PAPER
Human Impact on Plant Resources
Evidences from Western
Chitwan, Nepal
Introduction
Human activities are principal
causes for change in natural
resources. These activities include
environmental consumption and
introduction of plant species for
different purposes. The rural
people of Nepal highly depend on
plant resources for medicine,
timber, fuel-wood, food, fodder
plants, buildings, animal-sheds,
wild genetic resources for
improving crop plants, etc.
In Nepal, many scientists
explored and documented
information on plant resource uses
from different parts of Nepal.
Among the useful plants recorded,
a renowned ethnobotanist, Dr. N.
P. Manandhar reported that 800
species were recorded as
medicinal plants, 440 species as
wild food plants, 100 species as
fodder and animal bed, 71 species
as fiber bearing plants, and 30
species as spices. This indicates
that the people of Nepal exert
pressure on plants of different
ecosystems. To describe the
impact of people on plant
resources of forests and common
lands of western Chitwan, Nepal,
field observation and data
gathered for “the reciprocal
relationship study between
population and environment
conducted in 1996, 2000 and
2006” were used.
Impact of conversion of land
The forest and common lands
are the habitats for growing
indigenous plants. These lands are
converted for the purpose of
constructing huts, or buildings of
clubs/ gymnasium/ temples. In
some areas, common or forest
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lands are converted to agricultural
fields, agricultural lands to fallow
or abandoned or protected areas
in western Chitwan. This type of
human activity replaces natural
ecosystems temporarily or
permanently and changes flora of
the area. For instances, Oxalis
corniculata, Rungia parviflora,
Desmodium triflorum of the
common lands of Ghailaghari of
Jagatpur area were replaced by
Urtica dioica, Clerodendrum
viscosum, and Pogostemon
benghalensis when the land was
protected by Park and People
Program in collaboration with local
people of the area.
Impact of agriculture
In rural areas, farmers live in a
house with a courtyard, kitchen
garden and khetland or bariland.
They also keep some animals,
especially buffalo, cattle, goats
and sheep. To keep animals and
store other farm products (straw)
and fuelwood, each farmer has a
Dhansar. They also have planted
Bakaino for fodder and fuelwood
or Euphorbia roylena as hedge
plants. Some farmers use local
plants, for example, Justicia
adhatoda as green manure and
Artemisia dubia as insect repellent.
Agricultural entomologists are now
searching alternative way to
replace or find out the integrated
pest management. They are
conducting experiments to screen
effectiveness of plants for
controlling insect pests of different
crops. If the tested botanicals are
used on commercial scale, the
change on vegetation may be
marked due to mass exploitation of
the plants for their products.
Impact of grazing or fodder
collection
Domestic animals either graze
in the natural or man-made
environments or stall-feed. Due to
daily use of the track by the
animals and even by humans, one
can see the trampling effect on the
ground flora. Animals are also
selective in grazing and graze on
plants, which are palatable. The
unpalatable plants are left in the
ground, as a result the habitat is
covered by weedy species like
Lantana camara, Eupatorium
odoratum, Clerodendrum
viscosum, Parthenium
hysterophorus, Ageratum
houstonianum especially on the
grounds of the roadsides,
canalways and other common
lands.
Impact of tourism industry
In Chitwan, Wildlife tourism is
very famous and uses the riverine
forest and the grassland habitats
to see one-horned rhinoceros,
peacock, deer, hogs, fowls, etc. in
the Chitwan National Park and
villages/ parts of western Chitwan.
As a result of tourists flow in
Chitwan, many hotels and lodges
were made using local plant
materials including plant canes,
poles, posts, beams and plant
fibers. In the lodge or hotel
environment, also a lot of alien
ornamental plants were introduced
for beautification. Some plants, for
example Justicia gendarusa- a
common species with strong
propagating potential, are
becoming problem even in the
jungle of National Park. Besides,
this industry also consumes a lot
of fuelwood for warming rooms,
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boiling water, and for camp firing.
