IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i6p2434-d1357405.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Changing Ecology of a High Himalayan Valley: Challenges to the Sustainable Development of the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, Eastern Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Alton C. Byers

    (Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0450, USA)

  • Milan Shrestha

    (School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5502, USA)

  • Andrew Zackary

    (Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0233, USA)

  • Elizabeth A. Byers

    (West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, 601 57th St. SE, Charleston, WV 25304-0001, USA)

  • Broughton Coburn

    (Environmental Studies Department, Colorado College, 14 E. Cache La Poudre St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903, USA)

  • Teiji Watanabe

    (Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan)

  • Mohan B. Chand

    (Department of Environmental Sciences, Patan Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Lalitpur 44700, Nepal)

Abstract

The Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) is a high mountain protected area (MPA) in eastern Nepal undergoing socioeconomic and environmental changes that are unprecedented in the region’s history. In the following paper, we discuss recent changes involving new road construction, climate change, adventure tourism, and the wildlife/forest cover/medicinal plant sectors. Our assessments are based on the collective results of past and recent field research, remote sensing analysis, oral histories, and literature reviews. While similar changes are occurring in MPAs throughout Nepal, it is suggested that the KCA differs from other regions in that it still retains the option of conducting detailed feasibility, environmental, and impact assessments prior to the implementation of major change-associated projects, particularly the construction of roads. In turn, the KCA might avoid many of the environmental, social, and economic problems experienced elsewhere in Nepal, while enhancing its status, income-generating capacities, and sustainability as a global destination for adventure, nature, and cultural tourism.

Suggested Citation

  • Alton C. Byers & Milan Shrestha & Andrew Zackary & Elizabeth A. Byers & Broughton Coburn & Teiji Watanabe & Mohan B. Chand, 2024. "The Changing Ecology of a High Himalayan Valley: Challenges to the Sustainable Development of the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, Eastern Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-22, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:6:p:2434-:d:1357405
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/6/2434/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/6/2434/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pratikshya Bohra-Mishra & Douglas Massey, 2011. "Individual Decisions to Migrate During Civil Conflict," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(2), pages 401-424, May.
    2. Smith, Alexander C. & Hurni, Kaspar & Fox, Jefferson & Van Den Hoek, Jamon, 2023. "Community forest management led to rapid local forest gain in Nepal: A 29 year mixed methods retrospective case study," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    3. Mamoru Ishikawa & Teiji Watanabe & Naohiro Nakamura, 2001. "Genetic differences of rock glaciers and the discontinuous mountain permafrost zone in Kanchanjunga Himal, Eastern Nepal," Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(3), pages 243-253, September.
    4. Quy-Toan Do & Lakshmi Iyer, 2010. "Geography, poverty and conflict in Nepal," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 47(6), pages 735-748, November.
    5. Dhananjay Regmi & Teiji Watanabe, 2009. "Rockfall activity in the Kangchenjunga area, Nepal Himalaya," Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(4), pages 390-398, October.
    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. Fonner, Robert & Bohara, Alok K & Archambault, Stephen, 2018. "Migration Choices during Conflict in Nepal: Pull Forces and Landscape Interactions," International Journal of Development and Conflict, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, vol. 8(2), pages 46-61.
    2. Silwal, Shikha, 2016. "Resilience amidst conflict? The effect of civil war exposure on secondary education," International Journal of Development and Conflict, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, vol. 6(2), pages 97-120.
    3. Johannes Buggle & Thierry Mayer & Seyhun Orcan Sakalli & Mathias Thoenig, 2023. "The Refugee’s Dilemma: Evidence from Jewish Migration out of Nazi Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(2), pages 1273-1345.
    4. Akresh, Richard & Lucchetti, Leonardo & Thirumurthy, Harsha, 2012. "Wars and child health: Evidence from the Eritrean–Ethiopian conflict," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 330-340.
    5. Andrea Crippa & Giorgio d’Agostino & John Paul Dunne & Luca Pieroni, 2025. "Conflict as a cause of migration," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 77(2), pages 596-618.
    6. Francesco Amodio & Leonardo Baccini & Michele Di Maio, 2021. "Security, Trade, and Political Violence," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 1-37.
    7. Ana María Ibá-ez, 2014. "Growth in forced displacement: cross-country, sub-national and household evidence on potential determinants," Chapters, in: Robert E.B. Lucas (ed.), International Handbook on Migration and Economic Development, chapter 13, pages 350-387, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Luca Maria Pesando & Valentina Rotondi & Manuela Stranges & Ridhi Kashyap & Francesco C. Billari, 2021. "The Internetization of International Migration," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(1), pages 79-111, March.
    9. Apsara Karki Nepal & Martin Halla & Steven Stillman, 2018. "Violent Conflict and the Child Quantity-Quality Tradeoff," Economics working papers 2018-15, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    10. Quy-Toan Do & Shantayanan Devarajan & Anne Brockmeyer & Lili Mottaghi & Clement Joubert & Kartika Bhatia & Mohamed Abdel-Jelil, "undated". "Middle East and North Africa Economic Monitor, October 2016," World Bank Publications - Reports 25087, The World Bank Group.
    11. Millimet, Daniel L. & Parmeter, Christopher F., 2022. "Accounting for Skewed or One-Sided Measurement Error in the Dependent Variable," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 66-88, January.
    12. Escamilla-Guerrero, David & Kosack, Edward & Ward, Zachary, 2023. "The Impact of Violence during the Mexican Revolution on Migration to the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 16359, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Chakra P. Acharya & Roberto Leon-Gonzalez, 2016. "International Remittances, Rural-Urban Migration, and the Quest for Quality Education: The Case of Nepal," GRIPS Discussion Papers 15-25, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    14. Mara Redlich Revkin, 2021. "Competitive Governance and Displacement Decisions Under Rebel Rule: Evidence from the Islamic State in Iraq," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 65(1), pages 46-80, January.
    15. Nidhiya Menon & Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, 2011. "War and Women�s Work: Evidence from the Conflict in Nepal," HiCN Working Papers 104, Households in Conflict Network.
    16. Taralashvili, Tamar, 2024. "How interstate soft conflicts affect bilateral migration: Results from a structural gravity model," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    17. Hari Sharma & John Gibson, 2019. "Civil War and International Migration from Nepal: Evidence from a Spatial Durbin Model," Working Papers in Economics 19/06, University of Waikato.
    18. Wong, Pui-Hang & Celbis, Mehmet Guney, 2015. "Migration as a response to differences in human rights and income: A bilateral panel study," MERIT Working Papers 2015-053, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    19. Jean-Marie Baland & François Libois & Dilip Mookherjee, 2018. "Forest Degradation and Economic Growth in Nepal, 2003–2010," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(2), pages 401-439.
    20. Jean-François Maystadt & Valerie Mueller & Ashwini Sebastian, 2016. "Environmental Migration and Labor Markets in Nepal," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(2), pages 417-452.

    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:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:6:p:2434-:d:1357405. 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.