Forestry and Environment

Abstract

There have been growing concerns in Nepal and other South Asian less developed countries (LDCs) with the acceleration of global environment changes due to continuing increases in greenhouse gas emissions and accelerated deforestation rates. Available literature on forestry’s dilemmas reveals that, except for the extreme temperature, moisture, and nutrient deficient situations, vegetation can (a) efficiently conserve elevated atmospheric carbon; (b) use the absorbed carbon in biomass production through the process of photosynthesis; and (c) if properly managed, can help to boost gross and net primary productivity of an ecosystem while mitigating global climate change. Within Nepal, conservationists, scientists, and administrators have expressed growing concerns about the rapid deterioration of the Himalayan environment because of deforestation, landslide increases, and large-scale downstream flooding. These processes are frequently linked together into a wide-ranging cause-and-effect drama of the Himalayan Degradation. Effective management of forest resources is considered one of the solutions to ameliorating environmental and land degradations. Recent Nepal’s government statistics show that Nepal’s total forest area has increased from 29 to 44%; however, forests are constantly facing new socio-environmental pressures from the growing population and from bulldozer-based development. Further complicating this issue, the statistics on Nepal’s forests have been disputed by various scholars. Nonetheless, through a set of policies, Nepal has been actively involved in the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, Plus Related Pro-forest Activities) programs since 2009 involving local communities to conserve and manage existing forests and creating new forest on non-forested lands through afforestation programs. If applied effectively, the full range of REDD+ activities can turn forests from a source of global warming emissions into a counteracting “sink.” REDD+’s incentives in the form of carbon fund allocations and can act as a development catalyzer, involving many communities in greening the denuded lands of Nepal while also generating employment opportunities at local grass-root levels. Government agencies, many private organizations, religious institutions, and over 22,266 community forestry user groups have been involved in the management of Nepal’s forests, and their activities are contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions through forest conservation as well as deriving economic benefits to local communities. Though mountainous Nepal contributes merely 0.027% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions, it unwillingly exports top fertile soils along the rivers flowing down steep to very steep gradients. Sedimentation from Nepal’s Himalayan region often clogs rivers and canals along the Indo-Gangetic belt and causes massive floods in the Indian state of Bihar before draining into the Bay of Bengal. Participatory natural resource management and the ecosystem services con...