This project investigated long-term landscape investments in order to understand how people’s landscape use and economic and social structures are mutually constituted with very different outcomes for different social groups in a hierarchical society such as Nepal contributing to the growing body of socio-political nuanced understandings of resilience and adaptive capacity, as well.
Mountain areas are central to ecosystem functions and biodiversity hotspots. They are also inhabited by deeply impoverished populations. People in the Himalayan landscapes have long lived in contexts of chronic structural risks generated by climate change and deeper socio-political factors in Nepalese society. One strategy has been large collective and individual labour investments in the landscape.
This research investigated such long term landscape investments in order to understand how people’s landscape use and economic and social structures are mutually constituted with very different outcomes for different social groups in a hierarchical society such as Nepal. It does so in a situation where patterns of outmigration creates a situation of rural labour scarcity, which has relatively unknown consequences for land uses and landscapes.
The interdisciplinary research team used the own developed method ‘ES-walks’, in combination with various forms of interviews and collaborative activities in three contrasting mountain landscapes.
The project contributed to the growing body of socio-political nuanced understandings of resilience and adaptive capacity, as well as analysed and reflected on development and environmental changes in an integrated manner. Such knowledge of human-environmental relations is crucial for supporting and improving smallholders’ rural livelihood opportunities.
Figure above: A map showing the study sites in Nepal.
