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National Parks and Local Development: Grasses and People in Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

John F. Lehmkuhl ,
Rajesh K. Upreti  and
Uday R. Sharma
Rajesh K. Upreti
Affiliation:
Botanist, King Mahendra Trust/IIED Grassland Ecology and Human Use Project, P.O. Box 3712, Kathmandu, Nepal
Uday R. Sharma
Affiliation:
Chief Warden, Royal Chitwan National Park, Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, Babar Mahal, Kathmandu, Nepal.
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Extract

National parks in ‘developing countries’ have tended to deviate from the western model of strict protection in order to include economic development of local people in their park management philosophy. Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal, has been managed in such a way as to allow for limited collection of grassland products to meet vital needs of villagers for structural material.

Nearly 60,000 people are annually allowed to cut thatch and reed grasses for a nominal fee during two weeks in January: such visitation amounts each year to over 216,000 visitor-days. The total weight and value of grass products removed from the Park each year is estimated at 11,132 metric tonnes, worth NR 9.9 millions (about US $450,000). Subtraction of labour and permit costs yielded a net value of about NR 5.5 millions (about US $250,000) to the local economy. Individual villagers save about NR 2,000 (US $90) in costs for thatching material, and about NR 500 (US $25) for building canes, compared with what they would have to pay for other materials to build a house. Alternative products available in the market were considered to be unaffordable substitutes by more than 75% of the villagers questioned.

Villager attitudes toward the Park are becoming more positive as they begin to realize that the Park is a valuable, needed source of managed resources that are not so easily, or not at all, available elsewhere.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , Summer 1988 , pp. 143 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1988

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