Land-use changes in two middle hills districts of Nepal

Between 1993 and 1996 the Nepal Australia Community Forestry Project conducted 4 comparative land-use studies in Sindhu Palchok and Kabhre Palanchok districts of Nepal to evaluate the impacts of Australian development assistance over a continuous 19- year period fostering community forestry. Land-use changes were assessed with the use of aerial photographs taken in 1978 and 1992, and from information obtained from local villagers. Community forestry activities within certain areas at the lower altitudes were having a beneficial effect on the balance of land use as part of a broader process of agrarian change. Shrublands and grasslands were being converted to more productive categories of forest land. However, the forest cover of the upper slopes was being denuded rapidly, and the shrubland and grassland areas were expanding at the expense of forest cover. It is suggested that many current land-use practices need to be abandoned or modified. Use of land for agricultural purposes appears to bestable. While it appears that community forestry has reduced the pressure on land at the lower altitudes of Sindhu Palchok and Kabhre Palanchok, sustained population pressures, combined with a lack of coherent and coordinated land management policies and practices, have resulted in a rapid decline in forest resources on the upper slopes together with loss of catchment stability.