Nepal participates in INBAR Council in China

 Kathmandu, May 22

Nepal, the current Chair of the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization (INBAR), led the 13^th meeting of the INBAR Council held at its secretariat headquarters in Beijing on Thursday.

The meeting was chaired by Nepal’s Minister for Forests and Environment, Ain Bahadur Shahi Thakuri.

In his remarks, Minister Thakuri emphasised the transformative role of bamboo and rattan in tackling global challenges, particularly in climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods, and green economic growth.

He also welcomed Uruguay and the Dominican Republic as the newest members of INBAR. He participated in the flag-raising ceremony to mark the Dominican Republic’s entry as the 52^nd member state.

Delivering Nepal’s country statement, Ambassador to China Dr. Krishna Prasad Oli highlighted the ecological and economic significance of bamboo and rattan species found in Nepal.

He underlined their role in soil and water conservation, employment generation, and environmental restoration. Dr. Oli also announced the Government of Nepal’s recent adoption of the National Bamboo and Rattan Development Strategy 2025, expressing optimism for its successful implementation.

The Council meeting was attended by representatives of INBAR member and observer countries. Nepal’s delegation included senior officials from the Ministry and the Embassy in Beijing. The delegation reached Beijing on May 20 and will return to Kathmandu on May 24.

Govt aims to make Nepal a wood-exporting country

Kathmandu, Jan. 30

Minister for Forests and Environment Prem Bahadur Ale has said that Scientific Forest Management Guideline was annulled to increase the use of domestic wooden products and make Nepal a wood-exporting country.

“The government has cancelled the guidelines to develop the country as a wood-exporting nation. We are importing wood worth Rs. 10 billion to Rs. 12 billion every year,” he said while speaking at the 21^st General Assembly of Nepal Furniture and Furnishing Association (NFFA) on Saturday in the Capital.

He stated that although the guidelines were presented as the instrument for better forest management and development, it had actually contributed to the degradation of forests so the Cabinet had decided to cancel it.

According to Minister Ale, the government has initiated a process to formulate a new policy to support wood production from 21,755 community forests across the country and its export.

Nepal has become self-reliant in flooring carpet, woolen carpet, mattress, pillow, doormat and other plastic-related products. The country has 12,000 furniture entrepreneurs who have employed more than 200,000 people.

As per the NFFA, furniture business has about Rs. 30 billion invested and the size of business is over Rs. 40 billion per year but about 60 per cent goods are imported.

It said that it was unfortunate that the country is importing wooden products while wood worth billions of rupees is being wasted in the forests.

Immediate Past President of the association Rupesh Pradhan said that the use of forest-related products had been complex and cumbersome due to the lack of policies for marketing and modernisation of forest management.

He said that furniture entrepreneurs were facing challenges as the produced wood is not cut in time, protected, auctioned and managed well. “Government statistics show a large amount of wood import. The ministry and other concerned agencies must act at the earliest to improve the situation and address the problems of the business,” he said.

Newly elected president of NFFA Subhendra Joshi said that the demand for furniture had gone down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

NFFA gets new leadership

The 21^st assembly of the NFFA has elected a new 15-member working committee led by Subhendra Joshi unanimously.

Dinesh Agrawal is elected as the Senior Vice President while Manish Agrawal and Arun Chaudhary got elected as Vice Presidents. Likewise, Arjun Ghimire, Sanjaya Lama, Sushma Lamsal and Kedar Nath Bastakoti are elected as General Secretary, Secretary, Treasurer and Joint-Treasurer.

Yogendra Karki, Ramila Shrestha, Dil Bikram Shrestha, Bhola Yonjan, Samyak Man Singh, Dambar Parajuli and Prabin Kumar Thapa are the members of the committee.

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 31 January 2021.