EXAMINATION ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMSINCLUDING SOIL EROSION IN NEPALRISSHO UNIVERSITYDESHAR BASHU DEV

1. Introduction
The key environmental problems of Nepal are related to forests, soil, solid waste, water and air. In
Nepal, largely rural population is depending on land, forest and water resources for their livelihood. In
this paper, I have tried to focus on soil erosion problem in Nepal, which is crucial problem in Nepal
where more than 80% of the land area is mountainous and still tectonically active. Although
deforestation, overgrazing and intensive agriculture, due to population pressure, have caused
accelerated erosion. It is important to understand the erosion process under normal conditions and toassess the magnitude of the problem so that effective measures can be implemented.

2. Natural Environment of Nepal
Nepal lies in southern part of Asia, with high Himalayas surrounding the top northern part connectedwith the border of China, all the remaining three parts are connected with India. Relatively it is a small
landlocked country with the total area being 147,181 square kilometer. Almost 80 percent of the total
area is covered by high hills and mountains as there are 8 mountains which are above 8000 meter fromthe sea level. The estimated population of Nepal is 30 million (approx.) at the end of year 2010 A.D.
The increment in population is rapid and if we look at the data then in last 20 years the population has
almost doubled with the average growth rate of over 2 percent per year. About 5 Million of Nepali
people reside in India and over 4 million lives in different parts of the world, which makes around 21
million Nepali residing in Nepal in a density of 184 per square kilometer1.

2-1.Altitudinal Regions of Nepal
There is a wide altitudinal variation ranging from 60.22m in the South (Kanchankalan in Jhapadistrict) to 8848m (Mt. Everest) in the North. Such great variation of altitude within such small are
make its physiographic feature unique in the world that represents all land form features of the earth
except volcanic, marine and costal islands.
Physiologically, Nepal is divided into following regions:i. Terai with altitude up to 300 meter.

ii. Siwalik with altitudinal range 300 to 700 meter.
iii. Middle Mountain with altitudinal range 700 to 2000 meter.
iv. High Mountain with altitudinal range 2000 to 2500 meter.
1

Central Bureau of Statistics estimated when census started in Nepal on 22 July, 2011.

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v. High Himalayas with altitudinal range above 2500 meter.
Based on its physical environment, Nepal is divided into:i.

Lowlands: it includes all low lands up to 1000 meter.

ii.

Midland: it includes regions from 1000 to 3000 meter.

iii.

Highland: it includes regions from above 3000 meter.

On the basis of land features and slopes, Nepal is divided into:
i. Plains

ii. Plateaus or Tars

v. Valleys

vi. Mountains

iii. Hills

iv. Ridges

Nepal occupies only 0.1% of the earth is vast repositories of priceless biodiversity that includes;
863 bird species, 640 butterflies, 6500 flowering plants, 175 mammals, 600 indigenous plants. The
country posses over 2 percent of the world’s flowering plants, about 8 percent of the world’s bird
species and about 4 percent of the world’s mammal species. In terms of species richness, Nepal is the11th position in Asia and 25th position in the world (GoN, 2000).

2.2. Distribution of Land in Nepal
In Nepal 97 percent of surface area is covered by land. Most of the land is constituted by rock, slope
land; desert area etc. 68 percent area of Nepal is covered by mountain, 15 percent by hill and 17
percent by Terai region. 20.7 percent land area of Nepal is only viable for cultivation. Out of this 52.6
percent arable land lies in Terai region, 39.1 percent in hill and 8.3 percent in mountain.
Figure 1: Land used in Nepal
Figure 2: Distribution of Land on the basis of four Ecological Regions in Nepal

14%

43%

13%
30%
TeraiSiwlikHills

MountainSource: Environment Assessment of Nepal, 2006

2.3 Soils of Nepal
Since soil is a product of interaction among the vegetation, climate and the parent rock, different
type of soils characterize different eco-climatic zones of Nepal as follows:i.

TeraiSoils

ii. Bhabar Soils

Iii. Soils of Churiya Hills
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iv. Soils of the Valleys

v. Soils of Mountain Regions

3. Major Environmental Problems in Nepal
The key environmental problems of Nepal are related to forests, soil, solid waste, water and air.
Largely rural population of Nepal is almost totally depending on land, forest, and water resources fortheir livelihood. Some environmental problems of Nepal are mentioned below:
3.1 Forest Depletion

