Diversified Agroforestry for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the Himalayan Region: Potential for Achieving Multiple Benefits

Land management and forests are crucial to tackling the concurrent issues of sustainable food production and climate change. Conventional modern agriculture, converting forests and naturally vegetated landscapes to farms and rangelands, contributes significantly to elevate carbon in the atmosphere. Agroforestry systems offer potential for local communities to meet livelihood needs while simultaneously adapting to and mitigating climate change. Data from several studies conducted in nine districts of central Nepal between 2007 and 2017 were analyzed. Forests and agroforestry systems in three central Nepal districts had significantly higher total carbon stocks than agricultural soils (2–5 times) due to high above and below-ground biomass carbon and SOC stocks. The application of improved FYM compost, cattle urine and biochar in four districts increased average SOC by 2.75% over 6 years, translating to an increase of nearly 100 t ha−1 in SOC stock. Along with soil quality benefits, biochar and FYM compost improved the yields of soybean, potato, millet and Swertia chirayita yields which were significantly higher than in untreated plots. The flux of N2O was significantly lower in biochar-amended soil compared to non-biochar. Crop diversification incorporating high-value horticultural and medicinal crops enhance economic returns as indicated by higher benefit-cost ratios for vegetable and Swertia chirayita than for cereals

Analyzing Land Cover Change Using Remote Sensing and GIS: A Case Study of Gilgit River Basin, North Pakistan

Mountainous areas of northern Pakistan are rich in biodiversity, glaciers and key watershed of Indus Riversystem which provide ecosystem services for their inhabitants. These regions have experienced extensive deforestationand are presently vulnerable by rapid land cover changes, therefore an effective assessment and monitoring is essentialto capture such changes. The aim of this study is to analyze the observed changes in land cover over a period of thirtynine years, divided into three stages (1976-1999, 1999-2008 and 2008-2015). Four images from Landsat 2Multispectral Scanner System (MSS), Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper andLandsat 8 Operation Land Imager data were obtained to detect land cover change. This study used supervisedclassification-maximum likelihood algorithm in ERDAS imagine to identify land cover changes perceived in GilgitRiver Basin, Pakistan. The result showed that the range land, glaciers, water bodies, built-up/agricultural cover are themajor categories that have been altered by the natural and anthropogenic actions. In 1976, built up/agriculture, rangeland, water bodies and glacier cover was 1.13%, 45.3%, 0.66% and 13.2%, respectively. Whereas in 2015, builtup/agriculture, range land, water bodies and glacier cover was 3.25%, 12.7%, 0.91% and 8.2%, respectively. Thesesland cover shifts posed acute threat to watershed resources. Therefore, a comprehensive watershed resourcemanagement is essential or otherwise, these resources will deplete rapidly and no longer be capable of playing their rolein socioeconomic and sustainable environmental development of the are

Reforms under Fiscal Stress: A Policy Note on the Priorities for Fiscal and Budget Reform in Nepal

This note, first of the several on fiscal management and policy option notes planned, provides a concise assessment of the achievements to date of the ongoing reforms to budget management in Nepal and concludes with some guidance on the key focus areas of fiscal policy and expenditure management over the near and medium term. It is a selective assessment that looks at major aspects of the policy and budget process with a view to identifying areas for strategic focus, rather than a detailed rendering of the reforms. The note highlights the fiscal challenges that are assuming increasing prominence and which must be addressed by policy decisions and medium term reforms. While recognizing the uniqueness of Nepal's initial conditions, capacities and current security related challenges, the note takes account of international experience in implementing such reforms. The note starts with the economic and political background. The second section reviews fiscal trends and outlines issues to be considered by a fiscal strategy. The third section discusses institutional issues to strengthen the budget process

Indigenous Technology Knowledge in Nepal — A review

569-576 Indigenous practices provide invaluable knowledge and aid in making best use of natural resources. In the modern days of technological advancement, this knowledge is often forgotten or neglected. In Nepal, negligible efforts have been undertaken in a systematic way to understand the scientific basis of this knowledge. It is recommended that the documentation of Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) should be included in the curricula of environment and sustainable development as a cross-cutting issue. Understanding of ITK, their advantages and disadvantages, will help further strengthen the existing knowledge of professionals in this field. In the paper, ITK from water resource management, soil fertility management, indigenous knowledge on biodiversity and forest management, Indigenous Knowledge on pest management, biofencing, agricultural tools and implements, and traditional beliefs are documented primarily from Kavre, Dhading, Kaski, Baglung and Syanga districts in Nepal. </smarttagtype

Reforms under Fiscal Stress: A Policy Note on the Priorities for Fiscal and Budget Reform in Nepal

This note, first of the several on fiscal management and policy option notes planned, provides a concise assessment of the achievements to date of the ongoing reforms to budget management in Nepal and concludes with some guidance on the key focus areas of fiscal policy and expenditure management over the near and medium term. It is a selective assessment that looks at major aspects of the policy and budget process with a view to identifying areas for strategic focus, rather than a detailed rendering of the reforms. The note highlights the fiscal challenges that are assuming increasing prominence and which must be addressed by policy decisions and medium term reforms. While recognizing the uniqueness of Nepal's initial conditions, capacities and current security related challenges, the note takes account of international experience in implementing such reforms. The note starts with the economic and political background. The second section reviews fiscal trends and outlines issues to be considered by a fiscal strategy. The third section discusses institutional issues to strengthen the budget process

