Labour Migration in the Middle Hills of Nepal: Consequences on Land Management Strategies

Labour migration in Nepal is having profound effects on land management. We take two examples from the hills of Nepal where the increasing trend in outmigration continues unabated and explore its consequences. The purpose of this study is to understand the impacts of the subsequent labour shortage on land management and how it affects households. We used data from two surveys and assessed land use change and degradation with a qualitative mapping method. The findings show that the local context leads to very different strategies in terms of land management. In one study area, land was left to lie fallow without any use, leading to overgrowth and forest recovery due to favourable climate conditions. In the other, land was no longer used as cropland but turned into grazing land with consequences such as land degradation. This study provides strong empirical data and also contributes to the mountain research community by shedding light on the effects of outmigration on land management in the hills of Nepal. We suggest that these effects, including the labour shortage and the increasingly important role of remittances, should be addressed in an integrative but differentiated way that takes into account the regional context.