Household Dependency on Buffer Zone Community Forest and its Implication for Management of Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Conservation of biodiversity in Protected Areas will be more challenging if local communities are heavily dependent on them for various forest products and subsistence needs. Thus this study sought to identify the demographic and socioeconomic variable that influence forest dependency exploring the relationship of forest dependency and household characteristics of the households of the Panbari Buffer Zone Community Forest User Group of Chitwan National Park, Nepal. A sample of 130 households was randomly selected for the household survey using stratified random sampling and collected was analyzed using logistic regression model. Logistic regression result indicate that wealth status of the poor household, household family size, livestock population, agricultural income and education are the five major determinants of forest dependency in Panbari Buffer Zone Community Forest. Policy interventions to ensure long-term success of landscape-level conservation of Chitwan National Park are needed to decrease dependence on forest resources expanding educational and training opportunities; and the policy measures that aim at increasing agriculture income, generating off-farm employment opportunities, supply of the alternatives of fuel wood energy and adopting agrisilvicultural system for the supply of fodder for the livestock.