AN Assessment of the

encroachment of national forest

(a case study of morang district)

Submitted by
DEBENDRA BHANDARI

Submitted To
Kathmandu Forestry College
Institute of Forestry
Tribhuvan University
Kathmandu, Nepal

A Project Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for
The Degree of Bachelor of Science in Forestry
DECEMBER 2012
 An Assessment of the
encroachment of national forest
(a case study of morang district)

Researcher
DEBENDRA BHANDARI
TU Reg. no: 5-1-9-974-99
Exam roll no: 1078

Advisor
SHAMBHU PAUDEL
Lecturer

Co-Advisor
ASHOK CHAUDHARY

Kathmandu Forestry College

Institute of Forestry
Tribhuvan University
Kathmandu, Nepal

A Project Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Degree of Bachelor of Science in forestry
December 2012
 Declaration

I, Debendra Bhandari, hereby declare that this thesis entitled “An Assessment of

the Encroachment of National Forest ” a case study of Morang district is my

original work and all other sources of information used are duly acknowledged. I have
not submitted it or any of its part to any other university for any academic award.

………………………….. 1st December 2012

Debendra Bhandari
Kathmandu Forestry College
www.kafcol.edu.np

i
 Kathmandu Forestry College
(Affiliated to Tribhuvan University)
Kathmandu, Nepal

Ref. No: Date: 01 / 12 / 2012

Letter of Acceptance

The thesis entitled “An Assessment of the Encroachment of National

Forest” a case study of Morang district, Nepal prepared and submitted by

Debendra Bhandari in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of
Bachelor of Science in Forestry under my supervision is hereby accepted.

…………………
Shambhu Paudel
Faculty, Remote Sensing and GIS
Kathmandu Forestry College
Kathmandu, Nepal

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The study could not have been accomplished without the assistance and support of
many individual, organizations, colleagues and friends. I am very much excited and
give me pleasure from bottom of my heart to express my gratitude to the following
personnel and my friends. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to lecturer
Shambhu Paudel, my supervisor for his excellent guidance, supervision,
encouragement and invaluable suggestions from the designing of research proposal
till the completion of this work. I am grateful to the Forest Resource Assessment
Project (FRA, Nepal) for providing me research grant.

I would, especially, like to thank Mr. Ashok Chaudary (DFRS) for all kinds of
support from commencement of study to today. I appreciate Mr. Surendra Shrestha
(AFO, Morang), for assistance in my field work. I am indebted to Forest Resource
Assessment Project Nepal for providing the GPS and the latest Rapid EYE image of
2010. I am also grateful to the Department of Forest Research and Survey for
providing the aerial photos. I would like to thank to the entire staff of District Forest
Office, Morang for their cooperation and coordination during my study

I would also like to thank Mr. Jeevan Dhungana for the support in field work. I
thank Mr. Raja Ram Aryal for providing more literature about forest cover change
and encroachment. I would like to thank the central forest library of DFRS and the
library of DNPWC.
I would like to thank Dr. Bishnu Hari Pandit (Principal, KAFCOL), Mr. Ritesh
Bhushan Basnet (AFO, DoF) for reviewing this report and continuous inspiration.
Thanks are also due to my colleague Sovit Koirala, Roshan Kafle, Bhoj Raj
Pathak, Sandesh Bolakhe for their cooperation in many instances during my study
and report preparation.

Finally, I thank my family, especially father, mother and my wife Shanta Khulal for
their constant support. I wish to dedicate this thesis to them. They have been a steady
source of encouragement, kindness, forgiveness and love that showed me how to do
better than best.

