It was exactly 7:30 in morning when I looked upon the beautiful mountains north of Punakha. The sun was just climbing the mountain top with its glittering rays unobstructed by any other natural elements.The clear sky was flooded with beautiful stars without a slight distractions. The spectacular morning with aesthetic scene was an unprecedented gift showered by nature to energize my monotonous morning. I gave a quick rush to the water tap and spritz some water to freshen myself to away all my sleep. The cold water stimulated my nervous system and responded with positive energy. what a great start?First, the weather itself is energetic enough to be love by all onlookers. Second, the morning flow of clean water was fresh enough to drive away all the sleeps. It was the moment where my spirituality has been provoked with commitment to start up my day.
Without wasting much time, I have organised myself with all necessary equipment and moved towards Shenga Community Forest. The work today is slightly different than other days, as we are intended to count the number of trees felled unmarked by the contractor. It was the resolution of day before's meeting to inventory the number of trees and work for penalty accordingly. Laws are made by people together with the government officials. It is we the people who have to followed it and make use of it. Shenga CF has their CF management plan with all A to Z rules controlling the work of community forest. As predetermined in the plan the meeting has came to a resolution to strictly follow it.
Time has changed where people can't practice what they preach.Every one concerns and talks about their fundamental rights but people hardly care for their fundamental duties.Had there been better duties carried out by the CF members,there won't have been such kind of conflict, The conflict which has caused the socio-economic outlook of the society. Community forest is for the people and by the people. It is aimed to reap better economic value from the forest to reduce poverty, improve living standard and sustain-ably conserve the forest produce.
Logs clustered together in the forest
After a day of inventory and observation it is sad to see that the resources has been improperly utilized. We could see big branches of trees left to rot which otherwise can function well in wood chips factory. It is the work of selfish and irresponsible person which not only wasted economic resources but also jeopardize the community.
Improper utilization
Unmarked trees
As a future forester my message to all is that, it is important for all individual to equally shoulder the responsibility and work towards conservation and sustainable use of forest produce. The foresters alone can't shoulder the responsibility as he/she has to look after two to three gewogs. the shortage of staff has challenged the foresters by people's advantage to exploit the forest produce. So, lets work together and reap better fruit together.
