Status of rangeland resources and strategies for improvements in Nepal.

Abstract

Abstract The livelihood of the Himalayan people depends on rangeland-based livestock farming in Nepal. Above 2500 m altitude, the contribution of rangelands to livestock feed supply is more than 65%. Rangeland comprises about 11.5% of the total land resources of Nepal and over 98% are located in high mountains and Himalayan regions. Nepal is rich in biodiversity, with over 6500 species of flowering plants, including 180 species of grasses and legumes. Major rangelands vegetations are tropical (such as Phragmites -, Saccharum - and Imperata -type), sub-tropical ( Themeda - and Arundinella -type), temperate ( Andropogon -type), sub-alpine ( Danthonia -type), alpine ( Kobresia -type) and steppe. The production and productivity of rangelands are very low, ranging from 0.12 to 3.2 metric tonne (mt) dry matter (DM)/ha. Only 64% of the rangelands are accessible. Most of the rangelands are overstocked and severely grazed out. The estimated carrying capacity ranges from 0.06 to 1.4 livestock units (LU)/ha. The stocking rate on rangelands is very high - up to 37 times the carrying capacity. Indigenous techniques for rangeland management are not keeping pace with the increased livestock population. The traditionally practiced transfrontier pasturing between Tibet and Nepal has been stopped by the Tibetan/Chinese Government for Nepalese migratory herds effective from 1990, which compelled the Nepal Government to initiate various rangeland development activities to meet the feed supply for Himalayan herds. Until now, only 0.5% of the total rangelands of the high Himalayan regions have been improved. Major challenges on rangeland development/management are ownership/users' rights, illegal occupation of community rangelands as a private property, lack of basic information on rangelands, deteriorating conditions of rangelands and associated forests, poor infrastructure facilities, remoteness, ad hoc collection of grazing fees, lack of correlation between stocking rate versus carrying capacity, community awareness, lack of support services, invasion of rangelands, poor stakeholder participation, poor research and extension, high cost of development and poor supply/production of planting materials. The rangeland improvement programmes should be continued to improve the livestock-based livelihoods of the Himalayan community. Recently, Nepal has been transformed from a monarchy to a republic, and the Himalayan community are also aware of the poor situation and are demanding an equal share in developmental activities, and action should be taken to resolve the Himalayan problems through establishing a Himalayan Rangeland Board immediately.