Higher N2O emission by intensified crop production in South Asia

-Intensification of food production in Nepal has been found to acidify the soils and hence increase their apparent propensity to emit N2O as measured by the N2O/(N2+N2O) product ratio of denitrification during standardized anoxic incubations (Raut et al., 2012). We hypothesized that this would lead to high N2O emission factors (EF), and tested this by measuring N2O emissions from fields on which intensified crop production (IC) had been practiced for the last 20 years, and adjacent fields having traditional crop production (TC) practices. The measurements were done every one to two weeks over a period of 12 months covering two to three cropping periods. On the sites with periodically flooded soils, the cumulated emissions for IC and TC were 15.41 and 7.23 kg N2O/ha, respectively. On the sites with permanently drained soils, the cumulated emissions were 5.43 and 1.46 kg N2O/ha (IC and TC). We used the available data on fertilizer levels to calculate an emission factor for the transition from TC to IC (EFI); i.e. View the MathML sourceΔN2O−N/ΔNfertilizer, where ΔΔN2O-N is the cumulated emission in IC minus that in TC, View the MathML sourceΔNfertilizer is the annual N input to IC minus that in TC. The EF values were 0.08 and 0.02 for the sites with permanently drained and periodically flooded soils, respectively. These factors are 2 to 8 times higher than the EF values used by IPCC to calculate emission as a function of fertilizer level. The high EFI appear to confirm our hypothesis that intensification will lead to higher emission of N2O than that predicted by the increase in nitrogen inputs, and that this is due to the soil acidification

Mapping and Modelling of Land Use Change in Nepal

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Biochar Effects on Carbon Stocks in the Coffee Agroforestry Systems of the Himalayas

Coffee agroforestry is an emerging agricultural practice in the mid hills of Nepal. Smallholder farmers of low-income strata have progressively adopted coffee as a perennial crop over seasonal crops. A multi-year study was conducted to test effects of locally produced biochar derived from coffee wastes, e.g., pulp and husks, on carbon stocks of: i) coffee trees, and, ii) soil organic carbon (SOC) in selected coffee growing pockets. We conducted on-farm experimental trials in three different physiographical locations of the Nepal mid-hills, namely, Chandanpur (Site I at 1475masl), Panchkhal (Site II at 1075masl), and Talamarang (Site III at 821masl) where smallholders grow coffee together with other cereal crops and vegetables. We applied biochar to the soil at a rate of 5 Mgha-1 , then, monitored the SOC and biomass growth of the coffee trees in the three treatment plots at sites I, II and III over two years beginning in 2013. The average stocks of aboveground carbon in coffee trees increased from 6.2±4.3 Mgha-1 to 9.1±5.2 Mgha-1 over the trial period of two years in biochar treated plots. The same in control plots increased from 5.6±2.8 Mgha-1 to 6.7±4.7 Mgha-1 . In the biochar plots, the average increments of ABG carbon was 0.73 Mgh-1 while in the control it was 0.29 Mgh-1 . Analysis of soil organic carbon of the plots indicated overall incremental change in carbon stocks in the coffee farms. During the base year, the average SOC stocks in the top 0-15cm layer of the soil at sites I, II, and III were estimated 74.88 ± 15.93; 63.96 ±16.71 and 33.05 ±4.42 Mgha-1 respectively. Although both the biochar treated and control plot registered incremental change in SOC stocks, the volumes were remarkably higher in the former than the latter. Compared to the baseline data, the changes in SOC stocks in the three biochar treated plots were 19.8, 49.8 and 45.3 Mgha-1 , respectively, whereas in the control plots these were 8.3, 29.3 and 11.3 Mgha-1 , respectively. The higher incremental rates of C-stocks in all the biochar treated plots in comparison to the corresponding control plots of the coffee agroforestry implies that application of biochar can enhance accumulation of carbon in the form of aboveground biomass and soil organic carbon

A Discourse on Agricultural Intensification in the Mid-Hills of Nepal

Agricultural intensification is not as simple as the Boserupian process of agricultural change; rather it is a complex evolutionary process involving several interacting drivers. This article attempts to identify the gaps in the social, economic, and environmental effects of agricultural intensification in the mid-hills of Nepal by reviewing agricultural intensification, which emerged as a major subject of development discourse in livelihood improvement and environmental degradation in Nepal. Intensification of agriculture has provided improved economy, food security, employment opportunities, decision making, labor division, local institutions, and leaderships. However, with the aim of increasing production, the intensification process has almost overlooked essential environmental factors -- soil acidification, fertility decline, and greenhouse gas emissions have been accelerated. A path towards sustainable intensification would be possible through improvements in agricultural extension programs such as integrated pest management (IPM) and farmers’ field schools. Indeed, good institutional systems make sustainable agricultural intensification economically feasible. Thus, such measures will probably encourage farmers and likely ensure economically- and environmentally-sound production, with the promise of sustainable agricultural intensification