Jefferson Fox, Sumeet Saksena, Kaspar Hurni, Jamon Van Den Hoek, Alexander Cuthbert Smith, Ram Chhetri, Pitamber Sharma
Since the 1980s, Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, has gained worldwide recognition for its successful community forestry program. Researchers, however, have not previously documented the spatially explicit impacts of this forest transition because of the topographic effects, e.g., shading, clouds, snow, and ice, hindered remote-sensing imagery analysis. This multi-disciplinary research project used United States Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat 5, 7, and 8 surface reflected-correct imagery from 1988 to 2016 that were available in Google Earth Engine to map forest cover change across the country. We then used a RandomForest (machine learning method) and multilevel regression analyses to assess associations between changes in forest cover and physiographic and socio-economic variables. We found that between 1992 and 2016, forest cover in Nepal almost doubled. Among other variables, being a member of a community-forestry user group, and receiving remittance income from children who had migrated elsewhere to work had a positive impact on forest cover.
{"title":"Mapping and Understanding Changes in Tree Cover in Nepal: 1992 to 2016","authors":"Jefferson Fox, Sumeet Saksena, Kaspar Hurni, Jamon Van Den Hoek, Alexander Cuthbert Smith, Ram Chhetri, Pitamber Sharma","doi":"10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59607","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59607","url":null,"abstract":"Since the 1980s, Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, has gained worldwide recognition for its successful community forestry program. Researchers, however, have not previously documented the spatially explicit impacts of this forest transition because of the topographic effects, e.g., shading, clouds, snow, and ice, hindered remote-sensing imagery analysis. This multi-disciplinary research project used United States Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat 5, 7, and 8 surface reflected-correct imagery from 1988 to 2016 that were available in Google Earth Engine to map forest cover change across the country. We then used a RandomForest (machine learning method) and multilevel regression analyses to assess associations between changes in forest cover and physiographic and socio-economic variables. We found that between 1992 and 2016, forest cover in Nepal almost doubled. Among other variables, being a member of a community-forestry user group, and receiving remittance income from children who had migrated elsewhere to work had a positive impact on forest cover.","PeriodicalId":496396,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forest and Livelihood","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135544437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Various forest products such as nuts, mangoes, bananas, lime, silk from mulberry leaves,essential oil, timber, animal food, perfume from tree blossoms, mulch and biochar, possess high potential to increase rural income. However, farming families in Nepal can hardly afford the investment to create such productive ecosystems. Connecting to the global market through Carbon dioxide (CO2)– certificates could serve to finance the creation of forest gardens. To test and demonstrate such approach, a project on ‘building village economies through climate farming and forest gardening (BeChange)’ has been implemented by 276 farming families in fourdistricts (Tanhun, Lamjung, Gorkha and Kaski) of Nepal. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) point survey, household surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs), a triad group system, field observation and reports, the success of establishing privately owned forest gardens was assessed. A total of 42,205 mixed tree species such as Michelia, Elaeocarpus, and Cinnamomum tamala were planted on abandoned agriculture land of 276 families. The set-up and maintenance of the forest gardens was financed with advanced payments for the carbon sink services of the planted trees. Farmers who succeeded with tree survival rates above 70 per cent received anadditional yearly carbon sink fee. This activity was linked to other income generating activities such as cultural eco-tourism, cinnamon leaf essential oil distillation, and intercropping of high value shade loving crops such as ginger, turmeric, and lentils. The outcomes of the project show significant improvements of the livelihood and food security in the project villages.
