Patch Analysis of Cultivated Land Abandonment in the Hills of Western Nepal
Growing natural vegetation on abandoned cultivated land is increasing in many parts of the world. Release of population pressure on marginal hill areas due to heavy outmigration in recent decades has resulted in growing land abandonment at marginal hill a
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Patch Analysis of Cultivated Land Abandonment in the Hills of Western Nepal Chhabi Lal Chidi
Abstract Growing natural vegetation on abandoned cultivated land is increasing in many parts of the world. Release of population pressure on marginal hill areas due to heavy outmigration in recent decades has resulted in growing land abandonment at marginal hill areas. Patch-level analysis is a useful method to identify the land abandonment situation. Patch-level data of abandoned and not abandoned cultivated land were derived from Landsat image. Descriptive statistics, abandonment ratio and nonparametric statistical tools have been used. Andhikhola watershed of the middle hill of Nepal is the study area. Land abandonment is higher at higher altitude and north-facing slope. Smaller patches have been more abandoned than larger patches. Even larger patches have been abandoned at higher-altitude regions. Although distance to highway and urban centre have a great influence on land abandonment, there are many other factors among which edge contrast, slope gradient and slope aspect are very important. Keywords Abandonment ratio ment Patch size
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Introduction
Growing natural vegetation as a result of decline in traditional agricultural practices can be observed worldwide (Gellrich et al. 2007). Expansion of cultivated land even in mountain slope has occurred due to rapid population growth resulting in growing environmental degradation and poverty in the Nepal Himalaya (Ekholm 1975). In the last two decades, heavy outmigration of population from rural hill and mountain areas has resulted in growing land abandonment because of the relating labour deficit. However, land abandonment is not only because of the depopulation but also because of the fact that the agriculture system of these areas has reduced the C.L. Chidi (&) Central Department of Geography, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 A. Li et al. (eds.), Land Cover Change and Its Eco-environmental Responses in Nepal, Springer Geography, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2890-8_6
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scope for enhancement of productivity of traditional agriculture also because of fragile mountain environment, poor economies of scale owing to the highly fragmented and diversified biophysical condition, and resistance to adopting modern, market-oriented farming practice by mountain people (Walther 1986; Vogel 1988; MacDonald et al. 2000). As a result, cultivated land is shrinking. Invasion of cultivated land by natural vegetation is increasing day by day (Chidi 2015). It has a tremendously adverse impact on food security and local livelihood, in areas which have been already suffering from mass poverty and food deficit (Khanal and Watanabe 2006). Remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) technology have made it easier for real-time data derivation of changing pattern of landscape and land use. Landscape metrics are used in res
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