Kathmandu, June 9: Most farmers are found to be unaware about the impact of haphazard use of pesticides and insecticides in agriculture on vegetation, animals and the environment.

According to experts, the reckless use of insecticides can have adverse impact on useful insects besides polluting air, water and soil and eventually impacting on human health.

Due to environmental destruction the expected increase in agro products has not been seen in our country where 85 per cent of people rely on agriculture, says secretary of the Nepal Bio-Technology Association Prof. B. N. Prasad.

‘On one hand, production has been reduced because of decreased fertility of soil caused by erosion, floods and landslides, and agricultural land has been destroyed due to haphazard urbanisation, on the other”, he says adding that it is certainly an economic challenge that the number of those relying on this sector has increased.

According to government data, the number of persons relying on agriculture reached 7.5 per hectare in 2038 B.S from 5. 8 in 2028 BS.

Bio-resources and means have been destroyed deliberately or through human ignorance. The forest area that covered two thirds of the land a few years back has shrunk to one third because of gradual destruction. As a result, serious problems have been seen such as soil erosion, floods and landslides, low rainfall, deterioration of water resources, adverse climate and desertification.

Statistics show that 240 million cubic metres of fertile soil is washed away each year by floods and landslides and Terai river beds are estimated to filled up by 15 to 30 centimetres every year.

According to experts, 30 – 40 per cent of the land in a country should be covered by forests for ecological balance. But it is clear that environmental imbalance is increasing. There is less than 25 per cent forest cover in the world at present.

According to the World Development Report 1998, Nepal has lost 274,000 hectares of forest between 1990 to 1995 and seven per cent of the total land is on the verge of desertification. At present, the 16 conservation areas account for l4 per cent of the forest cover in the country. Environment management expert and team leader of the Bheri-Babai Hydel Project Environmental Impact Evaluation Study Team Dr. Govind Shaha says Nepal’s environmental problems are linked with the ecological diversity, the farming system and use of natural resources. The nature of the problem differs from rural to urban areas but every Nepali is affected by it.

Necessary financial resources can be collected at the local level for the socio- economic development of the country if we make sustainable use of bio-resources, Shaha says adding that it is essential to give proper attention to environmental conservation as it is associated with human existence.

Most countries have implemented economic development programmes integrating environmental impact assessment technology for sustainable development as the environmental condition of a country depends on the economic and social structure there.

Environmental impact assessment and implementation is difficult in Nepal at present due to lack of skilled manpower though the process of including this technology has been simplified.

The technology which came into use after being included in the national environmental laws of the U.S.A. in 1970, has been adopted by most countries of the world as basic infrastructure for sustainable development.

The technology has been used by 87 per cent of the countries of Asia and 40 per cent in Africa as it is an important pre-requisite for implementing the agenda -21 approved by the ‘Earth Summit’ of 1992 and the convention on climate change and bio-diversity.

Nepal has made commitments to environment conservation by ratifying international conventions on various issues including bio-diversity,environment conservation and pollution control.

Though this technology was included by the donor agencies in big development projects in Nepal since 2030 B. S. at an informal level, it was included at official level only since 2051 B.S..

The technology which was included in big national level development projects after the National Environment Impact Assessment Directory came into force in 2050 b.s. Received its legal basis after implementation of the Environment Conservation Act-2053 and the Environment Conservation Regulations- 2054.

According to environment experts, if the environment impact assessment process is implemented as per the National Environment Impact Assessment Directory-2050 and the Environment Conservation Regulations- 2054, we can make considerable achievements in this sector as these reports are not inferior in quality compared to such reports prepared in the developed countries.