3.2 Soil Degradation

3.3 Water Pollution

3.4 Air Pollution

3.5 Solid Waste Management

3.6 Natural Disasters in Nepal

4. Soil Erosion as Serious Problem in Nepal
Problem of soil erosion in Nepal is serious in the hills. The reckless destruction of forest trees,shrubs and all kinds of vegetation leads to the loss of large tracts of fertile land every year duringmonsoon. Annually 1.7 mm of fertile topsoil gets lost in Nepal. Every year about 240 million tons ofsoil moves through rivers from Nepal to the Bay of Bengal. It leads to desertification and decline inland productivity. The estimate of average sediment contribution from the watersheds of some majorrivers originating from the high Himalayan region is Tamur 38.0, Sunkosi 21.0, Saptakosi 15.0 andArun 7.6 tons sediments per hectare per year. The Kosi River carries a load of 9.9 million cubic meterof silt every year (Lekhak, 2010).
The erosion rate in Nepal on grazing land and croplands is 2000-5000 tonnes/ km2/ year. The soilerosion rates in hills and mountains are 2000-5000 tonnes/ km2/ year in agriculture fields, and 200
tonnes/ ha/ year in some highly degraded watersheds. Crop yields in these areas declined by 8-21%
during 1970-1995.

4.1 Types of Soil Erosion:
Wind and water have been taken the most active agent of soil erosion. Both do the same job ofremoving and transporting the top soil. Thus, on the basis of these active agents, types of soil erosion
can be classified as:i.

Water Erosion

ii. Wind Erosion

iii.

Desertification

4.2 Factors and Causes of Soil Erosion:
Soil erosion is recognized as a serious environmental problem in Nepal. The country is mountainous
for the most part (>80 percent) and the terrain is rugged and characterized by unstable and steep slopes,
making it vulnerable to exogenous factors. Of these, the torrential monsoon rainfall that occurs withina short span of time is an important cause of soil erosion from mountain slopes. On the other hand,different forms of mass wasting, such as landslides, slumps, rock and river cutting are responsible forsedimentation in the valleys, plains and river basins, which also causes degradation of soil fertility.
Development works, particularly the construction of roads and irrigation canals, has also contribution3

to landslides and soil erosion increasing livestock population and over-grazing is a cause of massive
soil erosion at greater rates.

4.3 Impacts of Soil Erosion on Local Environment and Human Health:
Soil erosion is one of the serious problems, especially in agro-based economy. Agriculture
development and food production depend on fertility power of soil. High degree of soil erosion loosed
the fertile topsoil. As a result, agriculture production and productivity will also decrease. Social,economic and environmental sectors are highly affected by soil removal or erosion. Whatever, soilerosion is a natural process. The impacts of soil erosion are many and all are closely related toenvironmental degradation. One of the direct impacts of soil erosion is the loss of fine topsoil. There isalso depletion of organic matter and plant nutrients along with the topsoil, which ultimately affects soilfertility. It is estimated that a loss of soil at the rate of 5 tons/ha. is equivalent to the loss of 75 kg/ha.
of organic matter, 3.8 kg/ha. of nitrogen, 10 kg/ha. of potassium and 5 kg/ha. of phosphorus. The
specific impacts of soil erosion in Nepal are as follows:

5. Nepal’s Environmental and Natural Resources Policies
The Conservation Strategy endorsed by the Government of Nepal in 1988 includes a number ofprograms to internalize the environmental impact assessment (EIA) system in Nepal. The strategy
underscores the need to ascertain the potential consequences of development activities on theenvironment and to minimize detrimental effects.
The Nepalese government formed a Land Reform Commission in 1953 and its First Five Year Plan
was launched in 1956. Since then, Nepal has successfully completed 10 five-year plans and currently
is into the Three-year Interim Plan. These plans have emphasized the overall development of thenation through developments in agriculture, forestry, water resources, population control, trade,transportation, industries, and other issues. The development of long term plans such as a Master Planfor the Forest Sector (MPFS) (1989-2010), the Agriculture Perspective Plan (1997-2017), the Nepal
Water Plan (2002-2027), the Renewable Energy Perspective Plan of Nepal (2000-2020), thePerspective Energy Plan (1991-2017), and the Tiger Conservation Action Plan (2008-2012), clearly
indicate Nepal's emphasis on environmental and natural resources for the nation's economic
development. Various environmental and natural resources policies, guidelines, acts, and regulations
after Nepal had begun planned development were compiled.
Natural resources policies which were begun through the centralization of management and decision
making through the introduction of the Private Forests Nationalization Act of 1957 turned into
decentralized management, especially in the forest sector, after the development of the National
Forestry Plan of 1976 and the introduction of the Panchayat Forest Rules of 1978 and the Community
Forestry Programs in 1980. In the past two decades, Nepal's policy decision making has been quite ad
hoc in nature, hasty as well as haphazard. Often polices were made with limited discussion and4

