IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v14y2025i5p1057-d1654710.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impacts of Conservation-Led Resettlements in Nepal: Ecological Perspectives

Author

Listed:
  • Hari Prasad Pandey

    (Institute of Life Sciences and the Environment, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
    Department of Forests and Soil Conservation, Ministry of Forests and Environment, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal)

  • Armando Apan

    (Institute of Life Sciences and the Environment, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
    Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines)

  • Tek Narayan Maraseni

    (Institute of Life Sciences and the Environment, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia
    Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China)

Abstract

The widespread practice of deliberate human displacement for biodiversity conservation remains a contentious issue in the Anthropocene era. This study explores the ecological impacts of conservation-led resettlement (ER) in Nepal’s Terai Arc Landscape (TAL), a biodiverse region under significant conservation and development pressures. Although ER aims to enhance ecological integrity, the role of displacement in conservation has been understudied. Using case studies from the TAL, we examined ecological indicators in vacated settlement areas within parks and newly resettled sites outside protected zones. Data were collected through a review of secondary literature, 240 household interviews, 5 focus group discussions, 25 key informant interviews, and multiple field visits across resettlement sites. Between 1973 and 2019, TAL gained 922.52 sq. km of core protected areas (displacing over 4800 households) and dispossessed communities from 2120.12 sq. km of buffer zones, significantly expanding protected areas and upgrading conservation standards from IUCN category IV to II. This contributed to the recovery of key species such as tigers, rhinos, and elephants. However, resettlements, often located along critical biological corridors and buffer zones, led to habitat fragmentation, endangering the gene pool flow and creating isolated habitats. Results show that, in general, most ecosystem and environmental variables were perceived significantly different ( p < 0.05) among resettled communities in the study area. The cultural and land-based attachments of displaced communities were overlooked. These findings highlight the risks of short-term resettlement planning, which can exacerbate pressures on critical corridors, escalate human–wildlife conflicts, and provide a clear indication of the trade-off between conservation benefits and social costs.

Suggested Citation

  • Hari Prasad Pandey & Armando Apan & Tek Narayan Maraseni, 2025. "Impacts of Conservation-Led Resettlements in Nepal: Ecological Perspectives," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:5:p:1057-:d:1654710
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/1057/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/5/1057/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brown, Katrina, 1998. "The political ecology of biodiversity, conservation and development in Nepal's Terai: Confused meanings, means and ends," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 73-87, January.
    2. Hari Prasad Pandey & Tek Narayan Maraseni & Armando Apan, 2024. "Assessing the Theoretical Scope of Environmental Justice in Contemporary Literature and Developing a Pragmatic Monitoring Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-16, December.
    3. Lam, Lai Ming & Paul, Saumik, 2013. "Displacement and Erosion of Informal Risk-Sharing: Evidence from Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 42-55.
    4. Elinor Ostrom, 2014. "Do institutions for collective action evolve?," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 3-30, April.
    5. Cernea, Michael M. & Schmidt-Soltau, Kai, 2006. "Poverty Risks and National Parks: Policy Issues in Conservation and Resettlement," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1808-1830, October.
    6. Walter Musakwa & Trynos Gumbo & Gaynor Paradza & Ephraim Mpofu & Nesisa Analisa Nyathi & Ntlakala B. Selamolela, 2020. "Partnerships and Stakeholder Participation in the Management of National Parks: Experiences of the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-17, October.
    7. Andrew Gregory & Emma Spence & Paul Beier & Emily Garding, 2021. "Toward Best Management Practices for Ecological Corridors," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-25, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hari Prasad Pandey & Tek Narayan Maraseni & Armando Apan & Han Zhang, 2025. "Review Articles on Ecological Resettlements: Insights, Gaps, and Pathways," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-17, May.
    2. Wang, Shun & Zhou, Weina, 2017. "The Unintended Long-Term Consequences of Mao’s Mass Send-Down Movement: Marriage, Social Network, and Happiness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 344-359.
    3. Simone Gobien & Björn Vollan, 2016. "Exchanging Land for Solidarity: Solidarity Transfers among Voluntarily Resettled and Non-resettled Land-Reform Beneficiaries," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 98(3), pages 802-818.
    4. Simone Gobien & Björn Vollan, 2013. "Playing with the social network: Social cohesion in resettled and non-resettled communities in Cambodia," Working Papers 2013-16, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck.
    5. Patil, Vikram & Ghosh, Ranjan & Kathuria, Vinish & Farrell, Katharine N., 2020. "Money, Land or self-employment? Understanding preference heterogeneity in landowners’ choices for compensation under land acquisition in India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Erin Bunting & Jessica Steele & Eric Keys & Shylock Muyengwa & Brian Child & Jane Southworth, 2013. "Local Perception of Risk to Livelihoods in the Semi-Arid Landscape of Southern Africa," Land, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-27, May.
    7. Claude Ménard, 2017. "Facing Crises: Economy, Democvracy, and Political Transaction Costs," Post-Print hal-04000979, HAL.
    8. Clements, Tom & Suon, Seng & Wilkie, David S. & Milner-Gulland, E.J., 2014. "Impacts of Protected Areas on Local Livelihoods in Cambodia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(S1), pages 125-134.
    9. Sanja Gašparović & Ana Sopina & Anton Zeneral, 2022. "Impacts of Zagreb’s Urban Development on Dynamic Changes in Stream Landscapes from Mid-Twentieth Century," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-25, May.
    10. Greiner, Alfred & Feichtinger, Gustav & Haunschmied, Josef L. & Kort, Peter M. & Hartl, Richard F., 2001. "Optimal periodic development of a pollution generating tourism industry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(3), pages 582-591, November.
    11. Fouladvand, Javanshir & Aranguren Rojas, Maria & Hoppe, Thomas & Ghorbani, Amineh, 2022. "Simulating thermal energy community formation: Institutional enablers outplaying technological choice," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PA).
    12. Fraser, Iain & Chisholm, Tony, 2000. "Conservation or cultural heritage? Cattle grazing in the Victoria Alpine National Park," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 63-75, April.
    13. Thapa Karki, Shova & Hubacek, Klaus, 2015. "Developing a conceptual framework for the attitude–intention–behaviour links driving illegal resource extraction in Bardia National Park, Nepal," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 129-139.
    14. Gowdy, John M. & Ferreri Carbonell, Ada, 1999. "Toward consilience between biology and economics: the contribution of Ecological Economics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 337-348, June.
    15. Ménard, Claude & Kurdin, Alexander & Shastitko, Andrey, 2020. "Out by the door, in through the window: Politics and natural gas regulation in Russia," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    16. Ota, Tetsuji & Lonn, Pichdara & Mizoue, Nobuya, 2020. "A country scale analysis revealed effective forest policy affecting forest cover changes in Cambodia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    17. Xiaoqing Zhao & Qifa Yue & Jianchao Pei & Junwei Pu & Pei Huang & Qian Wang, 2021. "Ecological Security Pattern Construction in Karst Area Based on Ant Algorithm," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-21, June.
    18. Sayuni B. Mariki, 2013. "Conservation With a Human Face? Comparing Local Participation and Benefit Sharing From a National Park and a State Forest Plantation in Tanzania," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(4), pages 21582440135, November.
    19. Yiqun Wu & Yuan Sun & Congyue Zhou & Yonghua Li & Xuanli Wang & Huifang Yu, 2023. "Spatial–Temporal Characteristics of Carbon Emissions in Mixed-Use Villages: A Sustainable Development Study of the Yangtze River Delta, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-21, October.
    20. Miguel Cantillo, 2015. "Dynamic Investment with Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard," Working Papers 201501, Universidad de Costa Rica, revised Mar 2015.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:5:p:1057-:d:1654710. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.