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 ABBREVIATIONS

CF Community Forest
DFO District Forest office
DFRS Department of Forest Research and Survey
DNPWC Department of National Park and wildlife conservation
DoF Department of Forest
ETM Enhanced Thematic Mapper
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
FRSO Forest Resourse Survey Office
GIS Geographic Information System
GPS Global Positioning System
GoN Government of Nepal
ha Hector
Km Kilometer
LRMP Land Resource Mapping Project
M Meter
MoFSC Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation
MPFS Master Plan for Forestry Sector
MSS Landsat Multispectral Scanner
NFI National Forest Inventory
RS Remote Sensing
TM Thematic Mapper
UTM Universe Transverse Mercator
VDC Village Development Committee
WGS World Geo-dating System

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
Declaration ...................................................................................................................... i
Letter of Acceptance ......................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................iii
ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................... v
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................vii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1
1.1. Background ......................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Problem Statement and Justification ................................................................... 3
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 7
CHAPTER THREE: OBJECTIVES ............................................................................ 15
3.1. General objective............................................................................................... 15
3.2. Specific Objectives ............................................................................................ 15
1. To explore the encroached forest area of Morang district. ................................. 15
2. To find the trend of forest encroachment. ........................................................... 15
3. To map and find the rate of change of forest cover. ........................................... 15
3.3. Limitation .......................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER FOUR: MATERIALS AND METHODS ................................................. 16
4.1. STUDY AREA .................................................................................................. 16
4.1.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................16
4.1.2. Location and Physiographic Characteristics .................................................16
4.1.3. Climate ..........................................................................................................17
4.1.4. Biodiversity Resources..................................................................................17
4.2. Materials and Methods ...................................................................................... 17
4.2.1. Materials ........................................................................................................17
4.2. 2. Methods ........................................................................................................19
4.3. Data analysis ..................................................................................................... 20
4.3.1. Image classification and accuracy assessment ............................................... 20
4.3.2. Forest Change (encroachment and deforestation) detection .........................21
4.3.3. Rate of change of forest cover and encroachment ........................................21
CHAPTER FIVE: RESULT AND DISCUSSION ...................................................... 23
5.1 Result.................................................................................................................. 23

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 5.1.2. Status of forest...............................................................................................23
5.1.3. Forest Encroachment status...........................................................................23
5.1.4. Forest deforestation status .............................................................................24
5.2. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................... 29
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ............................... 33
6.1. Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 33
6.2. Recommendation ............................................................................................... 34
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 36
ANNEX........................................................................................................................ 42
Annex 1: Record of Forest Encroachment (DFO, Morang) ..................................... 42
Annex 2: Result of Kappa and Accuracy Assessment ............................................. 43
Annex 3: VDCs wise Encroachment ........................................................................ 43
Annex 4: VDCs wise Deforestation ......................................................................... 44
PHOTOPLATES.......................................................................................................... 45
Forest Land encroached by different institutions ..................................................... 45
Forest land encroached for Agriculture and settlement ........................................... 46

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Changes in Forest/Shrubland area in 20 Terai Districts .................................. 5
Table 2: Name and Character of the Images. ............................................................... 18
Table 3: Status of Encroachment ................................................................................. 23
Table 4: Status of Deforestation .................................................................................. 25

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Deforestation and Degradation in Nepal ......................................................... 3
Figure 2: District wise forest encroachment ................................................................... 4
Figure 3: Map of the study area .................................................................................... 16
Figure 4: Image classification Methodology ................................................................ 19
Figure 5: Status of Forest .............................................................................................. 23
Figure 6: VDC wise Forest Encroachment ................................................................... 24
Figure 7: VDC wise Deforestation ............................................................................... 25
Figure 8: Land cover map of 1972 ................................................................................ 26
Figure 9: Map of Forest Encroachment and Deforestation (1972-1990) ...................... 26
Figure 10: Land cover map of 1990 .............................................................................. 27
Figure 11: Map of Forest Encroachment and Deforestation (1990-1999) .................... 26
Figure 12: Land cover map of 1999 .............................................................................. 27
Figure 13: Map of Forest Encroachment and Deforestation (1999-2010) .................... 28
Figure 14: Map of Forest Encroachment (1972-2010) ................................................. 29

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 ABSTRACT

Land cover change detection and updating a land cover map is a prerequisite to
understand the land cover change dynamics and for the sustainable management of
natural resources. Landscape level conservation is a new paradigm in conservation
arena crafted to address the issue of expanding human needs and their pressure on the
ecosystem. Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS)
technology have emerged as important tools in recent time for monitoring and
management of natural resources including conservation areas.

