Study of Vegetation Ecology, Conservation and Management Practices of Betini Community Forest in Mangalbare Urlabari of Morang District, East Nepal

Abstract

A study on vegetation ecology, conservation and management practice of Betini Community Forest (BCF) was conducted in Urlabari Village Development Committee (VDC) of Morang district of Eastern Nepal. The field work was conducted on the month of January to March in 2011. The major objectives of this research were to study the species diversity of the forest and its status, demand and sustainable supply of the forest product, to identify the management practice of the community forest (CF) and to analyze the socioeconomic aspect of the Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs). The methodologies include both primary and secondary data collection. The primary data were collected by vegetation survey, socioeconomic survey, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), Key Informant Interview (KI) and Interaction with management committee. The secondary data were collected through the internet, report, and other related journals. Vegetation survey was conducted by using random sampling method in 49 quadrates where as socio economic survey was conducted using structured questionnaires of 79 HH through stratified random sampling method. The density and diversity index of the forest indicates that the forest was dense (higher diversity) with dominant species of Shorea robusta and the forest was more evenly distributed. The forest was found to be good in terms of high regenerating species. However the demand of forest product does not match with the supply from CF. Resources demand was found to be two times more in fuelwood and 35 th times more in fodder than the forest can supply. Large farm households (HH) have fulfilled the deficit of fodder and fuelwood through their own land and have adopted alternative energy resources like biogas. The landless and small farm HH had high pressure on the CF regarding the fuelwood and fodder. The unequal resource distribution compels the locals for illegal extraction of resource from the CF. The forest management practice of the CF was found to be weeding, thinning and new plantation which is entirely depends on their traditional knowledge. Also the forest provided good habitat for the different kind of animals, birds, and maintain biological corridor of elephant. Key Words: Community Forest, Forest User Groups, Demand, Sustainable supply, Species Diversity, Biodiversity Conservation, Biological Corridor