Impact of social and religious
activities
Religious people, especially
women, need lot of flowers to
worship the god and goddess.
They pick up flowers from different
places. The environment of the
temples may have many
ornamental plants such as
Poinsettia pulcherrima, Nyctanthes
arbortris, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis,
Catharanthus roseus, Thevetia
peruviana, and Cynodon dactylon.
Impact of conservation
education and research
To protect biodiversity and
ecosystems, many organizations
and individuals are conducting
research and training events on
conservation of habitats and
species. As a result of such
activities, people became aware
about nature conservation and
started to participate in the
protection of nature, culture,
indigenous knowledge and
biodiversity. Park and People
program, for example, protected a
forested area mobilizing local
people of the area. As a result of
protection, tall forest shrubs
replaced the herbaceous ground
vegetation of a place and herbs and
rhinos started to come from the
jungle and live there. The impact of
research activities may be cited
giving the example of Ecological
Services Center or Rampur
Campus. In Rampur Campus,
researchers are introducing
germplasms of citrus collected from
different parts of Nepal in the
research farm. This also brought
changes in the weed vegetation of
the citrus plantation area.
Impact of resource utilization
People of western Chitwan
utilize plant resources of forests as
well as common lands for many
purposes, including timber, food,
medicine, fodder, fuelwood, and
many others. Overexploitation of
the plant resource causes the
resource depletion, biodiversity
loss, environmental degradation,
etc. Due to overexploitation, some
of the species, for example
Rauwolfia serpentina, Asparagus
racemosus, Helicteres isora
already became rare or
NTTR December 17 - 30, 2007
endangered in the forests of
western Chitwan.
Impact of alien plants
In western Chitwan, many alien
plants are introduced in forest and
common lands. Many alien
species, for example Ageratum
houstonianum, is naturalized not
only in agricultural fields but also in
natural forests, community forests,
and common lands. Such species
are responsible for replacing
useful species, especially fodders
grasses. Other common invasive
alien species such as Lantana
camara, and Eupatorium odoratum
are abundantly found on the
roadsides, playing grounds and
paths that are the habitats for
invasive species. In addition,
residents of western Chitwan also
cultivate many alien species for
beautification. The widely
cultivated ornamental species
include: Tabermontana coronariea,
Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Polyalthia
longifolia and pendula, Roses,
Poinsettia pulcherrima, Tagetus
spp., Gladiolus spp., etc.
Impact of construction works
In our study area, B. P.
Memorial Cancer Hospital gives a
picture of a change in the former
Yagya Puri Horticulture Farm.
Here, the land of orchards was
converted to construct buildings
and roads of the hospital. Further,
the roads were black topped or
graveled leaving no space for
growing plants. Most of the areas
were cleared for planting
ornamental plants such as
Acalypha hispida, Dahlia,
Bougainvillea, and other annuals
and perennials for beautification of
the area replacing indigenous
plants.
Conclusion
Neighborhoods of western
Chitwan use plants for many
purposes. Because of utilization of
the resources, many plants, which
are useful, are getting under
pressure. The human pressure on
the species becomes higher when
the species have multi-uses. The
trees, which have timber as well as
fodder and fuelwood value, receive
higher pressure. Some plants with
multiuses are Dalbergia sissoo,
Shorea robusta, Terminalia alata,
Phyllanthus emblica, Trewia
nudiflora. Such multipurpose trees
are illegally cut for timber or
fuelwood or fodder.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by
a grant from the National Institute
of Child Health and Human
Development (Grant # Rol-HD
33551), USA. I extend my sincere
thanks to Dr. William G. Axinn
(Principal Investigator) and Dr. D.
J. Ghimire for encouraging me to
write papers.
Dr. Dharma Raj Dangol
Senior Research Associate in
Institute for Social and
Environmental Research, Fulbari,
Chitwan, Nepal
dharmadangol@hotmail.com,
iser@wlink.com.np
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