Soil Health and Sustainable Land Resource Management Practices at Municipal Level: A Case from Bheri Nagarpalika (Municipality), Jajorkot District, Nepal

The increasing challenges of pressure and ever-growing demands on limited resources in Nepal by diverse actors,land degradation,biodiversity loss and climate change require the rational use of land resources to sustain and enhance productivity and maintain resilient ecosystems for achieving the sustainable and efficient use of resources,taking into account biophysical and socioeconomic dimensions.Regarding this,Nepal Government has realized and taken initiation of scientific and sustainable land use zoning following the National Land Use Act 2019(2076 B.S.)to use land resources in practicable and sustainable manner.Using spatial information techniques such asZ-3 satellite image,remote sensing(RS),global positioning system(GPS)and geographic information system(GIS).Multicriteria decision making(MCDM)methods for acquiring spatial/temporal data,through expert judgment techniques based on field observation as well as laboratory analysis result,it was found that the soil nutrient status of,the municipality varied spatially and has pH with very high acidic to slightly alkaline but most of the soils are slightly acidic(39.58%).Majority of the soil are loam and sandy loam type with very low to high level of organic matter.Most of the municipal area is under medium range of organic matter.Nitrogen content ranges from very low to very high level as to same ranges of phosphorous(37.69%).Potassium level is also in very high to low as 37 percent land area has high level of potassium.Reclamation of acidic soil mainly in leachable soil is recommended with the proper management of Nitrogen with addition of organic matter is needed to manage for improving crop production.

Upstream-downstream linkages of hydrological processes in the Himalayan region

Understanding the upstream-downstream linkages in hydrological processes is essential for water resources planning in river basins.Although there are many studies of individual aspects of these processes in the Himalayan region,studies along the length of the basins are limited.This study summarizes the present state of knowledge about linkages in hydrological processes between upstream and downstream areas of river basins in the Himalayan region based on a literature review.The paper studies the linkages between the changes in the physical environment of upstream areas(land use,snow storage,and soil erosion)and of climate change on the downstream water availability,flood and dry season flow,and erosion and sedimentation.It is argued that these linkages are complex due to the extreme altitudinal range associated with the young and fragile geology,extreme seasonal and spatial variation in rainfall,and diversity of anthropogenic processes.Based on the findings,the paper concludes that integrated systems analysis is required to understand the holistic complexity of upstream-downstream linkages of hydrological processes in the river basin context.The integrated land and water resources management(ILWRM)approach can be instrumental in developing adaptive solutions to problems and can also enable stakeholders of upstream and downstream areas with various interests and needs to work together for the better utilization and management of land and water resources.As a part of this,the specific circumstances of the upstream communities,who live in fragile and inaccessible mountain areas with limited resource opportunities,should be taken into account so that incentive mechanisms can be established to encourage and acknowledge their contribution.