Forest Cover Change, Physiography, Local Economy, and Institutions in a Mountain Watershed in Nepal (original) (raw)
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Forest Policy and Economics, 2011
This paper analyses the changes in spatial patterns of agricultural land use during the period 1976-2000 along the altitudinal gradients in a watershed in Nepal. Land change patterns during this period were examined using information on land use derived from satellite images from 1976, 1990 and 2000. During the 24-year period from 1976 to 2000 agricultural land use increased by 35% at a cost of loss of forestland. Agricultural expansion was most conspicuous at higher elevations (1150-2000-m). About 36%, 18% and 6% of forestland was converted into agricultural activities from higher, middle and lower elevations respectively in the period from 1990 to 2000. Spatial distribution of living standard parameters, including farm family income and, food availability obtained from family surveys, shows a decreasing trend as the elevation increases whereas percentage of food bought shows an increasing trend. In this way it was found that, lost forest areas were smaller when located around high-income areas with good quality agricultural land and near an administrative centre as compared to areas located around low-income areas with low quality agricultural land and far from an administrative centre. Additionally, a regression model is constructed, to link the socioeconomic variables with the conversion of forestland into agricultural activities, breaking the study area into smaller zones. The spatial trajectories of these zones are then contrasted, paying particular attention to the socioeconomic conditions and institutional arrangements governing access to land resources. The study finds that while overall land change patterns in the region are largely explained by elevation and the socioeconomic conditions of people living adjacent to the forestland, more specifically, in sub-regional areas, trajectories reflect the signatures of institutions governing access to land. As sustainability of the watershed is dependent on forests, continued depletion of forest resources will result in poor economic returns from agriculture for local people together with loss of ecosystem services.
Forest Cover Changes and Trajectories in a Typical Middle Mountain Watershed of Western Nepal
There have been drastic changes in resource use practices and land-use patterns in the middle mountains of Nepal as a result of human transformation processes of the environment. This study aimed at assessing land-use and land-cover changes, especially those related to forest cover changes, in Phewa Lake watershed-a typical middle mountain watershed of western Nepal-using multi-temporal Landsat images from 1995, 2005 and 2017. Landsat images of each year were classified individually using object-based image classification into four land-use and land-cover types: agriculture and built-up, forest, waterbodies and other. Post-classification comparison was employed to quantify the extent and rate of changes, which was further extended to quantify the level of persistence, gains, losses, and swaps of forests. Furthermore, temporal trajectories of land-cover associated with forest cover changes were established, and their spatial pattern analyzed. The results show that, between 1995 and 2017, forest cover increased by 6.8% with a corresponding decrease in the extent of all other land-cover types. Dynamic transitions and internal trading among forest and agriculture and built-up category were observed, revealing more complex patterns than the commonly assumed linear and irreversible forest cover transformations in the mountains of Nepal. Our approach to assess major signals of forest cover transitions and change trajectories will help link patterns to the process of change including deforestation and forest regeneration. This would, in turn, form the basis for formulating practical conservation and management strategies for Phewa Lake watershed and other mountain watersheds of Nepal.
Land use dynamics and landscape change pattern in a mountain watershed in Nepal
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2003
This study analyzed spatial and temporal changes in land use/land cover in a typical mountain watershed covering an area of 153 km 2 in central Nepal by comparing classified satellite images from 1976, 1989 and 2000 coupled by GIS analyses and also investigated changes in the shape of land use patches over the period. The results show an increase in broadleaf forest, conifer forest and winter-cropped lowland agricultural area and decrease in area under shrublands, grasslands and upland agriculture in between 1976 and 2000, although shrublands increased during the second half (1989-2000) of the study period. The number of forest patches decreased substantially in between 1976 and 2000 suggesting merger of patches in the latter periods due to forest regeneration and/or plantation establishment on lands previously separating two or more forest patches. A shape complexity index (SCI) used to study patchiness of land use indicated improved forest habitat in the watershed but increased mean deviation between actual and optimal SCI of forest polygons indicated higher edge effects at the forest patch level during the latter periods. One of the significant changes within non-forestry land use was increased fragmentation of lowland agricultural areas due to expansion of settlements and infrastructural development in the lowlands.
Forest Cover and Land-use Change in Rural Mountain District Darchula of Farwestern Nepal
2018
The description of land-use dynamics provides insights into the ecological and biogeographical processes. Additionally, the relationship of human and biological components, as well as climatic conditions, are well incorporated in land-use analysis. In the present communication, we analyse forest and land-use land cover (LULC) changes at various spatial and temporal scales in order to better understand the geo-ecological and socio-cultural complexities using aerial photography, satellite imagery and topographic maps. Evidence of forest cover change was found to occur over time. Community based forest management systems aided restoring forest cover whereas overexploitation and human migration led to forest degradation. However, more recently (between 2010 and 2016), the cover of forest increased slightly, which is consistent with the countrys’ efforts to improve forest cover., These findings serve as a hope of better human-nature interactions in the future and suggests more integrate...
