Evaluating Land Use Dynamics and Forest Cover Change in Nepal’s Bara District (1973–2003)

Abstract

This research uses Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner of 1973, Thematic Mapper of 1989, Advance Earth Observing Satellite of 1996, and Enhanced Thematic Mapper of 2003 imagery to examine the effects of socioeconomic and demographic factors on land use and forest cover dynamics in the Bara district of the Central Tarai Region of Nepal for 1973-2003. These satellite images are used to generate three transition matrices for the outcomes of the final transition matrix are compared with the land use and cover patterns seen on the IKONOS (1×1 m) 2003images. This paper contributes to our understanding of how land use and cover dynamics correspond to national-level socioeconomic developments, demographic changes, and environmental awareness as envisioned by Ecological Modernization Theory. It also demonstrates how such a set of transition matrices generated from different resolution images helps assess these explanatory relationships at different temporal and spatial scales.

Community Based Forestry in Nepal: Status, Issues and Lessons Learned

“…On which, solely the Community Forest occupies 1.72 million hectare of forest land occupying 28.8% of total community forests area and involving 2.3 million households from all five physiographic region of the country (Box-1). The studies on effects of devolved forest management on resource conservation in Nepal have shown forest conservation and regeneration as a general picture (Chhetri et al, 2011;Bhattarai and Conway, 2008). Furthermore, community forestry also has enhanced the practice of leadership development, social inclusion and gender mainstreaming.…”

Linking physical, economic and institutional constraints of land use change and forest conservation in the hills of Nepal

“…So the concept of EMT might be very useful to consider when examining forest land cover changes and livelihood. According to Bhattarai and Conway (2008) EMT is based on the assumption that capitalist development is able to reform and promote environmental goals through technologically innovative processes. As development proceeds, environmental damage, including deforestation, will eventually cease (Mather et al, 1999).…”

“…(Tekle and Hedlund, 2000;Gibson et al, 2000;Gautam et al, 2002Gautam et al, , 2004. Rapid population growth and its demand for agricultural land and forest products such as firewood, fodder, timber, and lumber have accelerated deforestation processes in many developing tropical countries (Bhattarai and Conway, 2008). In the mountains of Nepal, most of the flat productive lands are already in agricultural use.…”

“…The quantitative evidence of observed land use and land cover changes provides important insights into the change that occurred in the forest area and other major land uses of Galaudu Watershed between 1976 and 2000 (see . For a complete understanding of land use changes, such studies need to be supplemented by investigations of factors causing the changes and their effects (ESCAP, 1997;Yichun et al, 2005;Mena et al, 2006;Bhattarai and Conway, 2008;Bhattarai et al, 2009;Uriarte et al, 2010). Ecological factors are constraints in the ability to manage forest resources, while socioeconomic, demographic and institutional factors play important roles in changing resource use patterns.…”

The impacts of a community forestry program on forest conditions, management intensity and revenue generation in the Dang district of Nepal

“…This is problematic because the production of valuable timber trees requires labor for silvicultural operations, unlike the production of non-timber products which usually does not require much labor for care of trees. In addition, the limited existing literature is subjected to methodological criticism such as the lack of rigorous econometric analysis (e.g., Chakraborty, 2001;Nagendra, 2001), the subjective judgment of the forest condition (e.g., Agrawal and Chhatre, 2006), the lack of ground level data (e.g., Bhattarai and Conway, 2008), and the endogenous choice of management regime not being properly taken into account in explaining the forest condition. 1 The main purpose of this study, therefore, is to conduct a rigorous econometric analysis of the management of timber forests with special reference to the impact of the hand-over of forest use rights to the community.…”