Forest degradation ratio in Sagarmatha National Park and its buffer zone, in the south of Mt. Qomolangma (Mt. Sagarmatha, also named Mt. Everest), has been increasing due to the use of excessive wood for fuel, a survey has shown.

"Our study on Fuel Wood Consumption and Forest Degradation has shown that forest degradation is at 8.5 square meters per hector in the park," local newspaper The Himalayan Times on Sunday quoted Nabindra Lal Karmacharya, who is undertaking a master's thesis under the Faculty of Environment Science in Khwopa Engineering College, based in Bhaktapur to the east of Nepali capital Kathmandu.

Annual 27,000 international tourists, their guides, porters and accompanying persons add woes to the problem as food cooked in a wood oven is believed to be tastier. The total population of the area is 5,869.

A whopping 92.5 percent people depend on fuel wood, five percent on electricity, 1.5 on Liquefied Petroleum Gas and one percent on kerosene, according to Karmacharya.

The news report also quoted an official at Ministry of Forestry, Land and Soil Conservation, saying the forest degradation was taking place in the south side of Mt. Qomolangma. "Locals are allowed to cut trees under certain conditions at a minimal scale," he added.

Dr. Ramesh Kumar Maskey, researcher at Kathmandu University, said use of fuel in the area has fueled pollution and rise in temperature. "Carbon dioxide emission from cooking is higher," he added.

Both the researchers were involved in two separate studies on High Altitude Research in Nepal supported by EvK2 National Research Council Project of Italy in the Sagarmatha National Park in 2007 and 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2009)