{"title":"Forest Gardening on Abandoned Agricultural Land Contribute to Ground Cover Change and Food Security","authors":"Bishnu Hari Pandit","doi":"10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59620","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59620","url":null,"abstract":"Various forest products such as nuts, mangoes, bananas, lime, silk from mulberry leaves,essential oil, timber, animal food, perfume from tree blossoms, mulch and biochar, possess high potential to increase rural income. However, farming families in Nepal can hardly afford the investment to create such productive ecosystems. Connecting to the global market through Carbon dioxide (CO2)– certificates could serve to finance the creation of forest gardens. To test and demonstrate such approach, a project on ‘building village economies through climate farming and forest gardening (BeChange)’ has been implemented by 276 farming families in fourdistricts (Tanhun, Lamjung, Gorkha and Kaski) of Nepal. Using Global Positioning System (GPS) point survey, household surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs), a triad group system, field observation and reports, the success of establishing privately owned forest gardens was assessed. A total of 42,205 mixed tree species such as Michelia, Elaeocarpus, and Cinnamomum tamala were planted on abandoned agriculture land of 276 families. The set-up and maintenance of the forest gardens was financed with advanced payments for the carbon sink services of the planted trees. Farmers who succeeded with tree survival rates above 70 per cent received anadditional yearly carbon sink fee. This activity was linked to other income generating activities such as cultural eco-tourism, cinnamon leaf essential oil distillation, and intercropping of high value shade loving crops such as ginger, turmeric, and lentils. The outcomes of the project show significant improvements of the livelihood and food security in the project villages.","PeriodicalId":496396,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forest and Livelihood","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135635327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Forests play an essential role in providing sustainable ecosystem services and livelihood options for a growing population. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, forests have been continuously reduced due to increasing demand for timber, fuelwood, and agriculture. Identification of deforestation hotspots and monitoring changes in those hotspots will be highly useful for forest managers to prevent illegal deforestation. In this paper, we identified forest cover change hotspots and areas for annual monitoring in those hotspots. For that factors like land cover from 1990 and 2010, shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) digitalelevation model (DEM), slope, curvature, and distance from the settlement and roads for all four countries which could influence loss in forest area and overplayed to determine forest hotspots, were considered. Land cover maps of 1990 and 2010 and other GIS layers were used for identification of hotspots using the model builder ArcGIS software. For monitoring of deforestation in the hotspot areas, Landsat 8 images (2013, 2014 and 2015) and geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) technique was used. The method was validated in four study sites in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan. The study revealed that the sites in Bangladesh have higher deforestation during 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 with forest loss of 1121.58 and 1773.18 ha respectively. The web-based forest monitoring system provides information on deforestation useful for forest managers to enforce annual management plans.
{"title":"Remote Sensing Based Deforestation Monitoring at the Change Hotspot Area in Hindu Kush Himalayan Region","authors":"Kabir Uddin","doi":"10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59618","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59618","url":null,"abstract":"Forests play an essential role in providing sustainable ecosystem services and livelihood options for a growing population. In the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, forests have been continuously reduced due to increasing demand for timber, fuelwood, and agriculture. Identification of deforestation hotspots and monitoring changes in those hotspots will be highly useful for forest managers to prevent illegal deforestation. In this paper, we identified forest cover change hotspots and areas for annual monitoring in those hotspots. For that factors like land cover from 1990 and 2010, shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) digitalelevation model (DEM), slope, curvature, and distance from the settlement and roads for all four countries which could influence loss in forest area and overplayed to determine forest hotspots, were considered. Land cover maps of 1990 and 2010 and other GIS layers were used for identification of hotspots using the model builder ArcGIS software. For monitoring of deforestation in the hotspot areas, Landsat 8 images (2013, 2014 and 2015) and geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) technique was used. The method was validated in four study sites in Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan. The study revealed that the sites in Bangladesh have higher deforestation during 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 with forest loss of 1121.58 and 1773.18 ha respectively. The web-based forest monitoring system provides information on deforestation useful for forest managers to enforce annual management plans.","PeriodicalId":496396,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forest and Livelihood","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135636712","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Repeated forest-resource inventories provide indispensable information to evaluate, for example, the mean growth rate of stands and changes in tree-species composition in an area.This paper presents a summary of such longitudinal forest inventory data in the Middle Hills of Nepal, where deforestation has been an issue. Our first inventory was implemented between 1997 and 1999 and measured 3839 plots of 100 square meters (m 2 ). Our second inventory was conducted between 2014 and 2016 and measured 3765 plots of 100 m 2 . We found that over these two decades, the number of trees per hectare (ha -1) significantly improved. The number of stands ha -1 with diameter at breast height (DBH) of 10 centimeters (cm) and above went from 361.2 in the first inventory to 466.2 in the second inventory. We also found that not only the number of stands but also the quality of stands significantly improved. The number of stands with DBH of 30 cm and above ha-1 increased from 72.9 to 99.6. The mean alpha diversity, the number of trees species in a plot, rose to 2.1 from 1.6 in the initial inventory. In sum,“green has made a bold comeback in the Middle Hills”. Our indices evaluating the intensities of human activities on the plots suggest that these improvements in forest-resource conditions may be due to the decreased use of forests in the Middle Hills over these two decades.
