Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluating Land Use Dynamics and Forest Cover Change in Nepal’s Bara District (1973–2003)

  • Published:
Human Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research uses Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner of 1973, Thematic Mapper of 1989, Advance Earth Observing Satellite of 1996, and Enhanced Thematic Mapper of 2003 imagery to examine the effects of socioeconomic and demographic factors on land use and forest cover dynamics in the Bara district of the Central Tarai Region of Nepal for 1973–2003. These satellite images are used to generate three transition matrices for 1973–1989, 1989–1996, and 1996–2003; and the outcomes of the final transition matrix are compared with the land use and cover patterns seen on the IKONOS (1 × 1 m) 2003 images. This paper contributes to our understanding of how land use and cover dynamics correspond to national-level socioeconomic developments, demographic changes, and environmental awareness as envisioned by Ecological Modernization Theory. It also demonstrates how such a set of transition matrices generated from different resolution images helps assess these explanatory relationships at different temporal and spatial scales.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alves, D. S. (2002). Space–Time Dynamics of Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia. International Journal of Remote Sensing 23(14): 2903–2908.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, M. S., and Massa, I. (2000). Ecological Modernization—Origins, Dilemmas and Future Directions. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning 2(4): 337–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aspinal, R. (2004). Modeling Land Use Change with Generalize Linear Models—A Multi-model Analysis of Change Between 1860 and 2000 in Gallatin Valley, Montana. Journal of Environmental Management 72: 91–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattarai, K. (2001). Household Landownership and the Use of Forests in the Bara District of Central Tarai Region of Nepal. Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

  • Bhattarai, K., Conway, D., and Shrestha, N. R. (2002). The Vacillating Evolution of Forestry Policy in Nepal: Historically Manipulated, Internally Mismanaged. International Development Planning Review 24: 3315–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boserup, E. (1965). The Condition of Agricultural Growth, the Economy Agricultural Change Under Population Pressure, George Allen and Unwin, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boulding, K. (1966). The economics of the coming spaceship earth. In Jarrett, H. E. (ed.), Environmental Quality in a Growing Economy, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, D. S., Phipps, P. C., Duane, W. J., and Foddy, G. M. (2002). Remote monitoring of the impact of ENSO-related drought on Sahab Rainforest using NOAA AVHRR Middle Infrared Reflectance: exploring emissivity uncertainty. In Foody, G. M., and Atkinson, P. M. (eds.), Uncertainty in Remote Sensing and GIS, Wiley, New York, pp. 119–142.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Brondizio, E., Moran, E., Masuel, P., and Wu, Y. (1996). Land Cover in the Amazon Estuary: Linking of the Thematic Mapper with Botanical Historical Data. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 62(8): 921–929.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carolan, M. S. (2004). Ecological Modernization Theory: What About Consumption? Society and Natural Resources 17(3): 247–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CBS (1995). Population Monograph of Nepal, HMG/N, CBS. pp. 32, 46, 56, 431.

  • CBS (1999). Statistical Year Book of Nepal, HMG/N, CBS, pp. 76–86.

  • CBS (2001). Statistical Year Book of Nepal, HMG/N, CBS, pp. 76–85.

  • CBS (2002). Population of Nepal: Village Development Committees/Municipalities—Central Development Region, His Majesty Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission Secretariat, in collaboration with UNFPA, Nepal, June 2002, pp. 74–80, 112–113, 152–153 210–211, 278–279, 334–335.

  • Ehrhardt-Martinez, K. (1998). Social Determinants of Deforestation in Developing Countries. Social Forces 78(2): 567–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrhardt-Martinez, K. (1999). Errata: Social Determinants of Deforestation in Developing Countries. Social Forces 78(2): 860–861.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ehrhardt-Martinez, K., Crenshaw, E. M., and Jenkins, J. C. (2002). Deforestation and the Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Cross-National Investigation of Intervening Mechanism. Social Science Quarterly 83(1): 226–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erdas Imagine (2001). Erdas Imagine Tour Guides 8.5, Erdas, Atlanta, GA.

    Google Scholar 

  • FMUDP (1995). The Potential of the Natural Forests of the Tarai and the New Principles of Forest Management, Forest Management and Utilization Project, HMG/FINNIDA.

  • Fox, J. (1993). Forest Resources in a Nepali Village in 1980 and 1990: The Positive Influence of Population Growth. Mountain Research and Development 13(1): 89–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gautam, K. H., and Thacker, P. (1994). A Socioeconomic Study of Participatory Issue in Forest Management in the Terai, Manushi, Gyaneshwor, Kathmandu, June.

