In present days forest fire has became the main  problem and source of air degradation in Nepal. During December there was already indications  about the starting of wildfire season in the Himalaya region . since there had been no rainfall from last three months, the burning fire has expanded from Piuthan to Pathivara. One forest blaze in Manang which started in November and was still raging upto two months later. This  blazes then spread into Lamjung and Rasuwa district which has directly blown its  smoke to Kathmandu district because of this reason the Air Quality Index (AQI) crossed 500 on the month of january, Now it has been getting more worse in this March, and  there has been recorded that by last week there are hundreds of wildfires has spread  across the Terai and mid-mountains of Nepal surrounding the whole country in smoke. AQI that measures the concentration of harmful particles has rose to 632 in Kathmandu in this month since a brisk southwesterly blew in smoke from fires in chitwan , kakwanpur and parsa. People has complained of stinging eyes, headaches and breathing difficulties, raising the calls for government to declare the health emergency . similarly  the summit of Mt Machapuchre devoid of snow and the base of the mountain has  covered with smoke from a vast forest fire.

Wild fires have received a lot of attention this year because Kathmandu , pokhara along with other cities have been effected badly. Experts have suggested to do a lot more to reduce vehicular exhaust , brick kilns and open garbage burning. Most of the environmentalists agree that this year’s fire has been unusual. In previous wild fires in Rasuwa and Nuwakot in 2008 and 2012 had turned the sky dark over Kathmandu but it was brief. But this time condition has became the worse and wildfire has been continuing day by day. According to environmentalist experts , the main reason for this year’s disaster is due to extended winter drought , with precipitation over Central Nepal at only 10% of Normal and dry spell continuing into spring .Although the forest fires are classified as natural disaster  but the fact is that the only a fraction of 10-15 percent wild fires are caused naturally .the majority of wild fires incident results due to human causes  such as burning of the forest to hunt wild animals or clearing land for farming and discarded cigarette are also among the biggest causes of forest fires. Spring is a season when many farmers light fires to encourage new shoots for their livestock to graze on , or before maize planting.  similarly , spring rainfall varies yearly and last year we had a relatively wet spring whereas this year it is exceptionally dry with forest fires already in January .Due to this has also allowed to spread the forest fire more faster  in this year.

It is concluded in a study that tiny particles released in wild fire in smoke are 10 times more harmful to humans and animals  than the smoke exhausted by other sources such as vehicles.  This has brought the visible impact on the environment as well as on public health. Many wild lives and the hundreds and thousands hacteres of  green covers has been destroying.Pollution has now reached at the hazardious level forcing the government to shut down the schools and colleges. The health ministry has also issued ntice for the pubic urging people to avoid outdoor activities as much as possible and wear masks and take other precautions. Ministry of forest management is also actively involving in controlling the forest fires thought it has not been very effective to control the massive fires. Now present situation has came to wait until the occurrence of the monsoon to control the wildfires.

Source

·         https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/nepal-is-going-up-in-smoke/

·         https://kathmandupost.com/climate-environment/2021/03/31/worsening-wildfires-a-reminder-that-the-country-lacks-clear-policies