6,000 benefit from land management programme

Kathmandu, July 26

‘Sustainable Land Management in the Churia Range, Nepal’, a three-year project of the Government of Nepal and  Global Environment Facility, has concluded successfully.

According to WWF Nepal, the project effectively helped reduce vulnerability of 6,000 local people, including more than 2,300 women, to displacement as a result of land degradation and soil erosion in the Himalayan foothills.

This maiden initiative in Nepal, following the accreditation of WWF as Global Environment Facility project agency, introduced an integrated land management approach in the fragile Churia, a hilly range which covers about 13 per cent of Nepal’s total area and more than 15 per cent of the country’s population.

The Churia is an important recharge zone of ground water that feeds agricultural land and forests of the Tarai, home to iconic species such as tigers and rhinos. However, deforestation, over-grazing by livestock, unsustainable agricultural practices and climate change impacts have deteriorated the Churia.

Initiated in February 2014, the project worked towards empowering local communities to sustainably manage the Churia range in four village development committees in the districts of Makawanpur, Parsa, Bara and Rautahat in central Nepal.

The project was successful in bringing together four ministries, Ministry of Land Reform and Management, Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Agricultural Development, and Ministry of Population and Environment, and ensuring participation and ownership of local communities to work towards a common conservation goal. This helped introduce and implement innovative and sustainable agro-pastoral systems and community forest management in the project areas.

“This project has positively contributed to address land management issues in Churia,” said Shankar Bahadur Thapa, joint secretary at the Ministry of Land Reform and Management, adding, “The outcomes of this project will play an important role in replicating future interventions under the President’s Churia Conservation Programme.”

Through the project, 4,450 hectares of degraded land were restored through sustainable forest management practices. Likewise, 135 hectares of critical ecosystem hot spots were conserved through community-led afforestation measures and the promotion of natural regeneration in degraded areas, priority sub-watersheds and wildlife corridors.

Furthermore, to reduce community pressure on forests for firewood and promote alternate energy use, the project promoted technologies such as biogas, solar and improved cooking stoves. Income generation activities such as turmeric farming, leaf plate making and a dairy enterprise further helped provide alternate livelihood options for locals.