Nepal's world-renowned community forests are under threat from a sudden rise in demand for firewood because of a fuel crisis.  A blockade on the Himalayan nation's border with India has halted imports. As a landlocked country, Nepal is totally reliant on India for all its fuel, food and medicine imports.

People have been left with no choice but to cut down trees for firewood despite having a tradition of protecting their forests. Government had also promoted using woods.

With no cooking gas and kerosene for their kitchens, the demand for firewood has suddenly jumped and our forests are under pressure. People are now entering into community forests for chopping necessary woods and it?s being serious problem.

Nepal has been a global leader in community forestry where local people become custodians of the forests and are supposed to utilize the resource sustainably. We have  more than 15,000 community forests in the country, as well as 20 national parks and protected areas.

The government says community members in Rautahat, a district in southern Nepal, have seized more than 150 bicycles, which were being used to illegally collect firewood.

Illegal logging. And the forestry department has also started making contingency plans if the fuel crisis does not end soon.Because we have no mobility, timber smuggling has increased, mainly from the forests of Terai near the Indian border.

Conservationists were already concerned after several communities cut down trees to rebuild shelters in the aftermath of April's earthquake.

Nepal has abundant water resources, which could generate hydroelectricity. However, because of its political instability, not even 1% of its hydropower potential has been tapped, leaving people increasingly dependent on fuel imports from India.

The country is already crippled with severe power cuts lasting as long as 20 hours a day during the dry season when the water level in snow-fed rivers is quite low.