Nepal

The Kingdom of Nepal, situated on the northern rim of South Asia, covers 147,181-sq. km. and contains complex maze of mountains and ridges, interspersed by deep valleys and lowlands.  The country can be divided into 3 fairly distinct regions: the Terai between 60 and 300 metres above sea level, the hills, between 300 and 3000 metres and the mountains, above 3000 metres.  These physiographic extremes have resulted in narrow bio-climatic zones with tropical, temperate and tundra vegetation types and climates falling very close to one another.  Three major river systems drain most of Nepal: The Karnali, The Gandaki and The Koshi.
 
Approximately (0.6 million hectares are under cultivation in the hills and the mountains.  The average farm holding is 0.5 hectares, compared to 1.7 in the terai.  Three-quarters of the cultivable land are in the upland terraces, the remainder in the valleys.  Population exceeds 1800 person per square kilometre of arable land.
 
Until recently, Nepali agriculture was self sustaining, but now agriculture productivity is declining as the growing population demands more land, more building materials and more fuel wood.  Fragile marginal land is being cultivated and deforestation is becoming widespread.  The net result has been an ecological imbalance, soil erosion and landslides.
 
The forests constitute one of Nepal's major resources.  With the rapid increase in population, demand has grown for cultivable land, fuel wood, fodder and timber with negative results on the forests.  As people seek more land and clear trees from the steeper slopes the danger of soil erosion increases.