Forest plunder may spell disaster for Sikkim

the region. This region is a natural habitat for the species, known as "kagatay" in Nepali, which is used for making expensive hand-made paper, popularly known as "Nepali kagat". The paper is used for recording historic government documents, religious scroll and decorative items.

According to Himalayan environmentalist and secretary of the Darjeeling-based Environmental Protection Society Umesh Drevedi, the destruction of these valuable plants would spell disaster for the region ecologically.

“We are planning to form a pressure group to campaign against the rampant and illegal plunder of natural resources in the region which is home to the world highest biosphere,” says Drevedi.

Drevedi said, “traders from Nepal are involved in felling of the daphne cannabina, while Indian pharmaceutical firms also exploit the shurb for its medicinal value.”

The environmentalist said, “the rampant extraction of the plant, which is an intergal component of the alpine vegetation of the silgalila range situated on the Indo-Nepal border at an altitute of over 12,000 feet, has resulted in the opening up of ancillary industry in Nepal’s Ilam district bordering drajeeling hills.”

Drevedi said, “other flora under siege in the bio-diversity reserve are the "taxus bacatta" known as dhange salla in Nepali. Taxol, a drug for fighting cancer is made from the taxus bacatta. The chirata and majeto used as a kind of dye are also extracted from the reserve.”

Meanwhile, secretary of the Siliguri-based Himalayan Nature and Adventure Foundation, Animesh Bose, who recently made a survey of the Singalila range told newsmen that about a dozen hand-made paper units that have mushroomed in the eastern Nepalese district of Ilam are exploiting both Indian and Nepali villagers in felling and smuggling the daphne cannabina trees.