without understanding what the policy entailed. Despite active roles played by several international
agencies the private sector and NGOs in recent years in policy formulations and implementations.
Nepal's success in policy implementation is very unsatisfactory. This policy failure is primarily due tothe lack of a comprehensive and systematic policy framework, especially in environmental and naturalresources, and the lack of adequate engagement of the public in the policy process. A systematic
policy approach enhances the involvement of ordinary citizens, the media, and other stakeholders in
the policy process, establishes a momentum of national awareness, and develops commitment toresource conservation and development (NPC, 2003).
6. Land Degradation Control Measures in Nepal
Land degradation is one of the important factors to hinder agricultural production in Nepal.
Government level measures to conserve and its proper planning and development have been thefollowing:*Establishment of the Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management in 19742.
*Another milestone attempt was the formulation of the Land and Watershed Conservation Act(1982) .
*Adoption of community forestry3 has been considered one of the successful policy initiatives incontrolling land degradation.
The UN Convention to Combat Desertification was signed by Nepal on Oct 12 1995 and since thenit is obliged to combat desertification and to prepare national action plan including programs forpoverty reduction, which is closely related with land degradation (Pradhan, 2008).

7. Land Related Policies of the Government of Nepal
Land is a principle resource of Nepal and constitutes about 97 percent of its total area. But thecountry’s topography is rugged with over three quarters of the total area made up mountains andintermountain valleys. Land resource has economic, social, political, cultural and environmental
meaning. Land and life are inseparable components to one another.
The Three Year Interim Plan (2007-2010 A.D.)
The following policies had been adopted in three year interim plan of Nepal relating to land
resource of the country. It is notable that the next plan of Nepal has not been introduced till the date:

8. Controlling Measures of Soil Erosion
Unless loss of soil is checked, it would amount to a great loss for mankind. Thus man has made useof his ecological training in the preservation of this one of the most important resources. The chief

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Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management in Nepal is taken as milestone for soil conservation.
Community forestry is taken as one of the successful programs in Nepal and exemplary in South Asia too.

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agents of soil erosion are water and wind. The actual art of soil conservation is based on certain basic
principles.
Keeping in view, ideal measures and principles, ecologists and agriculturists have devised several
methods of soil conservation which are given below:
8.1 Biological Methods

8.2 Mechanical Methods

8.3 Other Methods

9. Conclusion
In this paper, I have tried to focus on the soil erosion problem with different environmental issues inNepal. Even though, being an underdeveloped country Nepal recently seems quite aware inenvironmental problems. There are so many good movements made by the government and private
sector for keeping the country neat, clean and green. Although, practical implementation is lacking indifferent places including environmental issues and problems, the sincerity towards environment has
been observed positive in overall sense and possible solutions are also discussed sincerely afterestablishment of Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Management in 1974. In terms ofenergy generation and consumption, Nepal is environment friendly and has several plans to cut-off theemissions caused by the fossil fuel, and the alternative of fossil fuel, bio-fuels and bio-gas plants arefocused to establish. But Nepal still have to design educational syllabus related to resources
consumption, proper planning, strategy formulation, energy generation, environmental problem
assessment and proper implementation of these measures.
******References:
1. Central Bureau of Statistics (2001). Nepal State ofEnvironment, CBS, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu.
2. (2005). Environment Statistics of Nepal, CBS, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu.
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4. (2008). Environment Statistics of Nepal, CBS, Kathmandu, Nepal.
5. GON (2000). Application of Satellite Remote Sensing in Forest Resource Management in Nepal, Department of Forest
Research and Survey, Kathmandu, Nepal.
6. Lekhak, H.D. and Binod (2010). Natural Resource Conservation and Sustainable Development in Nepal,Kshitiz
Publication, Kirtipur, Kathmandu.
7. Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (2008). Nepal State of the Environment, MoEC, Government of Nepal,Kathmandu.
8. .National Planning Commission (2003). The Tenth 5-Year Plan (2002-2007), NPC, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu
9. (2007). Three Year Interim Plan (2007-2010), NPC, Government of Nepal, Kathmandu.
10. Pradhan, P.K. (2008). Environment and Natural Resources: Concepts, Methods, Planning and Management, QuestPublication, Kirtipur, Kathmandu.
11. Sapkota, B. D. and Khadka, B. (2065 BS). Rural Resources, Environment and Management, Sunlight Publication,Kirtipur, Kathmandu.
12. Wright, R.T. (2007). Environmental Science (Ninth Ed.), Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd. India.

Online:1.

www.cbs.gov.np/environment statistics/Accessed: 10, July 2011-Kathmandu.

2. www.emdat.be/disasters/Accessed: 10, July 2011-Kathmandu.
3. www.moh.gov.np/disasters/Accessed: 8, July 2011-Kathmandu.
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