The study was carried out in Morang district with the main objective of assessing
forest cover and encroachment since 1970’s using remote sensing and GIS. Multi
temporal remotely sensed data from Landsat sensors (MSS of 1972, TM of 1990,
1999 and 2010) was extracted and interpreted with aid of image processing software
ERDAS Imagine 9.2 by applying supervised classification technique with maximum
likelihood algorithm. These GPS locations, topographic maps, aerial photo and rapid
eye image served as the basis for signature assignment. The change in forest cover
and encroachment was detected using Percentual comparison approach with 94% user
accuracy .The change analysis showed that forest cover was decreasing in alarming
rate. The annual deforestation from 1972- 2010 was 549 ha per year with annual rate
of deforestation was 1.59%. The annual encroachment from 1972-2010 was 232.16 ha
per year and the annual rate of encroachment was 0.51 %. Construction of Mahendra
highway, institutional development, infrastructure development, resettlement and
disaster affected people were major actors found within the encroachment and
deforested area. Surprisingly, somple policies that provided full authority to the
government to distribute significant area of land for specific purposes in between
1972-2010 seem major problem. Therefore, the concerned Departments should
formulate a comprehensive natural resource management policy, plans and programs
to address the issues and minimize the consequences of forest encroachment.

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 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background
Studies have shown that there remains only few landscapes on the Earth that are still
in natural state and due to anthropogenic activities, the Earth surface is being
significantly altered in some manner and man’s presence on the Earth and his use of
land has had a profound effect upon the natural environment thus resulting into an
observable pattern in the land use over time (Zubair, 2006).

The land use pattern of a region is an outcome of natural and anthropogenic factors
and their utilization by man in time and space. Land is becoming a scarce resource
due to immense agricultural and demographic pressure. Hence, information on land
use and possibilities for their optimal use is essential for the selection, planning and
implementation of land use schemes to meet the increasing demands for basic human
needs and welfare. This information also assists in monitoring the dynamics of land
use resulting out of changing demands of increasing population.

Viewing the Earth from space is now crucial to the understanding of the influence of
man’s activities on his natural resource base over time. In situations of rapid and often
unrecorded land use change, observations of the earth from space provide objective
information of human utilization of the landscape. Over the past years, data from
Earth sensing satellites has become vital in mapping the Earth’s features and
infrastructures, managing natural resources and studying environmental change.

Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) are now providing
new tools for advanced ecosystem management. The collection of remotely sensed
data facilitates the synoptic analyses of Earth - system function, patterning, and
change at local, regional and global scales over time; such data also provide an
important link between intensive, localized ecological research and regional, national
and international conservation and management of biological diversity (Wilkie and
Finn, 1996).

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In tropical regions, deforestation and forest degradation are progressive processes that
are advancing at an alarming rate resulting in the conversion of forest area into a
mosaic of mature forest fragments, pasture, degraded habitat, agriculture land and
settlement (Kanel, 2009). Deforestation is the conversion of forest to another land use
type. Forest degradation is a more subtle process. In both processes human
encroachment on forest land is a driver where forest land is cleared and opened for
cultivation, settlement or other development activities. Encroachment i.e. illegal
conversion area of the forest land into other landuse is another major cause of
disturbance to forests and other wooded lands in Nepal (FAO, 2010a)

