Kathmandu, May 28
Nepal has the second-highest percentage of land covered by forests in South Asia. As per the Economic Survey of fiscal year 2082/83 BS unveiled on Wednesday, Bhutan has the highest area covered by forests with 69.71 per cent. Similarly, Nepal has 46.08 per cent of its land covered by forests, followed by Sri Lanka with 34.1 per cent.
Likewise, China has 22.96 per cent of its land covered by forests, India has 21.71 per cent, Bangladesh has 12.8 per cent, Pakistan has 4.8 per cent, the Maldives has 2.7 per cent, and Afghanistan has 1.9 per cent. Thirty-two per cent of the world’s land is covered by forests. In 2024, the area covered by forests was 46.08 per cent in Nepal. Out of 46.08 per cent of forest area, 43.38 per cent is covered by dense forest, and 2.7 per cent has bush and shrub.
Nepal had 39.6 per cent forest area in 1990, which increased to 44.74 per cent in 2015 and 45.31 per cent in 2019. Of the total area of the country, 34,420 square kilometres is a protected area, which is 23.4 per cent of the total area. Similarly, a total of 194,156 hectares of forest area has been managed so far under 11 forest protected areas. A total of 899 community forest groups have been formed in buffer and protected areas till February, and such areas have covered around 225,008 hectares of land.
