fodder and fuelwood. Annual
extraction of both fodder (2896.07 t/yr) and fuelwood (1503.74 t/yr) by the Bhutanese
refugees are quite higher than that of CFUGs‟ (fodder; 1792.53 t/yr and fuelwood;
289.16 t/yr), outstripping the forest‟s annual sustainable supply (fodder; 152.83 TDN
in t/yr and fuelwood; 1087.79 t/yr). Absence of refugee settlement would greatly
reduce these extractions so that the C.F resources do not get overharvested. Moreover,
the refugees‟ illegal activities such as slice cutting of trees stems, uprooting of
regenerating species and small herb saplings, collecting twigs and broken branches for
fuelwood, collecting fodder for their livestock were increasing pressure load for the
forest resources. All these activities of the refugees in longer term will definitely
decline the forest‟s sustainability to a very high extent. Therefore, there is an
emerging need of strong policy amendment regarding these settlements inside the
community forest.
Key words: Bhutanese refugees, CFUGs, extraction, forest resources, sustainability,
vegetation analysis, UNHCR.