The Changing Geoecology of Karnali Zone, Western Nepal Himalaya: A Case of Stress^∗, ^†

Abstract

Karnali Zone in Western Nepal is a microcosm of the exacerbated geoecological stress that is now being caused by increasing human impact in Nepal. This paper examines a spectrum of key cultural and physical variables operating in a multidimensional time-space matrix that affects accelerating environmental degradation. The intermontane basin complex of Karnali Zone displays a succession of altitudinal belts or ecological niches with corresponding climatic and vegetational associations. Visible here is the impact of two millennia of human occupance in a region of limited and varied resources. Traditionally, the multiethnic population's agriculturally based subsistence economy has produced insufficient food grains. Therefore, various combinations of agriculture, animal husbandry, home industry, trade, and winter out-migrations for work in India were followed. These livelihood pursuits were integrated through the seasonal movements of people, animals, and goods, and were rhythmically regulated by climatic variations. Careful scheduling over time and space allowed economic symbiosis to function at subsistence level. This system is modeled here in order to focus on its essential components and to identify the major constraints that impede its processes: (1) cultural attitudes and training; (2) limited natural resources; (3) primitive agricultural and animal technologies; (4) inadequate transportation and trade technologies; and (5) changing health and population dynamics. For over a century prior to 1951, these constraints regulated the system and allowed it to function in a viable and fairly balanced manner. Human numbers had not yet exceeded land and energy resource capacities. However, in the past 26 yr since the end of Rana isolationism, an increasing number of external economic, political, and social forces have disrupted this steady state. In turn, the five major constraints are no longer regulators; instead they are restrictors which are destroying the traditional ways of life by preventing harmonious use of the environment. This paper demonstrates the value of incorporating cultural, as well as physical, variables in the analysis of delicate mountain ecosystems, because a holistic understanding of the problems is required before successful strategies for stabilizing fragile mountain habitats can be developed and implemented.