Tharu community's perception on climate changes and their adaptive initiations to withstand its impacts in Western Terai of Nepal

This paper brings out perceptions and observations of Tharu communities (Rana and Chaudhary), inhabitants of Shakarpur VDC of Kanchanpur and Gadariya VDCs of Kailali on climate change and its impacts on their livelihood strategies over the years. In addition, the paper explores some initiatives taken by the local communities to minimize its effects and impacts. Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were organized to collect and analyze vulnerability contexts on climate change and its impact on various sectors like, agriculture, forest, livestock, biodiversity, infrastructure, human casualties and water sources. Similarly, information on available service providers and their contribution was garnered through secondary sources. Local communities are facing these changes over the time and adapting strategies as per their own traditional knowledge, skills and information. Most of these strategies are biodiversity friendly, economically viable and socially acceptable. However, these innovative steps should be shared for larger scale dissemination after validating with scientific review and justifications

Connections Between Culinary Tourism Experiences and Memory

Tourism researchers have identified many factors leading to memorable food tourism (culinary tourism) experiences. This research proposes reasons why food experiences while traveling are especially memorable and proposes avenues for future research on food and memory. The act of travel in addition to the act of eating/drinking and individual attitudes and emotions likely work together to create memories. Travelers agreed with many reasons why food travel experiences are connected with memory. These include sensory connections, emotional connections, social and interpersonal connections, novelty and experimental connections, focus and attention, and reflective connections. These connections may also relate to pretrip expectations. Travelers who identified themselves as motivated to travel for food and drink felt more strongly than other travelers about the reasons that food and drink travel experiences were connected with memory. Suggestions are included for researchers to advance understanding of memorable food tourism experiences

Role of on-farm/In situ conservation and underutilized crops in the wake of climate change

Traditionally farmers use diverse crops, trees and wild plant species, livestock and aquatic species to sustain/enhance their livelihood. The use of diverse species and varieties enhances their adaptability and resilience capacity to changing environmental and economic conditions. Genetic diversity is a key element in farmers’ livelihood strategies particularly in areas under high ecological, climatic and economic stresses and risks. Global food security has become increasingly dependent on a limited number of varieties of a few major crops and in the wake of climate change, such a situation makes farmers more vulnerable with regard to their nutrition and income security. This paper aims to discuss the conceptual framework of on-farm/in situ conservation in adapting and mitigating climate change through an integrated system of diversified food production and land use. The role of on-farm/in situ conservation of crops is discussed along with its complementary advantages over ex situ conservation. Empowerment of farming communities is essential for effective in situ/on-farm conservation as the process encourages local level decision making on management of genetic resources. The paper also highlights community-based biodiversity management as a methodology to realize in situ/on-farm conservation through strengthening farmer seed systems, and promoting climate resilient integrated home garden production systems, especially underutilized crop species and carbon rich farming that support climate change actions. Implementation of biodiversity management approaches will require conducive policy environment in order to be truly effective and sustainable. Some relevant recommendations on how to best proceed towards a viable in situ/on - farm conservation system are also proposed

Motivational, emotional and memorable dimensions of non-Muslim tourists’ halal food experiences

Purpose: This study aims to explore non-Muslim tourists’ general halal food preferences, motivations for tasting halal food during their recent trips, positive and negative emotions and memorable dimensions associated with their recent halal food experiences after returning from holiday. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected using the authors’ personal networks and Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) using a questionnaire. An email containing a link to the questionnaire was sent to the authors’ personal networks and posted on MTurk in January 2021. Findings: Of the 311 non-Muslim respondents, more than half considered themselves as food neophiliacs and considered halal food experiences as imperative whilst travelling. However, tasting halal food was not a major travel motivation. Novelty and taste were the two main motivations for tasting halal food whilst at a tourism destination. Emotions elicited by halal food experiences focussed on “joy” and “love”. The proposed conceptual framework for memorable halal food experiences comprises several dimensions: taste, spending time with family and friends, novelty, quality and safety, hospitality, ambience (setting/servicescape) and experiencing others’ culture through food. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to explore non-Muslim tourists’ motives, emotions and memorable dimensions of halal food experiences

The evolving landscape of agricultural biodiversity conservation: Community-based Biodiversity Management (CBM): A landscape approach to the conservation of agricultural biodiversity cultivated on fifteen years of experiences in Begnas, Nepal

Community-based Biodiversity Management (CBM) is an emerging landscape approach to agricultural biodiversity conservation. CBM seeks to encourage the custodianship of land and agricultural biodiversity as a means for improving livelihoods of local communities. Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development (LI-BIRD), in collaboration with national and international research organizations, has been developing CBM through participatory action research projects in 15 districts in Nepal. One compelling example of CBM is the restoration of the Rupa lake watershed in Begnas, in the Lekhnath Municipality in Kaski district of Nepal

Traditional Crops for Household Food Security and Factors Associated with on-Farm Diversity in the Mountains of Nepal

Traditional crops play an important role in household food security and livelihood needs of mountain communities, while at the same time safeguarding crop biodiversity for future generations. This study aims to analyse socioeconomic, farm-specific agro-ecological and market factors influencing cultivation and maintenance of crop diversity in Nepal. It used sample surveys of 328 households from mountains of Humla, Jumla, Lamjung and Dolakha districts in 2015. The sample survey was supplemented with participatory rural appraisals, field monitoring visits and local stakeholder consultations. Tobit regression model was used to assess factors driving household decisions to allocate area for production and maintenance ofon-farm diversity. Farm maintenance of crop diversity was related to household food sufficiency level of traditional crops. Factors influencing on-farm crop diversity and household food security varied with the crops, and mainly related with farmers' age, family size, farm size, agro-ecosystem and market factor. Future research and development interventions need to focus on diversity rich solutions and technologies tailored to specific crops, socioeconomic, market and farm-agroecology of the households enhancing household food security and management of mountain crop biodiversity

Molecular and morphological diversity in locally grown non-commercial (heirloom) mango varieties of North India

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) has been cultivated and conserved in different agro-ecologies including Malihabad region in northern part of India, that is well known for housing diverse types (heirloom and commercial varieties). In the present study, 37 mango types comprising of 27 heirloom varieties from Malihabad region and 10 commercial varieties grown in North and Eastern India were assessed for morphological attributes and molecular diversity. The employed SSR markers amplified 2-13 alleles individually, cumulatively amplifying 124 alleles. These were studied for allelic diversity and genetic dissimilarity ranged from 0.035 to 0.892 arranging the varieties in three major clusters. The results revealed that majority of unique heirloom mangoes from Malihabad were different from the eastern part of the country. It is interesting to note Dashehari, a commercial variety from Malihabad was not aligned with heirloom varieties. Commercial varieties like Gulabkhas and Langra were placed in a separate group including Bombay Green, Himsagar, Dashehari, etc., indicating their dissimilarity with heirloom varieties at molecular level and thus, indicating importance for later from conservation point of view. Furthermore, the hierarchical clustering of varieties based on fruit morphology, assembled these into four groups largely influenced by fruit size. The maximum agreement subtree indicated seemingly good fit as thirteen varieties were arrayed in common grouping pattern. Appreciable dissimilarity among the heirloom varieties demonstrated by molecular analysis, underlines the importance for their on-farm conservation