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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

Legal frameworks for Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Services in the Himalayas (HimaLines)

Awarded: NOK 6.5 mill.

Himalines was a multidisciplinary project involving legal science, biology and geography/ social anthroplogy. The aim was to investigate and analyse the possible effects of different legal arrangements or schemes on biodiversity development in forest areas, also seen in relation to cultural and other factors influencing the use of forests. This will give the basis for understanding of which legal regimes are most suitable to achieve different goals in countries with a non-western legal culture. Emphasis will be made on possible schemes for incentives or compensation schemes authorities might use in order to make local users of forests interested or willing to contribute to achieve the government's goals for forest management. The project has been carried out in cooperation between researchers from the University of Bergen (law, biology, geography/social anthropology) and Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. Cooperation with researchers from Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh, and the Oxford University have also taken place. Field studies with data collection has been carried out regarding the status of the forest and ecological services in six areas inside and outside protected areas in Annapurna, Langtang, and the Kathmandu Valley. Simultaneously interviews with local users of the forests and people involved with forest management in nearby villages concerning rights to forest access, customs and practices and possible conflicts related to people's use of the forests and forests resources. Surveys and questionnaires were used, partly in the same areas and partly in other areas, in order to increase the basis for comparison. Also the views or perceptions of the local people on international schemes for protection of the forests, like REDD+, has been part of this survey. The results from the biological mapping have been compared to the legal regimes for the areas and the results from the interviews with the local users of the forests in the same areas. Special emphasis has been put on the effect of the decentralization of the forest management that has taken place by implementation of the "local forest user groups" which gets to govern the forest close to the villages, and of the protection measures that are implemented in order to achieve national and international goals for biodiversity and ecosystem services like carbon storage. The aim is to analyse the effect of the interplay between legal norms and cultural and economic factors for the utilization of the area and thus the development of biodiversity in the forests. In this analysis legal method and the method of economic analysis of law (law & economics), including theory of the effect of institutional development, are utilized. The project demonstrates that the biodiversity generally are richer inside the protected areas than outside, but this does not apply everywhere. In some areas it was the other way around. The most important factor for biodiversity as well as carbon storage was the distance to the nearest village; the closer, the less biodiversity or carbon storage. It is not protection in itself that is the most important, but the actual use "on the ground". In the further management of biological resources as the forests in Himalaya, it is important that people living in the areas have access to alternative sources of energy in order not to overuse the forest. It is also important to develop institutional instruments in order to channel some of the benefits from ecosystem services provided by the forests back to the local people.

Maintenance of biodiversity and other ecosystems services essential for human well-being requires an effective legal framework to prevent over-exploitation and give incentive for protection of biodiversity. There is uncertainty about what types of legal f ramework are most effective in different ecological, economic and cultural settings. HimaLines will test is that legal frameworks and property structure are influencing ecosystem services, including biodiversity, and that differences in legal frameworks w ill affect services and benefits. Protection (national parks or conservation areas) has been efficient in limiting land-use and ecosystem service degradation, but biodiversity can also be protected by regulation of land-use and establishment of incentives for maintaining biodiversity in non-protected areas. These effects can be quantified and assessed. Specifically, in the Himalayas, we will test: Prediction 1: Differences in legal frameworks between National Parks, Conservation Areas, Buffer Zones and t he surrounding matrix landscape is reflected in the local land-use practices. Prediction 2: Given that deforestation, land-use change and property rights are so closely linked, the potential of forest utilization in providing timber, fuelwood, fodder and medicinal/edible plants while restoring degraded land is feasible. Prediction 3: Tree population structure and dynamics are affected by land-use and tree regeneration will differ between protected and unprotected areas. Prediction 4: Wild edible, medicina l and aromatic plants are highly valued in Nepal. Differences in legal frameworks between protected and non-protected areas will affect harvesting regimes and hence population dynamics of these species (ecosystem benefits) differently.

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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam