TY - JOUR AU - Singh, BK PY - 2010/08/05 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Assessment of the Upstream Churia Hills and Downstream Terai Plains Linkage: An Environmental Services Perspective JF - Banko Janakari JA - Banko VL - 20 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.3126/banko.v20i1.3504 UR - https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/BANKO/article/view/3504 SP - 17-23 AB - The Terai, considered the granary of Nepal, is facing serious threat from siltation originating<br />from the Churia hills mainly due to heavy deforestation together with forest and watershed<br />degradation. Discussions with local community people revealed that no such problem<br />existed 5-6 decades ago when the Churia forest was intact. All the forestry sector policies<br />had recognized the Churia hills as fragile and environmentally sensitive, but the concerned<br />government agencies and the local community people have not been able to conserve<br />this region effectively. There is heavy exploitation of the Churia hills for the extraction of<br />timber, firewood, non-timber forest products, and for grazing resources. In addition, gravel,<br />sand and boulders are also being extracted for the sake of revenue to the local<br />governments. Jalad River of Dhanusha district originating from the Churia hills has been<br />converting fertile and productive agriculture lands into barren river beds at the rate of 25<br />hectares a year. The Churia hills should be conserved for the environmental services of<br />the watershed to the entire Terai region rather than for provisioning tangible forest products<br />services only to the upstream local communities.<br /><br /><strong>Key Words:</strong> Environmental services; Churia-Terai linkage; PES; upstream-downstream<br /><br />DOI: 10.3126/banko.v20i1.3504<br /><br /><em>Banko Janakari</em>, Vol. 20, No. 1 pp.17-23 ER -