Furthermore, the formation of FUGs islargely influenced by the economic values of the forest asperceived by the state. The valuable Terai forests haveattracted the attention of the Forest Department officials,who seek either economic development of the country, orthose who care about the loss of forests and consider theconservation of forests in line with the conventional attention to the natural functioning of biodiversity. As aresult, the Forest Department neglected to hand over thelands to local users when formulating FUGs.