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This study focuses on topographic hollows, their flow direction and flow accumulation characteristics, and highlights discharge of hillslope seepage so as to understand porewater pressure development phenomena in relation with slope failure in topographic hollows
. For this purpose, a small catchment in Niihama city of Shikoku Island in western Japan, with a record of seven slope failures triggered by typhoon-caused heavy rainfall on 19?20 October 2004, was selected. After extensive fieldwork and computation of hydro-mechanical parameters in unsaturated and saturated conditions through a series of laboratory experiments, seepage and slope stability modellings of these slope failures were done in GeoStudio environment using the precipitation data of 19?20 October 2004. The results of seepage modelling showed that the porewater pressure was rapid transient in silty sand, and the maximum porewater pressure measured in an area close to the base of topographic hollows was found to be higher with bigger topographic hollows. Furthermore, a threshold relationship between the topographic hollow area and maximum porewater pressure in this study indicates that a topographic hollow of 1000 sq. m area can develop maximum porewater pressure of 1.253 kPa. However, the porewater pressures required to initiate slope instability in the upper part of the topographic hollows is relatively smaller than those in the lower part of the topographic hollows
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Chaudhary, R. P.; Uprety, Y.; Joshi, S. P.; Shrestha, K. K.; Basnet, K. B.; Basnet, G.; Shrestha, K. R.; Bhatta, K. P.; Acharya, K. P.; Chettri, N.
The book comprises comprehensive information covering physical, socio-economic, biological and environmental aspects of Kangchenjunga Landscape in eastern Nepal, an important landscape with extraordinary biological and cultural diversity, as well as water resources
. The publication covers interdisciplinary areas related to the conservation and development process such as peoples’ livelihoods, ecosystem management, resource governance, climate change, etc
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This study explores patterns of medicinal plant species richness along an elevational gradient in Nepal and the effectiveness of existing protected areas for their conservation
. The authors used published data on the distribution of medicinal plants. The number of medicinal plants and the number of protected areas present in each 100 m elevation band were collated by interpolation. They tested the number of protected areas and the number of species as the response variables against elevation as a predictor variable. To explain the relationship between the total medicinal plant richness and their different life forms with elevation and protected areas, generalised additive models (GAMs) were used and scatter plots. The elevational distribution of medicinal plants as a whole and disaggregated into different life forms revealed hump-shaped patterns. The maximum richness of medicinal plants was found at an elevation of 1100 m a.s.l. but the maximum numbers of protected areas were found at elevations between 3000-3500 m a.s.l. There was negative correlation between the altitudinal distribution of protected areas and medicinal plants in Nepal. This study suggests that the protected areas of Nepal were less concentrated where medicinal plants diversity was rich
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The paper examines simple coppice management options for sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn
. f.) forest that maximises total biomass production. The study is based on the data obtained from two non-replicated research blocks located at Butwal and Dharan, which were established in 1988 and 1989 respectively by the Department of Forest Research and Survey. Out of four blocks in each site, one block was of simple coppice management option. Simple coppice management option had four treatments, i.e. 1) 3 s/s, 2) 1 s/s, 3) 3-2-1 s/s, and 4) Control, which were designed for fodder and fuelwood production in a short rotation of four years. The analysis was done to estimate the productivity of the treatments for the four successive rotations. In on average, it was found that treatment 3-2-1 s/s was the best to produce maximum biomass in short rotations. Both treatments 1 s/s and 3-2-1 s/s were found best for foliage production. Local community user groups benefit from the result to choose appropriate simple coppice management option in their sal forests, if fodder and fuelwood production in short rotations is the main objectives of the forest management
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Nepal is promoting community-based forest management approach known as Community Forestry (CF) as a promising option to reduce environmental degradation and to fulfill the demands of basic forestry products of rural people
. There are emerging concerns that whether community forestry can be used effectively to generate income and employment to help improve the livelihoods of the poor.
The paper is based on furniture and agricultural implements production enterprises from Parbat and Myagdi districts of western mid hills of Nepal. The furniture enterprise has earned USD 10,000 and the agricultural implement enterprise has earned USD 2000 during the past two years. The paper presents the process and approaches, production and market characteristics, present status and future prospects, role of development agencies and service providers, socio-economic impacts, lesson learned and policy implications from these case studies. The paper discusses that forest management should not be considered in isolation but should be linked with existing livelihoods opportunities and farming systems promoting the use of local materials and focused to provide employment to poor and vulnerable group
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The forest management strategy of Nepal is based on people’s participation, which is known as community forestry
. This approach was formally introduced in 1978 to encourage active participation of local people in forest management activities as a means to improve their livelihoods. Under the community forestry structure, local people make decisions regarding forest management, utilization and distribution of benefits from a forest; they are organised as a Community Forest User Group.
Presently about 1.2 million hectares of forest is under the control of about 14,000 Community Forest User Groups. It has received highest priority within the forestry sector and is one of the most successful development initiatives in Nepal. However, emerging evidence indicates that forest user groups have excluded rather than included women’s participation in their activities.
This paper is based on the findings from six forest users groups implementing a programme aimed at strengthening governance at the local level through increased women’s participation and increased advocacy skills and capacity of selected civil society groups. It presents the process of women’s empowerment in forest user groups by describing changes made in those groups once women begin participating and holding key decision-making positions. The findings note significant variation in funds allocated for social and community development activities, which are necessary to address the issues of poverty and social equity in Nepal. In addition, they note the importance of building both the capacity of individual women leaders and an enabling environment to support the women’s initiatives. A collaborative and inclusive approach that includes women and marginalised groups as committee executives and members of local government bodies is necessary to build the enabling environment
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The Community Forestry has been the most effective means of managing common forest resources in Nepal
. Besides rehabilitating degraded hills, improving environment and contributing to the rural livelihoods, community forestry is claimed to be a major means of biodiversity conservation. It is also argued that the prevalent approach of community forest management threats to the conservation of biodiversity. This paper is based on the findings from two community forest user groups from Central Nepal and argues that the users’ innovative practices of active forest management favor biodiversity conservation. The study has documented users’ innovations to conserve biodiversity in community managed forests
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The main forest management strategy of Nepal, community forestry, is based on people's participation and was formally introduced in 1978
. Under the community forestry structure, local people make decisions regarding forest management, utilisation, and distribution of benefits from a forest; they are organised as a Community Forest User Group (CFUG). Presently, about 1 million ha of forest are under the control of about 13,000 CFUGs. The present article gives an overview of the status of community forestry and its features in Nepal and analyses the institutional arrangements of three CFUGs from different parts of the country. The collective institutional arrangement is a legally supported approach in community forestry. It was found that the CFUGs have developed alternative institutional arrangements to this approach, ie private and centralised systems. As the case studies show, the practice of allocating limited use rights and protection responsibility to individual users as private property is decisive for the successful rehabilitation of degraded forests in the Churiya region. In the Terai region, centralised institutional arrangements are found to be the most appropriate option for the implementation of community forestry. In the Mid Hill region, from where community forestry originates, collective institutional arrangements are successful. These different forms of arrangement appear to be the best alternatives in the prevailing local situation. The findings suggest that various contextual factors in a community and their interaction affect the formulation of institutional arrangements. Successful groups are able to craft innovative arrangements well suited to local conditions. But common property resource models based on linear relations are not always sufficient to explain the dynamism of the interfaces between people's innovations and forest resources
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