Lok Sewa Forestry Officer key terms

The branch of forestry that controls the establishment, composition, growth, and quality of forest stands to meet specified objectives, through treatments such as regeneration felling, thinning, and tending.

A harvesting method designed to create conditions for a new crop of trees, either by seed or by coppice, such as clear felling, shelterwood, or seed-tree systems.

A silvicultural system in which mature trees are removed in a series of cuttings, leaving a partial canopy that shelters and seeds the developing regeneration until it is established.

A tending operation that removes part of a stand to reduce competition, improve growth and stem quality of the remaining trees, and yield intermediate products before final harvest.

The establishment of a new tree crop from seed, coppice, or root suckers already present on or near the site, without artificial sowing or planting.

A contiguous group of trees sufficiently uniform in species composition, age class, site conditions, and structure to be treated as a single management unit.

The stem diameter of a standing tree measured at a standard height above ground, conventionally 1.3 metres in Nepal and most countries, used for volume and growth estimation.

The cross-sectional area of tree stems at breast height, usually expressed per hectare, used to describe stand density and to drive volume and yield calculations.

The total volume of standing timber in a defined area, typically reported in cubic metres and divided into merchantable and non-merchantable components.

A tabulated set of timber volumes for standing trees, classified by species or species group and by diameter, sometimes with height classes, used to estimate growing stock quickly.

The ratio of the actual stem volume of a tree to the volume of a geometric solid, commonly a cylinder, with the same basal area and height, correcting volume estimates for taper.

The increase in tree or stand dimensions and volume over a stated period, expressed as current annual increment or mean annual increment and central to setting harvest levels.

The management principle of harvesting no more than the forest can regenerate over time, so that a steady flow of products and services continues indefinitely.

The volume of timber permitted to be harvested each year from a defined forest area, calculated so that removals remain within sustainable increment and management objectives.

A written document setting out objectives, resource inventory, silvicultural prescriptions, harvest schedules, and protection measures for a defined forest area over a planning period.

A geographically defined area managed by legal or other means to conserve biodiversity and associated ecosystem services; Nepal's categories include national parks, wildlife reserves, conservation areas, and hunting reserves.

Land surrounding a national park or wildlife reserve in Nepal where community-based management and benefit-sharing arrangements are used to reduce human-wildlife conflict and support conservation.

The variety of life at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels, including the ecological and evolutionary processes that maintain it; a core objective of protected area and forest management.

A species whose influence on ecosystem structure and function is disproportionately large relative to its abundance, so that its loss triggers cascading ecological change.

The breaking apart of continuous habitat into smaller, isolated patches, often by roads, settlements, or agriculture, reducing connectivity and increasing extinction risk for sensitive species.

Negative interactions between people and wildlife such as crop raiding, livestock depredation, and injury, commonly addressed in Nepal through buffer zone programmes, compensation, and physical barriers.

A non-native species introduced outside its natural range that establishes, spreads, and causes harm to ecosystems, economies, or health; a growing threat to native habitats and regeneration.

In Nepal, a forest area handed over by the government to a user group that manages it under an approved operational plan and shares products and income according to its constitution.

A legally recognised, self-governing body of forest users that holds rights and responsibilities over a handed-over forest, including protection, harvesting rules, and fund management.

The approved management document of a community forest, describing the forest area, prescriptions, harvesting rules, and benefit-sharing arrangements for a fixed period.

Nepal's principal forestry legislation, which classifies forests, defines offences and penalties, and provides the legal basis for community, leasehold, and collaborative forest management.

Subordinate legislation made under the Forest Act that sets procedural rules for handing over forests, approving operational plans, and regulating transit and trade of forest products.

An official document authorising the movement of timber or other forest products from one place to another, used to verify legal origin and to control illegal trade.

Harvesting, transporting, or trading timber in breach of applicable laws and approved plans, a major driver of forest degradation and a focus of enforcement and chain-of-custody measures.

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems, including provisioning services such as timber and water, regulating services such as erosion control, and cultural and supporting services.

The land area drained by a river or stream system, bounded by ridges, within which rainfall collects and flows to a common outlet; the basic unit for soil and water management.

Integrated planning and treatment of land, vegetation, and water within a catchment to regulate runoff, reduce erosion, and sustain water supplies, often using reforestation and terracing.

A voluntary, conditional arrangement in which beneficiaries of an environmental service, such as clean water, pay providers who manage land to secure that service.

A reduction in the capacity of a forest to supply products and services, often through selective logging, fire, grazing, or fuelwood removal, without a complete change in land use.

The permanent conversion of forest land to another land use, such as agriculture or settlement, distinguished from temporary loss of tree cover and from degradation.

A climate framework under which developing countries receive results-based payments for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, plus conservation and sustainable forest management.

A land-use system in which woody perennials are deliberately grown together with crops or livestock on the same land, producing ecological and economic interactions between components.

An agroforestry practice combining trees with forage and grazing animals on the same unit of land, managed to balance tree growth with pasture and livestock production.

A computer system for capturing, storing, analysing, and displaying spatially referenced data, used in forestry for mapping forest cover, planning harvests, and monitoring changes.

The acquisition of information about the earth's surface from sensors on aircraft or satellites, widely used to map forest cover, detect change, and monitor deforestation.

A satellite-based navigation system that provides position and time data, used in forest surveying to geo-reference plots, boundaries, and sample points.

A systematic survey of forest resources, usually by sampling, to estimate area, species composition, growing stock, and growth for planning and monitoring purposes.

The machinery and processes by which government implements policy and delivers services, including civil service structures, budgeting, and accountability mechanisms.

The exercise of authority through transparent, accountable, participatory, responsive, and rule-bound institutions, often assessed through indicators such as rule of law and control of corruption.

The transfer of authority, responsibility, and resources from central government to lower levels of government or to local bodies, including devolution, delegation, and deconcentration.