“Our land. Our future”. The theme for this year’s World Environment Day, emphasising land restoration, combating desertification and building resilience to drought, encompasses the pressing issues of this era which need careful intervention. The scale and intensity of the impacts of land degradation, desertification and drought are alarming. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) states that up to 40 percent of the world’s land is degraded, adversely impacting around 3.2 billion people. Projections also indicate that over three-quarters of the world's population by 2050 will be affected by drought. These impacts manifest in several aspects of life and nature, including loss of biodiversity and ecosystems, depletion of resources, food insecurity, livelihood and ultimate human existence.

In recent times, land degradation induced by physical, chemical and biological processes has been accelerated by human activities. The main culprits include haphazard infrastructure development, industrialisation, high carbon-intensive energy use, overgrazing and excessive extraction of natural resources without consideration of environmental sustainability. Prolonged droughts are becoming more common and climate change adds uncertainty and complexities to their occurrences.

Nepal’s vulnerability

Nepal’s young mountains are geologically fragile and complex. Located in a tectonically active zone, the whole land mass from the Himalayas in the North to the Siwalik in the South is susceptible to peculiar challenges, especially erosion, landslides and floods. Anthropogenic activities in this hazard-prone region, including haphazard infrastructure construction, land use change, and chemical fertiliser and pesticide overuse, exacerbate these natural phenomena. For instance, road construction on the slopes without due consideration to the environment and slope stabilisation in the last decade has increased incidents of landslides and slope failures. Excessive extraction of resources from rivers is another concern.

While regulatory provisions in the Environment Protection Act and Regulation mandate comprehensive assessment, project developers often perceive such provisions as a burden. Limited focus on the implementation of the Environmental Management Plan, compliance monitoring and evaluation, and audits are the reasons behind haphazard resource extraction and the continuation of environmentally unsustainable projects.

Soil loss through erosion, a serious threat to soil health, results in agricultural yield decline, ecosystem degradation, habitat destruction and several economic impacts. A 2016 study by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) estimated 40 million tons of soil loss between 1990 and 2010 in the Koshi basin. Identification of arable soil loss areas is critical for effective land management planning focused on conservation measures. The 61st report of the Office of the Auditor General pointed out that the content of soil organic matter currently stands at 2.83 against the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 3.37.

Policy interventions

A 2018 report titled “Land degradation neutrality target setting program in Nepal” set three targets to be achieved by 2030: i) Increase forest cover to 44.7 percent; ii) increase agricultural growth by 6 percent; iii) increase Soil Organic Carbon in forest and cropland by 1 percent per annum and iv) restoring 10 percent of wetland ecosystem out of 26277 sq. hectares of wetlands. Among these, Nepal’s success in increasing forest cover from 39.6 percent in 1993 to 44.74 percent in 2018 is praised all over the world as one of the best-case examples of sustainable forest management initiatives. Despite this achievement, the recent episodes of forest fires during the pre-monsoon period are worrisome. The attainment of other targets requires concentrated effort by building synergies and collaboration among national policies/strategies and different climate action programmes.

For instance, Land Use Policy, Agriculture Development Strategy, Nepal Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and Climate Change Policy are required to be aligned on its objectives, strategies and programmes. At the programme level, for instance, the National Climate Change Support Programme, the National Adaptation Plan, and the President Chure Terai Madesh Conservation Programme need to focus on a collaborative approach; eliminating duplication and creating synergies among beneficiaries and outcome of this programme.

Research on drought shows an increasing trend in both the intensity and frequency of drought occurrences. The impacts of drought are significantly higher in rain-fed agricultural regions like Nepal, which rely extensively on the monsoon. Droughts result in crop failures and food insecurity, which is why region-specific explorations of droughts are essential for effective drought monitoring and risk mitigation.

A 2021 study indicated that summer drought events have increased fivefold in the central region, doubled in the eastern region, and not significantly changed in the western region of Nepal. These incidences have severe implications for vulnerable communities that are mostly dependent on subsentence agriculture for their livelihood. As a result, difficulty in local livelihoods prevails, which acts as a “push factor” leading to increased migration from rural to urban city centres and abroad.

Soil health

Healthy soil is the foundation not only of agricultural systems and food security but also of the existence of humans. So, data management should be a priority towards understanding and analysing the pattern, trend and hotspots of land degradation and droughts. Sustainable land management programmes should incorporate soil conservation and watershed management, soil fertility management and improvement, community forestry programmes, technology development, and research and development. Climate-smart agriculture and the implementation and monitoring of environmental management plans are equally important. For these programmes to be successful, functional coordination mechanisms and institutional arrangements are pivotal.

Further, opportunities to tap climate finance for implementing adaptation programmes at the local level will be crucial. But the state alone cannot address the land degradation problem; rather, collaboration among all sectors and stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, and the general public, is essential for achieving the desired outcomes in restoring land, combating desertification and building drought resilience.