Banko Janakari 
A Journal of Forestry Information for Nepal

Ecological assessment and restoration
Ecological assessments facilitate understanding of an area's past, present, and future conditions 
through comprehensive description of ecosystem patterns, processes, and functions. They 
synthesize our knowledge on ecological systems, and commonly describe the biophysical and 
social limits of a system, the interrelations of its ecosystem components, and the uncertainties 
and assumptions that underlie a given assessment effort. Ecological assessments are not 
decision documents because they do not resolve issues or provide direct solutions to specific 
policy questions. Instead, they provide foundation for proposed additions or changes to existing 
land management plans or regulatory policies, and are a critical component for implementing 
principles of ecosystem management in land management planning. 

Forest ecosystem provides important services both for the animals and birds that live in 
forest and for humans who use the forest for a variety of purposes. To remain healthy, many 
forest species rely on periodic disturbances such as wildfire. However, some disturbances, 
such as deforestation, may instead impair the normal functioning of a forest by increasing 
soil erosion or by eliminating wildlife habitat. Deforested lands can be, no doubt, restored 
through reforestation; the reforestation process may include the ecological succession, the 
long-term evolution of the structure of an ecosystem’s biological community that follows a 
disturbance event.

Excessive resource use and the associated environmental degradation in the country are 
responsible for the accelerated rate of natural disasters like soil erosion, land degradation and 
mass wasting, which in turn are making the ecosystems threatened. Ecosystem degradation is 
one of the major environmental problems in Nepal. Nepal's ecosystems are very fragile and 
prone to degradation both inherently and in response to anthropogenic activities. In Nepal, 
ecosystem degradation, mainly the forest degradation, has adverse environmental and social 
implications. Rising demand and increasing utilization of resources (timber, fuel and fodder) 
from forests and grasslands to sustain increasing growth of Nepal’s population is one of the 
major causes of degradation of these ecosystems. The loss and degradation of forests have 
been increasing in the Churia and Terai regions during the last few decades. Water erosion in 
different forms causes loss of huge amount of soil from the Nepal Himalaya. Similarly, wind 
erosion and chemical and physical deterioration of land are also responsible for loss of soils. 

In an effort to conserve critical ecosystems, the Government of Nepal has set aside nearly one-
fourth of the country’s area as the protected ones. These areas are not only playing a crucial role 
in the conservation of diverse ecosystems but also providing a range of environmental, social and 
economic benefits contributing to human well-being. However, anthropogenic activities have 
made such areas susceptible to degradation. Protected areas are experiencing overexploitation 
of resources, unplanned infrastructure development, uncontrolled forest fires, climate change 

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and pollution, leading to habitat loss and ecosystem degradation. Invasive plant species, such as 
Mikania micrantha, Eupatorium adenophorum, E. odoratum, Lantana camara, and Parthenium 
species, are proliferating in protected areas, leading to destruction and shrinkage of habitats of 
native flora and fauna. 

Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in 
any other period of time due to increasing demand for resources (food, fresh water, timber, fiber, 
and fuel) and advancing technology. In the meantime, efforts of ecological restoration have also 
been in place. The common understanding of ecological restoration suggests human actions; 
they fall along a continuum from passive to active corrective options. In the passive option, 
the ecosystem requiring restoration is left as it is to heal itself through ecological succession, 
soil building, and colonization of the area by the species that have been extirpated directly or 
indirectly by humans. In the active option, direct human interventions, such as plantation are 
applied to the area requiring restoration. 

The ecosystem restoration programs and projects as such have rarely been implemented in 
Nepal. However, ecosystem restoration has long been an integral part of some national 
priority programs and initiatives, such as community forestry and protected area management 
programs. The community forestry program, which is considered as one of the most successful 
forest management programs in Nepal, has been able to restore a large area of degraded forests, 
especially in the middle hills of Nepal. Similarly, ecosystem restoration activities have been 
regularly implemented in many protected areas. Restoration of degraded ecosystems has also 
been integrated into the special landscape management programs like the Terai Arc Landscape, 
the Sacred Himalayan Landscape, the Kailash Sacred Landscape, the Chitwan-Annapurna 
Landscape, and various watershed management programs. These various efforts aim to 
contribute to Nepal’s commitment to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Aichi 
Declaration.

Restoration and maintenance of ecosystems in a country require continued efforts; the first and 
foremost steps for the same include characterization, classification and mapping of ecosystems. 
In Nepal, several attempts have been made time and again for the purpose. However, the 
vegetation maps prepared by Dobremez and his colleagues in the 1970s have been the basis of 
all those efforts. The existing classifications of ecosystem are based on limited field studies of 
vegetation composition and structure, and analysis of bioclimatic and ecological conditions. 
In this regard, the Forest Research and Training Centre, under the Ministry of Forests and 
Environment, with the technical assistance from the UKAID’s Policy and Institutions Facility 
and the USAID’s Hariyo Ban Program, has initiated the Ecosystem and Forest Type Mapping 
(EFTM) Program to standardize the classification of Nepal’s ecosystems, and update the related 
maps based on a comprehensive and systematic study. The Program also aims at assessing 
ecosystem threats and vulnerabilities. Besides this Program, the FRTC has also been carrying 
out field studies to identify appropriate interventions to restore the degraded forests in the 
Churia and Middle Mountain regions. The findings of these research initiatives are expected to 
support decision making on ecosystem restoration and management across the country through 
a combined effort of federal, provincial, and local governments.

Editors
Banko Janakari

Banko Janakari, Vol 30 No. 2, 2020