Nepal, a small country with area of 147,181 sq. km and human population of 23
million in South Asia has 29 percent of forest cover (DFRS, 1999). The country
witnesses the diversity of forest due to high altitudinal variation that ranges from 60 m
to 8,848 m from mean sea level but due to the increase in human population
encroachment of forests in the Terai region is a long existing problem since the last
several decades in Nepal. After the eradication of malaria in 1950s and construction
of Mahendra highway Nepal has lost significant area of forest to encroachment in the
Terai region over the decades. Although encroachment is posing serious threat to
forest, there is lack of concrete policy and plan to deal with this problem. Therefore,
forest encroachment has become a chronic problem in natural resources management
regime in Nepal’s Terai. In the past, illegal forest squatters were managed in an ad-
hoc basis. The problem of encroachment keeps on escalating during the period of
Political unrest and political fluidity in the country.

Human encroachment on forest land gives rise to the change in another type of
landuse. Further, Land use change by human activities i.e. encroachment has become
a proximate factor that catalyses deforestation and forest degradation (Tole, 1998;
Koop and Tole, 2001 ). Hence, detecting the change in landuse due to encroachment
of the forest at different spatial and temporal scales could provide useful information
for planning and sustainable management of forests. Satellite remote sensing has been
widely used to detect forest change, assess rates of reforestation or deforestation, and
update existing forest maps (Myers, 1980). The study was thus carried out to map the
forest encroachment, its consequences which can ultimately assist in the decision making
level probing to the strategy against socioeconomic interference in deforestation by

2
human encroachment processes on forest land in Nepal which was really altered
during last 38 years.

1.2. Problem Statement and Justification

World deforestation, mainly the conversion of tropical forests to agriculture land, has
decreased over the past ten years but continues at an alarmingly high rate in many
countries (FAO, 2010b). Further, this report also states that globally around 13
million hectares of forest is converted to other uses or lost through natural causes each
year between 2000 and 2010 as compared to around 16 million hectares per year
during 1990s and from 1964 to 1991, its extent has gone up to 380,000 ha, which on
average is about 14,074 ha per year The latest physiographic data show that Nepal
comprises around 4.27 million hectares (29% of total land area) of forest, 1.56 million
hectares (10.6%) of scrubland and degraded forest, 1.7 million hectares (12%) of
grassland, 3.0 million hectares (21%) of farmland, and about 1.0 million hectares
(7%) of uncultivated lands and forest cover in the Terai and hill areas decreased at an
annual rate of 1.3% and 2.3% respectively between 1978/79 and 1990/91
(DFRS,1999)

3
The drivers of degradation correlated to the anthropogenic are categorized into direct
(over-extraction, intentional fire, free grazing, encroachment, shifting cultivation and
forest fragmentation) or indirect (unplanned development, policy failure, weak tenure
rights and capacity gaps) (Acharya et al, 2011). Deforestation and forest degradation
in the tropics accounts for about 20% of global emissions of carbon dioxide, This
makes forests the second most important contributor to global warming after fossil
fuels and the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in most tropical countries.
On the other hand, well-managed forests, and a reduction in deforestation, can make a
substantial contribution to climate-change mitigation by reducing forest-related
greenhouse gas emissions and by sequestering carbon in growing forests (FAO and
ITTO, 2010). The area of forest has declined due to the human encroachment for
various purposes. As a result of which ecosystem and biodiversity of forest is
disturbed, so encroachment is one of the major drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation (Acharya et al, 2011). Estimated NRs.11.55 billion losses occur as a
result of deforestation and degradation (GoN, 2002).

Nepal has approximately 5.83 million hectares of forest and scrubland among which
in 21 Terai and inner Terai districts 80065.38 hectares and in 9 hill district 2908.35
hectares i.e. total 82934 hectares of forest land has been encroached, which shows that
only in Terai and inner Terai districts 1.37 % of the total forest area has encroached
and the trend of forest encroachment in Nepal is 1787.19 ha per year from 2003/04 to
2011/12 (DoF, 2012).

