Is the life-supporting capacity of forests in the lower Mid-Hills of Nepal threatened?

Rijal, Arun; Meilby, Henrik

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2012.07.007

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Salerno et al (2010) assessed an average decrease of 38% in forest biomass between 1992 and 2008 in the Khumbu Valley. Nonetheless, the development of sustainable management plans, taking into account both ecological and socio-economic issues, is often limited by the lack of knowledge on forest structure and of awareness about human impact on the ecosystem (Rijal and Meilby, 2012). The measured effects of forest exploitation on stand structure and tree species composition confirmed the recent hypothesis that forest degradation has a stronger impact than deforestation in SNPBZ (Stevens, 2003;Byers, 2005).…”

Section: Effects Of Human Activities On Forest Degradationsupporting

confidence: 52%

“…Human pressure on forests, caused by population growth, diffused poverty and lack of alternatives, is increasing, leading to extensive forest degradation and deforestation (Rijal and Meilby, 2012). Salerno et al (2010) assessed an average decrease of 38% in forest biomass between 1992 and 2008 in the Khumbu Valley.…”

Section: Effects Of Human Activities On Forest Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the importance of the Sagarmatha region, few studies have examined sustainable management and environmental conservation of its fragile ecosystems, where ecological and socioeconomic issues are strongly linked (Byers, 2005). The lack of knowledge about forest structure and composition, as well as human impact on the ecosystems, has frequently limited the implementation of sustainable management plans (MFSC, 2007;Rijal and Meilby, 2012). This study gathered quantitative data on forest resources and assessed the influences of human activities at Sagarmatha National Park (SNP) and its Buffer Zone (BZ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Human interactions with forest landscape in the Khumbu valley, Nepal

Garbarino¹,

Lingua²,

Marzano³

et al. 2014

Anthropocene

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent decades there has been growing interest in the contribution of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) livelihood strategies to rural development and poverty alleviation. However, the potential of NTFPs to contribute to development remained limited and open to doubt. The study objectives were to: (i) analyze the role of NTFPs livelihood strategies in rural development in order to explain their potentials and failures; and (ii) identify and analyze the factors influencing the contribution of NTFPs livelihood strategies to household income. The study was carried out analyzing three NTFPs in Rashad locality in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan in 2008-2009. The data were collected through interviews, direct observations and market surveys. Purposive sampling technique was applied to select 221 and 62 collector and trader households, respectively. The results revealed that Adansonia digitata fruit sale represents a subsistence strategy for some sampled households and accumulative strategy for others, while Ziziphus spina-christi and Balanites aegyptiaca fruits sale is a subsistence strategy for all the surveyed households. The study results also showed that the income from selling the fruits was positively and negatively influenced by different external and internal factors. The study concluded that any assumption regarding the potential of NTFPs to positively affect rural development depends on their role in an accumulative strategy that lifts people out of poverty. Institutional, technical and financial supports are necessary to influence the future direction of the NTFP contribution toward accumulative strategy. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

show abstract

Section: Effects Of Human Activities On Forest Degradationsupporting

confidence: 52%

Section: Effects Of Human Activities On Forest Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Human interactions with forest landscape in the Khumbu valley, Nepal

Garbarino¹,

Lingua²,

Marzano³

et al. 2014

Anthropocene

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In order to protect the tropical biodiversity, a better knowledge of human-modified landscapes and their relationships with species diversity and composition is needed (Galanes and Thomlinson, 2009). A lot of works have been done regarding the composition, structure and fuctioning of tropical forests, globally (Raghubansi and Tripathi, 2009;Pragasan and Parthasarathy, 2010;Rahman et al, 2010;Chaturvedi et al, 2012), as well as in Nepal (Gautam and Deove, 2006;Timilsina et al, 2007;Panta et al, 2008;Sapkota et al, 2010;Rijal and Meilby, 2012;Gautam and Mandal, 2016a;2016b;2016c).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of disturbance on plant species diversity in moist tropical forest of eastern Nepal

Gautam

Mandal

2018

Our Nature

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Species diversity is a key factor for the stability of ecosystems but the increasing disturbances in tropical forests resulted in the shrinkage of biological diversity. This study was conducted in undisturbed and disturbed stands of Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn.) dominated moist tropical forest of Sunsari district, eastern Nepal in order to understand the herb, shrub and tree diversity. Present study reported the 47, 16 and 60 species of herbs, shrubs and trees, respectively. The species richness and the Shannon–Wiener index for tree species were higher in undisturbed forest (9.11 and 3.08, respectively), while the Simpson’s index (index of dominance) was higher in disturbed forest (0.11). On the other hand, reverse case was found for shrubs and herbs where species richness and Shannon–Wiener index were higher but index of dominance was lower in disturbed forest. Changes in species diversity pattern reflect the effect of disturbance.

show abstract

“…Approximately 40% of the livestock in the Middle Hills is fed with leaf fodder from ca 100 tree species [22], and oak species are the most heavily exploited [15,23,24].Unregulated resource extraction is a major threat faced by many forested areas in Nepal. If the human impact takes on the form of chronic disturbance or extensive logging, forest forming species are not allowed to regenerate [25], resulting in severe forest degradation or deforestation [26][27][28]. Forest degradation implies a process in which forest stocks decrease without a decrease in area.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Managing Biodiversity: Impacts of Legal Protection in Mountain Forests of the Himalayas

Måren

Sharma²

2018

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Legal protection has been used as means of conserving forests and associated biodiversity in many regions of the world since the eighteenth century. However, most forests in the global south, even those within protected areas, are influenced by human activities. Himalayan forests harbour much of the biodiversity of the region, maintain subsistence livelihoods, and provide regional and global ecosystem services like water regulation, flood control, and carbon sequestration. Yet few studies have quantitatively studied the impacts of legal protection on forest health and biodiversity. We assess woody biodiversity and forest health in relation to legal protection and biomass extraction in forests inside and outside Langtang National Park in Nepal (n = 180). We found more woody species in protected forests. Of the 69 woody species recorded, 47% occurred at both sites. Within protected forests, we found differences in forest health largely related to the intensity of biomass extraction expressed as walking distance to settlement. The closer the forest was to settlements, the heavier degradation it suffered, showing that within agro-forestry systems in the Himalayas, the resource-consumer distance is typically determining the intensity of biomass extraction. Our research brings forth the need to better address the drivers of resource extraction from protected areas in order to mitigate this degradation. It also brings forth the need to contribute to the development of appropriate participatory management programmes outside areas of formal protection in order to sustain both biodiversity and ecosystem service delivery from these forests for the future.

show abstract

Is the life-supporting capacity of forests in the lower Mid-Hills of Nepal threatened?

Cited by 10 publications

References 45 publications

Human interactions with forest landscape in the Khumbu valley, Nepal

Human interactions with forest landscape in the Khumbu valley, Nepal

Effect of disturbance on plant species diversity in moist tropical forest of eastern Nepal

Managing Biodiversity: Impacts of Legal Protection in Mountain Forests of the Himalayas

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About