Local initiatives for rehabilitating degraded communal grazing land

Supporting local initiatives and building local capacity for the rehabilitation of degraded communal land in the middle mountains of Nepal

The main aim of the People and Resource Dynamics Project’s (PARDYP) land rehabilitation activities were to help watershed residents, local groups, and line agencies understand the key issues and to test options for the improved management of water, land, and forests in a participatory way. In Dhotra VDC (Kabhrepalanchok district) a local youth club (Ekantabasti Youth Club) had been trying to rehabilitate a 2.5 ha area of degraded communal land since May 2004. The club approached PARDYP for technical assistance. The area had been degraded by overgrazing with two big gullies formed and small landslips along the gullies affecting a trail and the adjoining agricultural land.

Problem

• Lack of awareness about low cost soil and water conservation technologies that address farmers’ needs

• Weak institutional collaboration for developing and implementing technologies

Objectives

• To demonstrate appropriate technologies for rehabilitating degraded land and evaluating their effectiveness

• To provide training on soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies for effectively implementing the rehabilitation activities and to build the capacity of the local community to carry out the work

• To organise and mobilise a local community for implementing, protecting and managing the planted areas and the physical structures

light green: districts in 2007

WOCAT database reference: QA NEP13

Location: Dhotra village, Jhikhu Khola watershed, Kabhrepalanchok district, Nepal

Approach area: 0.025 km²

Land use: Extensive grazing

Climate: Humid subtropical

Related technology: Rehabilitation of degraded communal grazing land and gully plugging, QT NEP13 and QT NEP14

Target Users: Land users, Extension workers

Compiled by: Madhav Dhakal, ICIMOD

Date: October 2006

Download PDF

• Local initiatives for rehabilitating degraded communal grazing land