Land use policies in Nepal: An overview

Abstract

AbstractLand degradation due to change in land use and land cover (LULC) is one of the most serious global environmental problems. Public policies are important drivers of LULC change and play equally important role in promoting sustained land use. An understanding of the policies framed under different socio‐economic and political conditions and its implications helps refining the policies for sustained land use. This paper discusses the policies, legislative and institutional provisions made by the government for LULC resources, its implications with gaps and constraints for further improvement. Both published and unpublished documents – government policies, legislations, and reports; historical documents such as land grant certificates; articles and books were collected, reviewed, and analyzed covering a period of 409 years. The results show that policies and legislation were guided by different goals in different political and socio‐economic contexts, and have led different pathways. Before 1951, they were guided by royal orders with the goal of exploiting free labour, increasing land tax revenues, and gaining favor from influential people in the government resulting expansion of agricultural areas, deforestation, and reclamation of waste land. After 1951, they were focused on the redistribution of agricultural land. Later in the 1980s and 1990s, the policies were emphasized on conservation and the people's participation. Recently, the concept of land use zoning was introduced. It also shows that there are overlapping of roles and responsibilities of institutions and lack of coordination among government agencies. An effective coordination mechanism among intuitions is crucial for sustained land management.