Back to activities

Vegetation management

1 min Read

70% Complete
Photo: Jitendra Raj Bajracharya/ICIMOD.

At the time that ICIMOD established the Godavari site, the land had been reduced to almost completely degraded forest and shrubland through continuous excessive removal of useful species by people, grazing, and forest fires. The area was once a natural high forest rich in biodiversity and stocked with valuable tree species, but the natural species composition had been replaced through invasion and encroachment by aggressive, hardy, but less useful thorny shrubs, bushes, and weeds. The timber volume was low with very few fuelwood, fodder tree, or other useful species.

ICIMOD embarked on a long-term programme using various assisted natural regeneration techniques to restore the forest. In ten years, the overall biomass more than doubled as did the number of plant species. Agro-forestry models were established, and sightings of wildlife increased. Regeneration is a long-term process and there is still a long way to go in terms of increasing biomass and species diversity – even so the site already has one of the best forests surrounding the Kathmandu valley. This is a living example of what can be done for the degraded forests of the mid hills. Some of the specific approaches are summarised. By their nature, most of the vegetation management activities are also concerned with biodiversity conservation, as outlined in the  Biodiversity section of activities.

 

11 Dec 2019 Soil management
Soil Management

Soil erosion, soil degradation and declining soil fertility are widely regarded as major problems threatening the sustainable use ...

11 Dec 2019 Community outreach
Distribution of material – seed and seedlings

Large amounts of seeds and seedlings of useful plants from ICIMOD’s plant nursery have been distributed to farmers and farmers ...

11 Dec 2019 Soil management
Shelter/Protection Belts

Planting and maintenance of shelter or protection belts is another important method of soil and water management. Shelter belts are ...

11 Dec 2019 Soil management
Green Manure/Cover Crops/Mulching

Green manure is a growing cover crop of annual plants (or other growing plant material) that is dug into the ...

11 Dec 2019 Soil management
Pusa vermicomposting

Vermicomposting, or worm composting is a simple technology for converting biodegradable waste into organic manure with the help of earthworms ...

11 Dec 2019 Water management
Stone-Lined and Grass-Lined Waterways

Lining waterways is one way of reducing soil losses through seepage and preventing erosion of the waterway bed. Stone or ...

11 Dec 2019 Scientific research
Support functions and scientific sesearch

Some general activities are carried out at the Knowledge Park at Godavari to support the trials and other activities; ...

11 Dec 2019 Scientific research
Meteorological Monitoring

Agroclimatic conditions are extremely variable across the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, and microclimatescan have a major effect on the ...