Gender and social diversity integration in Nepal’s forest fire research: A systematic scoping review

Abstract

Forest fires in Nepal constitute a complex socio-ecological challenge extending beyond climatic determinants, with gender and community diversity fundamentally shaping how fire is experienced, understood, and managed. Despite this recognition, no baseline assessment exists on how gender and social diversity perspectives have been integrated into Nepal's forest fire research. This systematic scoping review examines research-based literature (n=40) from the Scopus database, national journals, and Google Scholar over the past five years (2021–2025) to identify predominant research foci and the extent of gender and social diversity integration. Findings reveal that Nepal's forest fire research remains overwhelmingly focused on biophysical, ecological, and spatial-temporal domains, with human and socioeconomic dimensions receiving superficial attention. Research persists in treating communities as homogeneous entities, reflecting a substantial gap in analysing how gender, caste, ethnicity, age, disability, and other social identities shape forest fire vulnerability and management capacity. The paper concludes that advancing sustainable forest fire management in Nepal necessitates a paradigm shift in Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) responsive forest fire research positioning gendered roles, social identities intersecting vulnerabilities, disproportionate impacts, and changing sociodemographic dynamics at the core of forest fire related research agendas, while also progressing on technical aspects.