Household characteristics and forest dependency: evidence from common property forest management in Nepal

This paper examines the extent, causes, and consequences of abandonment of agricultural land near the village of Sikles in the Nepal Himalaya. Socioeconomic information was collected in a household survey. Abandoned agricultural land and geomorphic damage were mapped at plot level for an area of 149.6 ha. Plot-level analysis showed that nearly 49% of all khet land and 37% of all bari land had been abandoned. About 10% of all khet land had been completely damaged by landslides and floods. Nearly 41% of all abandoned plots were subjected to different forms of geomorphic damage. The amount of geomorphic damage on plots abandoned earlier is greater than that on plots abandoned recently. Abandonment of agricultural land does not automatically lead to plant colonization because geomorphic damage is intensified prior to colonization. Abandoned land requires further management for plant colonization as well as for reducing the risk of geomorphic hazards. Prevailing government policies and acts are not ef...

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Abandonment of Agricultural Land and Its Consequences A Case Study in the Sikles Area, Gandaki Basin, Nepal Himalaya

SUMMARY This paper reviews the evolution of forest policies and forestry institutions in Nepal and tracks the accompanying trends of change in the country’s forest cover over the last century. Our objective is to provide an essential foundation to the policy reform process that is underway in Nepal and many other Asian countries. The review shows that before 1957 the Nepalese government’s focus was on conversion of forestlands to farmlands, and extraction of timber for export. After the nationalisation of the forests in 1957 until 1976, policy-making efforts were oriented towards national control of forests through stringent laws and expansion of the forest bureaucracy. This approach failed as evidenced by widespread deforestation and forest degradation across the country during the 1960s through 1980s. Early efforts of the government and donor agencies to rectify the problem through reforestation and afforestation also largely failed, but these efforts paved the way for subsequent initiation of the participatory approach to forest management in the late 1970s. Since then, community-based forest management evolved continuously under the aegis of supportive forest policies and legislations. The present community forestry program has met with notable successes in some areas. However, the program has been confronted with some contentious issues in recent years including a policy debate over the suitability of forests in the southern lowlands (the terai) for community management and sharing of income obtained from community forests. These and some other issues surrounding the community forestry program are discussed and their implications for designing or improving future forest governance have been identified.

https://bioone.org/journals/International-Forestry-Review/volume-6/issue-2/ifor.6.2.136.38397/A-Review-of-Forest-Policies-Institutions-and-Changes-in-the/10.1505/ifor.6.2.136.38397.pdf

A review of forest policies, institutions, and changes in the resource condition in Nepal

The Population of India and Pakistan

https://academic.uprm.edu/~jchinea/cursos/gis/lectesc/erosion_nepal.pdf

Runoff and soil erosion on cultivated rainfed terraces in the Middle Hills of Nepal

This is the first of a series of papers seeking to set in a historical context man's influence on the forests of the Nepalese Pahad (Middle Hills and adjoining montane areas). In later papers, attention will be focused on two specific districts and on some forests within them. In this paper, the interactions between political history, the traditional resources of the state, and forests are considered. Two main conclusions are drawn. First, that the deforestation of the Middle Hills is not a recent phenomenon but has a long history, being well established by the late eighteenth century at least. Second, that deforestation was caused mainly by the joint attack of government land-use policy and subsistence agriculture. Government policy promoted the conversion of forests to agriculture in order to maximize agricultural surpluses and land taxes. The severity of taxation in turn led to further forest clearing as peasants attempted to maintain subsistence living standards. Many compulsory labour obligations also involved forests and con- tributed to their degradation. Only in recent years has a real consciousness of the value of forests arisen and this has been reflected in legislation aimed at fostering effective community forestry.

Human impact on some forests of the middle hills of nepal 1. forestry in the context of the traditional resources of the state

Human impact on some forests of the Middle Hills of Nepal. Part 4. A detailed study in southeast Sindhu Palchok and northeast Kabhre Palanchok.

Features of subsistence agriculture in two districts of Nepal, Sindhu Palchok and Kabhre Palanchok, are outlined, includ- ing population, land use and levels of agricultural production, cropping patterns employed, and animal husbandry. Some features of the forests, including types and area, are reviewed before considering impacts of subsistence agriculture on these forests and their effects in recent historical time. While the nature of these impacts can be described, the exact determination of usage and productivity of the forest is very difficult, if not impossible, to quantify so that many of the published estimations are known to be subject to error. The use of fuelwood and timber for buildings and implements has undoubtedly had adverse impacts which, although quite serious, cannot be seen as the prime cause for much of the deforestation in recent historical time. Gathering of leaf material for fodder and for animal bedding is the main impact of subsistence agriculture on the forested land. In the historical past timber cutting for the building of Kathmandu and other urban areas nearby as well as ore smelting for military purposes impacted very adversely on the forests, but these uses ceased many decades ago. The main strategy of development activities must be aimed at increasing the capacity of the non-cultivated land to produce fodder and bedding materials for animals if the present agro-ecosystem is to be sustained.

Human impacts on some forests of the Middle Hills of Nepal. Part 3. Forests in the subsistence economy of Sindhu Palchok and Kabhre Palanchok.

In accord with the general arguments propounded in Part 1 of this series of papers in Mountain Research and Development, detailed evidence for Sindhu Palchok and Kabhre Palanchok reveals that conversion of forest land to agricultural use was a major objective of government policy from at least the latter half of the eighteenth century onward. Throughout history, the two Districts must have been strongly affected by their relative proximity to the Kathmandu Valley. Land grants were made there by the Gorkhali rulers soon after subjugation of the region in 1745. Maintenance of the army appears to have imposed additional burdens on these Districts, particularly as a result of jagir land grants to army officers and other officials for services rendered. The jagir land grant system was maintained in these Districts well into the present century. The major exploitation of the residual forest, other than by peasants for subsistence purposes (to be dealt with in later parts of this series), was for construction in the Kathmandu Valley and for charcoal, mainly for smelting of ore. This latter use had virtually ceased by the early twentieth century.

Human impact on some forests of the middle hills of nepal part 2. some major human impacts before 1950 on the forests of sindhu palchok and kabhre palanchok

Nepal has been an integral part of ancient Asian civilization from the dawn of recorded history yet it remained almost uninfluenced by the industrial revolution and subsequent technology until the middle of this century. A detailed study of the defores- tation and forest degradation which have occurred in Nepal therefore reveals many echoes of ancient and medieval times in the Mediterranean basin and we affirm that the state of Nepal's forests arises not from any modern novelty but is a consequence of gradual evolution over centuries from petty states to the present kingdom. We also reject views that the present forest situation is redeemable solely by technological action or that it arose from peasant ignorance or mismanagement, from simple overpopulation, or through any loss of primitive purity in the face of modern market economies. The concept of "the pressure of production on the resource" is found to provide a useful starting-point for the construction of a simple classification of the results of various pressures on the forest resource. Some implications of these matters for future forest policy and action are briefly discussed.

D. M. Griffin

Papers

Human impact on some forests of the middle hills of nepal 1. forestry in the context of the traditional resources of the state

Human impact on some forests of the Middle Hills of Nepal. Part 4. A detailed study in southeast Sindhu Palchok and northeast Kabhre Palanchok.

Human impacts on some forests of the Middle Hills of Nepal. Part 3. Forests in the subsistence economy of Sindhu Palchok and Kabhre Palanchok.

Human impact on some forests of the middle hills of nepal part 2. some major human impacts before 1950 on the forests of sindhu palchok and kabhre palanchok

Human impact on some forests of the middle hills of nepal part 5. comparisons, concepts, and some policy implications