Figure 2: District wise forest encroachment

4
Along with this different institutions such as medical college, private schools and
college, private FM station, telephone tower, hydropower, religious place and
temples, gumba, grave and crematorium, community building, government school and
college, police post, army camp, hospital and national priority (P1) programme such
as road, canal, electricity are also suspected to encroach the National forest
(GoN,2012). Due to the geographical and environmental sensitiveness at least 40 % of
the total land area should be forest land (NPC, 2011) but national forest area is
decreasing day by day so in order to meet the strategy to make national forest area
40% of the total land seems a challenging task. There is also gap in the data of
encroached forest area. On average, forested areas have decreased at an annual rate of
1.7% and scrublands have decreased at an annual rate of 0.5% (DFRS, 1999) but a
forest cover change analysis of the 20 Terai districts done by MFSC/DoF (DoF,
2005), using two sets of satellite images (Landsat image data from 1991 and 2001)
showed that forest cover in the hills increased at the annual rate 0.06% and plains
decreased at the rate of 0.27%. From this we can say that there is a decreasing trend in
the loss of forest areas in Terai mainly due to the human encroachment on National
forest land.

Table 1: Changes in Forest/Shrubland area in 20 Terai Districts

Net Change in Rate of
Land Forest/Shrub Forest/Shrub
Forest/shrub change
Utilization/Category 1991 (ha) 2001 (ha)
area (ha) (%)
Protected Area 240,367.84 240,597.63 229.79 0.01
Siwaliks Areas 651,888.70 656,120.20 4,231.50 0.06
Plain Areas 506,657.02 493,386.97 (13,270.05) -0.27
Total 1,398,913.56 1,390,104.79 (8,808.77) -0.06
Source: DOF, 2005

The continuous vicious cycle of forest encroachment have been identified as the main
obstacles for the sustainable forest development in the Terai and inner Terai forests of
Nepal. In between the period of 27 years between 1964 and 1991, Nepal lost 0.57
million ha forest area, out of which, 0.38 million hectares of forests has been
converted into agricultural land and the rest 0.19 million ha has been used for used for

5
the various infrastructure development purposes such as roads, urban development,
irrigation canals, and to establish educational institutions (Adhikari, 2002).
Subsequently, large scale land clearing for agriculture, settlements, and timber by
these settlers led to depletion of biodiversity, soil erosion and low water tables that
affected the agricultural viability of the Terai (Kanel, 2002). Unless conservation
actions are immediately undertaken to restore and reverse the trend of ecological
degradation, the economy of this region, the livelihoods of the millions of people now
living in the Terai (about 54 % population of Nepal reside in Terai), as well as the rich
biodiversity will be in jeopardy (Kanel and Sharma, 2003).

Morang district Forest is the potential habitat for the different flagship species with
the amazing landscape joining Mahabharat, inner Terai and Terai forest. In the recent,
the forest lands have been encroached by landless, land slaves, flood victims,
migrated people and other different institutions. Due to unclear boundary demarcation
and lack of record it has become difficult to find out the encroached area so existing
challenge for District Forest Office for monitoring and patrolling of the National
forest. So, it is necessary to assess the change detection in the forest land due to
human encroachment of Morang district to maintain its biological features. The study
aims to assess forest encroachment trend by interpreting multi temporal imageries.
Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) technology can be
applied in acquisition, interpretation and presentation of as such data involving
difficulty in acquisition due to remoteness and topography. This research intends to
reduce the data gap and aims to generate data that provides record of encroachment
areas of the National forest and be helpful in the preparation of encroachment action
plan of Morang district. The outcome of the assignment will also be a great tool for
the government of Nepal to develop in strengthening existing land review and
distribution mechanisms. Thus, updating the forest resources of the country at the
national level, landscape level and regional level is very important for understanding
the status of forest, which in turn is important for planning.