{"title":"Inventory Results of 101 Natural Forests in the Middle Hills of Nepal over Two Decades","authors":"Towa Tachibana","doi":"10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59608","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59608","url":null,"abstract":"Repeated forest-resource inventories provide indispensable information to evaluate, for example, the mean growth rate of stands and changes in tree-species composition in an area.This paper presents a summary of such longitudinal forest inventory data in the Middle Hills of Nepal, where deforestation has been an issue. Our first inventory was implemented between 1997 and 1999 and measured 3839 plots of 100 square meters (m 2 ). Our second inventory was conducted between 2014 and 2016 and measured 3765 plots of 100 m 2 . We found that over these two decades, the number of trees per hectare (ha -1) significantly improved. The number of stands ha -1 with diameter at breast height (DBH) of 10 centimeters (cm) and above went from 361.2 in the first inventory to 466.2 in the second inventory. We also found that not only the number of stands but also the quality of stands significantly improved. The number of stands with DBH of 30 cm and above ha-1 increased from 72.9 to 99.6. The mean alpha diversity, the number of trees species in a plot, rose to 2.1 from 1.6 in the initial inventory. In sum,“green has made a bold comeback in the Middle Hills”. Our indices evaluating the intensities of human activities on the plots suggest that these improvements in forest-resource conditions may be due to the decreased use of forests in the Middle Hills over these two decades.","PeriodicalId":496396,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forest and Livelihood","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135635319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Him Lal Shrestha, Naya Sharma Poudel, Roshan M. Bajracharya, Bishal K. Sitaula
Land use changes are a common occurrence resulting from different factors in Nepal. There is a need for better understanding of the temporal and spatial change dynamics of land uses as well as their future projections. This paper assesses the land use change and its impact on carbon stocks and provides future scenarios of land use changes and their impacts on carbon stocks. The methods involved classification of medium resolution satellite image using Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) techniques, analysis of the change across three time frames,modelling the future land use, and assessment of the impacts on carbon stocks. OBIA was used for the image segmentation and image classification for the assessment of land uses present in two different periods i.e. 2010 and 1990. The classification of the images was carried out using the spectral characteristics of the Landsat images. Image indices, i.e., Vegetation Index were used for land use classification.
The land use changes over time and space was analysed using Geographical Information System (GIS) overlaying techniques. A future scenario model was prepared using Land Change Modeler of IDRISI software. The study has focused on the land use changes and their future projection based on the potential transition of the land uses. The comparison of land use maps from 1990 to 2010 shows that the different pattern of annual land use changes in different districts such as forest areas are increasing at annual rate of 0.3 per cent in Rasuwa, 2.3 percent in Gorkha and 0.6 per cent in Chitwan. Similarly, the agricultural land is decreasing at the annual rate of 0.2 per cent in Rasuwa, 2.4 per cent in Gorkha and 0.8 per cent in Chitwan. Likewise, the future projection of land uses in all the three sites was made using the previous land use pattern and driving forces. There was a 0.1 per cent change annually in forest coveragein both Gorkha and Rasuwa whereas Chitwan showed higher rate of forest cover change of 0.2 per cent annually.
{"title":"Mapping and Modelling of Land Use Change in Nepal","authors":"Him Lal Shrestha, Naya Sharma Poudel, Roshan M. Bajracharya, Bishal K. Sitaula","doi":"10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59621","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v18i1.59621","url":null,"abstract":"Land use changes are a common occurrence resulting from different factors in Nepal. There is a need for better understanding of the temporal and spatial change dynamics of land uses as well as their future projections. This paper assesses the land use change and its impact on carbon stocks and provides future scenarios of land use changes and their impacts on carbon stocks. The methods involved classification of medium resolution satellite image using Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) techniques, analysis of the change across three time frames,modelling the future land use, and assessment of the impacts on carbon stocks. OBIA was used for the image segmentation and image classification for the assessment of land uses present in two different periods i.e. 2010 and 1990. The classification of the images was carried out using the spectral characteristics of the Landsat images. Image indices, i.e., Vegetation Index were used for land use classification.
 The land use changes over time and space was analysed using Geographical Information System (GIS) overlaying techniques. A future scenario model was prepared using Land Change Modeler of IDRISI software. The study has focused on the land use changes and their future projection based on the potential transition of the land uses. The comparison of land use maps from 1990 to 2010 shows that the different pattern of annual land use changes in different districts such as forest areas are increasing at annual rate of 0.3 per cent in Rasuwa, 2.3 percent in Gorkha and 0.6 per cent in Chitwan. Similarly, the agricultural land is decreasing at the annual rate of 0.2 per cent in Rasuwa, 2.4 per cent in Gorkha and 0.8 per cent in Chitwan. Likewise, the future projection of land uses in all the three sites was made using the previous land use pattern and driving forces. There was a 0.1 per cent change annually in forest coveragein both Gorkha and Rasuwa whereas Chitwan showed higher rate of forest cover change of 0.2 per cent annually.","PeriodicalId":496396,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Forest and Livelihood","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135544433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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