12 Dec 2014 International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ICIMOD participated in a day-long consultation meeting with forest managers in Nepal on 19 November. The objective of the workshop was to gather feedback on effective use of the information system for fire management during the upcoming fire season. Participants included forest and park managers, senior managers from DOF, Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) and representatives from agencies involved in forest fire management. The consultation workshop was jointly organized by the Department of Forest at the Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation and ICIMOD under the framework of SERVIR-Himalaya. The SERVIR programme is a unique combination of science, technology and development programmes established through a joint partnership between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). SERVIR-Himalaya is one of the three hubs of the SERVIR programme and hosted at ICIMOD. ” Consulting local partners: From left to right, ICIMOD’s MENRIS Regional Programme Manager Birendra Bajracharya with Gauri Shankar Timala (Deputy Director General, Department of Forest), Shankar Prasad Koirala (Regional Administrator, Central Development Region, Hetauda), Bishu Babu Tiwari (Regional Director, Central Regional Forest Directorate, Hetauda and Kumud Shrestha (Vice Chair, Nepal Foresters’ Association, Kathmandu) during the opening session” At the workshop, SERVIR-Himalaya team from ICIMOD highlighted forest fire situation in Nepal, and presented the findings of the case study on forest fire monitoring and alert system conducted in 2013 by SERVIR-Himalaya and the Department of Forest. Discussions covered a range of issues including forest fire alert message dissemination, mode of communication, level of use, impacts and sustainability of the operations. The workshop briefed the participants on the current situation of forest fire in Nepal, encouraged the use of forest fire detection and monitoring system and identified the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders for effective implementation of forest fire monitoring and alert system.