PFG – Journal of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Science, 2017
This study presents a practical example of using remote sensing data and methods for forest management in Ludi Khola watershed (5750 ha) Gorkha District, a REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) pilot project site in Nepal. The study area consists of 1888 ha that are assigned to 31 community forests (CFs) and 3862 ha that belong to non-community forests such as governmental and private forests (Non-CFs). By using high-resolution GeoEye-1 (2009 and 2012) satellite images and forest inventory data, temporal dynamics of land cover transitions, tree canopy size classes (crown projection area), Above-Ground Biomass (AGB) were estimated and compared for the two forest regimes (CFs and Non-CFs). Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) segmentation and classification techniques were performed. By using the change matrix method, forest area conversion to non-forest (forest loss) of only 1 ha (0.05%) in CF and 27 ha (0.7%) in Non-CF was observed over 2009-2012. On the other hand, change from non-forest to forest (forest gain) occurred on 12 ha (0.6%) in CF and 60 ha (1.5%) in Non-CF. According to land cover information from 2009 to 2012, B Hammad Gilani
2004
Although an appreciable success in community forestry intervention has been perceived in the Hills of Nepal, it is still debatable issue in Terai. Government seems reluctant to handover the productive forest of this region to the local communities not because of the provisions of legislation, it is because of its intention to manage this region’s forest as production forest. bDifferent management scenarios can be seen in practice in the Terai. Debate cannot be resolved without evaluating the effects resulted from the different management practices. This research stepped in that issue and compared the forest condition under three management regimes (Community forest, Government forest inside the bufferzone and Government forest outside the bufferzone). This research used satellite images and Forest Canopy Density Mapper to assess the condition of the forest.
Socio-economic factors and management regimes as drivers of tree cover change in Nepal
PeerJ
Despite the local and global importance of forests, deforestation is driven by various socio-economic and biophysical factors continues in many countries. In Nepal, in response to massive deforestation, the community forestry program has been implemented to reduce deforestation and support livelihoods. After four decades of its inception, the effectiveness of this program on forest cover change remains mostly unknown. This study analyses the spatial and temporal patterns of tree cover change along with a few socio-economic drivers of tree cover change to examine the effectiveness of the community forestry program for conserving forests or in reducing deforestation. We also investigate the socio-economic factors and policy responses as manifested through the community forestry program responsible for the tree cover change at the district level. The total tree cover area in the year 2000 in Nepal was ∼4,746,000 hectares, and our analysis reveals that between 2001 and 2016, Nepal has l...
Assessment of Forest Cover Change of Dang, an Inner Terai District of Nepal
Journal of Forest and Natural Resource Management, 2019
This study analyzed the dynamics of changes of forest cover classes in the inner Terai District Dang, Nepal, based on Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images from two different years, viz., 1990 and 2011. Forest cover change analysis was performed through the analysis of a classified Landsat TM image using supervised classification. The overall classification accuracy for seven different land cover classes considered in this study were 80.37% and 80.56% for years 1990 and 2011, respectively. These classified images were further reclassified as forest and non-forest to analyze forest cover dynamics effectively using the post classification change detection. The results indicated that during 1990-2011, the total spatial areal coverage of forest land converted into other land cover was 20612 ha (shrubland), 8571 ha (agriculture), and 2787 ha (others) non-forest classes. A significant portion of non-forest classes was also converted into forest (e.g., 11433 ha of shrubland, 5663 ha of agriculture, and 5581 ha of other non forest classes). Sand and water bodies remained more or less constant during this period. While forest cover was estimated to be disappearing at the rate of 0.2% per year, dense forest appears to be converting into a sparse forest at the rate of 0.1% per year. Future study to assess the causes and driving forces of forest cover change in Nepal should get guidance from this study on where to target interventions.
Remote Sensing
An account of widespread degradation and deforestation in Nepal has been noticed in various literature sources. Although the contribution of community forests (CF) on the improvement of forest cover and condition in the Mid-hill of Nepal is positive, detailed study to understand the current situation seems important. The study area (Tanahun District) lies in the Gandaki Province of western Nepal. The objective of this study was to estimate the forest cover change over the specified period and to identify factors influencing the change. We used Landsat images from the years 1976, 1991, and 2015 to classify land use and land cover. We considered community perception in addition to the forest cover map to understand the different causes of forest cover change. Forest cover decreased from 1976 to 1991 annually at a rate of 0.96%. After 1991, the forest increased annually at a rate of 0.63%. The overall forest cover in the district regained its original status. Factors related to increas...