Forest Cover Change, Physiography, Local Economy, and Institutions in a Mountain Watershed in Nepal

Abstract

This study assessed changes in forest cover in a mountain watershed in central Nepal between 1976 and 2000 by comparing classified satellite images coupled by GIS analyses, and examined the association of forest change with major physiographic, economic, and local forest governance parameters. The results showed an increase in forested area (forest plus shrublands) by 7.6% during 1976-2000. Forest dynamism (changes including improvement, deterioration, gain, and loss) was highest in low-elevation, south-facing and less-steep slopes that were closer to roads. Proportionately the highest net improvement and gain to forested area also took place in those locations. Forest degradation occurred at twice the rate of improvement in high elevation areas (> 2300 m). Forests located in urban and semiurban areas (i.e., a market-oriented economy) experienced a proportionately higher amount of net improvement and gain than forests in rural areas (i.e., a subsistence economy). Among the three governance arrangements, proportionately the highest net improvement and gain took place in semigovernment forests (forested area legally under the forest department but with de facto control and claim of ownership by local communities and/or municipality) followed by formalized community forests (including leasehold). Government forests, which were mostly found in the southern high mountains and had virtually open access, remained relatively stable during the study period. Over 50% of the watershed forests have not come under community-based management despite favorable policy and more than two decades of government intervention with continuous donor support. The findings indicate that the present "one size fits all" approach of community forest handover policy in Nepal needs rethinking to accommodate biophysical and socioeconomic variations across the country.

Payments for environmental services in watersheds: Insights from a comparative study of three cases in Central America

“…More research is needed on the institutional and social conditions that might enable this kind of economic instruments to contribute to both a better environmental and economic performance of upstream landholders, as well as on the assumptions about the relationship between land use and the provision of environmental services on which PES schemes rely (Kaimowitz, 2005). The latter has proved to be a hard task, owing to the intrinsic complexity, context-specificity and scaledependent nature of the hydrological functions of land use (Gautam et al, 2004;Mungai et al, 2004;Pattanayak, 2004;Tomich et al, 2004;Costa, 2005;Scott et al,2005).…”

Improving Landsat and IRS Image Classification: Evaluation of Unsupervised and Supervised Classification through Band Ratios and DEM in a Mountainous Landscape in Nepal

“…In many cases, the size of old secondary growth areas is too small to be detected by Landsat and IRS. In addition, the mountain topography leads to a significant shadowing effect, which becomes a particular problem in the digital image processing [1][2][3][4][5].…”

Why is There No Tragedy in These Commons? An Analysis of Forest User Groups and Forest Policy in Bhutan

“…Community forestry programs are recognized as providing a range of economic and social benefits to the participating user groups [9][10][11], and having a positive impact on increasing forest cover [14][15][16][17]. However, many concerns have been raised about the capability of user groups to manage CFs in a sustainable manner [5,8,11,18].…”