  • Gautam, A. P., Webb, E. L., Shivakoti, G. P., and Zoebisch, M. A. (2003). Land Use Dynamics and Landscape Change Pattern in a Mountain Watershed in Nepal. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 99(1–3): 83–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghimire, K. (1992). Forest or Farm? The Politics of Poverty and Land Hunger in Nepal, Oxford University Press, Delhi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilmour, D. A., and Fisher, R. J. (1991). Villagers, Forests and Foresters: A Philosophy, Process and Practice of Community Forestry in Nepal, Sahayogi, Tripureswor, Kathmandu, Nepal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guerschman, J. P. (2003). Land cover classification in the Argentine Pampas using multitemporal Landsat TM data. International Journal of Remote Sensing 24(17):3381–3402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanel, K. R. (1995). Farmer and Tree Linkages in the Terai of Nepal, Ph.D. dissertation, the University of Minnesota, MN.

  • Lillesand, T. M., Keifer, R. W., and Chipman, J. W. (2004). Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation, 5th edn., Wiley, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mather, A. S., Needle, C. L., and Fairbairn, J. (1999). Environmental Kuznets Curves and Forest Trends. Geography 84(362): 55–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCracken, S., Brondizio, E., Nelson, D., Moran, E., Siqueira, A., and Rodriguez, P. (1999). Remote Sensing and GIS at Farm Property Level: Demography and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 65: 1311–1320.

    Google Scholar 

  • MDM (1971). Mechi Dekhi Mahakali (From Mechi to Mahakali), Part 1, Kathmandu, Nepal.

  • Monserud, R. A., and Leemans, R. (1992). Comparing Global Vegetation Maps with the Kappa Statistics. Ecological Modelling 62: 275–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moran, E. (1981). Developing the Amazon, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

    Google Scholar 

  • NPC (2003). National Planning Commission, HMG/N, Singh Durbar Kathmandu, Nepal. http://www.npc.gov.np/dprofile/distinfo.jsp?dist=56&chapter=104&topic=191, retrieved on December 31, 2004.

  • NPC (2004). National Planning Commission Secretariat, GIS Facilities Section, Singh Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal.

  • Raven, P. H. (1991). Winners and losers in the twentieth-century struggle to survive. In Davis, K., and Bernstam, M. S. (eds.), Resources, Environment, and Population: Present Knowledge and Future Options. A supplement to Vol. 16, 1990, Population and Development Review, The Population Council and Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 259–266.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rostow, W. W. (1960). The Stages of Economic Growth, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudel, T. K. (1995). When Do Property Rights Matter? Open Access, Informal Social Controls, and Deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Human Organization 54(2): 187–194.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudel, T. K., and Roper, J. (1997). The Path to Rain Forest Destruction. World Development 25(1): 53–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sader, S. A. (1995). Spatial Characteristics of Forest Clearing and Vegetation Re-growth as Detected by Landsat Thematic Mapper Imagery. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 61(9): 1145–11451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schweik, C. M., and Thomas, C. W. (2002). Using Remote Sensing to Evaluate Environmental Institutional Designs: A Habitat Conservation Planning Example. Social Science Quarterly 83: 1244–262, March, Southwestern Social Science Association.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shrestha, N. R. (1990). Landlessness and Migration in Nepal, Westview Special Studies in Social, Political, and Economic Development, Boulder, p. 284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shrestha, N. R., Conway, D., and Bhattarai, K. (1999). Population Pressure and Land Resources in Nepal: A Revisit, Twenty Years Later. The Journal of Developing Areas 33(Winter): 245–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tokola, T., Sarkeala, J., Linden, and Vander, D. E. R. M. (2001). Use of Topographic Correction in Landsat TM-based Forest Interpretation in Nepal. International Journal of Remote Sensing 22(4): 551–563.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tole, L. (1998). Sources of Deforestation in Tropical Developing Countries. Environmental Management 22: 19–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Unni, N. V. M., Murthy, M. S. R., Swamy, S. L., and Dutt, C. B. S. (1992). Fuelwood Sustainability in Rural Areas: A Model Study Using Remote Sensing. NRSA report NRSA, Hyderabad.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zomer, R., Ustin, S., and Ives, J. (2002). Using Satellite Remote Sensing for DEM Extraction in Complex Mountainous Terrain: Landscape Analysis of the Makalu Barun National Park of Eastern Nepal. International Journal of Remote Sensing 23(1): 125–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by an Indiana Space Grant, by the Ford Foundation, and a University Research Grant from the Office of Sponsored Programs of University of Central Missouri (19-SU003). Special thanks to Prof. Nanda R. Shrestha for his critical suggestions.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, MO, 64093, USA

    Keshav Bhattarai

  2. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA

    Dennis Conway

Authors
  1. Keshav Bhattarai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dennis Conway
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Keshav Bhattarai.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bhattarai, K., Conway, D. Evaluating Land Use Dynamics and Forest Cover Change in Nepal’s Bara District (1973–2003). Hum Ecol 36, 81–95 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-007-9144-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-007-9144-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation