Research Articles
Linking plant-based enterprises and local communities to biodiversity conservation in Nepal himalaya
Author: Bhishma P. Subedi
Publisher: Adroit Publishers, New Delhi
Language: English
Date of Publication: January 2006
Number of Pages: 244
Price: NRs. 880
People in the mountainous region of are struggling only to get food to hold on their lives and the nearby forest gives them hopes to live. They have easy ways ahead to fetch fuel and fodders form the rich forest. People know that they are emptying the forest but don’t know they are destroying lives and environment. This way, people are digging into the pit of poverty and downsizing their lives into it. The practice results in increased poverty and decreased biodiversity almost leaving nothing for the future. The question ahead, can’t poverty be alleviated and biodiversity be improved? Isn’t there any synergistic way that brings both the factor together? Or, how poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation be sustainable? The challenges in several ways are embedded in the book and the author applies different methods and experimentations to come up with a practical solution to the challenges.
The author makes a conclusion that enterprise-oriented community forest management can generate positive outcomes on both conservation and local livelihood. In the light of different approaches being tested and implemented to resolve conservation problems, the findings challenge the approaches that set communities aside from the forest resources and keep forest untouched. The author discovers high prospects for forest based enterprise development keeping eyes on the local, national as well as international markets of the products. He makes clear answers on how enterprise can help promote the biodiversity. Besides, the research has identified strategies and approaches that can bring favorable changes in government policies, market structure, and effective implementation of conservation programs. For the study, the author has selected six districts in the mountainous region of that is endowed with rich forest-based biodiversity and suffered with acute poverty.