Brief report on the Round Table Meeting on "Mountain Development Policies in Nepal."

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Agrarian Studies, course: Agricultural Policy, language: English, abstract: Geographical Condition: Nepal, predominantly a mountainous, agrarian and landlocked country, has an area of 147,181 sq.km. with a population of about 22.3 million. It is geographically divided into three geo-ecological zones: Mountain (4,877m - 8,848 m above the mean sea level), Hills (610 m - 4,877m), and Terai (59 m - 610m). The Terai region, a low flat land, is an extension of the Gangetic plains of India. It is a narrow tropical belt occupying 23 percent of the country's total land area providing dwelling to 49.06 percent of the total population. About 40 percent area of the region is cultivable. [...]

The book provides an overview of the economic, political, and social environment in Nepal and the challenges confronting the country in eliciting its economic growth potential. The book provides an insightful framework of an inclusive development strategy in the context of symbiotic relationships between urban and rural areas as well as among the three eco-belts, i.e.,tarai, hills, and mountain areas. Against this backdrop, the strategy calls for prioritized and focused investments on the region's growth potential to induce maximum economic growth impact.

Around half of the world's population depends directly or indirectly on mountain resources for different products and services. Having a means for economic valuation of these services will help increase recognition of their value and provide a way of ensuring fair distribution of the costs and benefits of conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. In addition, valuation is necessary for developing payment for ecosystem services schemes, which have significant potential to create new funding opportunities for biodiversity protection and other ecosystem services. This paper outlines a general framework for economic valuation of ecosystem services focusing on mountain specific situations, which could be applied in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region.