6
 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

According to Meyer, 1999 every parcel of land on the Earth’s surface is unique in the
cover it possesses. Land use and land cover are distinct yet closely linked
characteristics of the Earth’s surface. The use to which we put land could be grazing,
agriculture, urban development, logging, and mining among many others. While land
cover categories could be cropland, forest, wetland, pasture, roads, urban areas among
others. The term land cover originally referred to the kind and state of vegetation,
such as forest or grass cover but it has broadened in subsequent usage to include other
things such as human structures, soil type, biodiversity, surface and ground water
(Meyer, 1995).

Forest clearing represents a major driver of global warming and climate change. The
world’s forests, especially in the tropics, are dramatically shrinking (Apan, 1999).
Tropical forests are being destroyed despite its ecological, social and economic
importance. Deforestation is recognized as one of the pervasive ecological changes
taking place in tropical regions (Lambin, 1994). In the late 1970s, tropical
deforestation occurred at the rate of about 11.3 million hectares per year (Geist and
Lambin, 2002). During the period 1980–1990, FAO figures show that this rate has
increased to about 15.4 million hectares per year (Singh 1993).

Human encroachment of forest land is common in Nepal both as for changing the
forest cover system to agricultural land and settlement. Encroachment in the forest as
well is also a pressing problem in the country mainly for forest and environmental
managers. Encroachment is one of the major drivers of deforestation and forest
degradation and the sources of degradation are commonly referred to as “drivers” of
degradation. Drivers of degradation usually correlated to the anthropogenic category
can be viewed as direct or indirect. Direct drivers could include, but are not limited to,
over-extraction, intentional fire, free grazing, targeting of high-quality commercial
tree species, illegal logging, encroachment, shifting cultivation and forest
fragmentation. Indirect drivers might include market failure, unplanned development,
policy failure, weak tenure rights and capacity gaps (Acharya et al, 2011). There is

7
consensus that measuring forest degradation is more complex and difficult than
measuring deforestation (Panta et al, 2008; Lambin, 1999; Souza et al., 2003).

If any National Forest is used by any person for cultivation, settlement or other use
i.e. which is not registered as private land is known as encroachment. Many of the
encroached forest area are converted into large settlements and according to this
definition to remove the encroached area is likely to try making the district empty so,
when and which date and what type of land is forest encroached area should be
addressed in this definition so that to work in the field level will be easy, if old
encroachment will be removed than most of the new settlement and city should be
also removed which finally integrate the problem for both forest staff and public, so
government of Nepal should make the policy not to excess today forest encroachment,
manage the forest encroached area with good co-ordination and land use planning
should be implemented so there will be clear distinction of where and how much
protected forest, biodiversity corridor, settlement, cultivation should be done
(Sapkota, 2012).

Bryan (1986) observed encroachment as a conversion of forestland to other use either

legally or illegally, it has been an illegal act in Nepalese contexts. In this connection,
encroachment may be defined as an act of illegal possession of forestland by an
individual or institution. This word implies act of constructing houses in the forest
land, practicing shifting cultivation and ploughing the forestland with the intention of
cultivation in the future. Mostly, encroachment takes place in the form of gradual
expansion of the private land’s boundary into the forestland. Similarly, the isolated
forest patches are more vulnerable to encroachment. A study undertaken in Western
Terai to examine encroachment has found its five categories, namely cultural,
political, institutional, technical and traditional encroachments (COMFORTC, 2003)

Based on the nature and status of infrastructure already built in the encroached sites,
the encroached forest sites were stratified into following categories (COMFORTC,
2006)

8
1. Permanent Encroachment: Area fully occupied by encroachers, having
permanent types of housing and well developed infrastructure, complete eviction
may be too expensive and therefore not feasible;

2. Semi-permanent encroachment: Area on the periphery of cultivated land and

village settlements occupied by mostly poor and landless people, primarily for the
purpose of extending cultivated land, infrastructure not well developed, and
eviction could be possible but would require community consensus;

3. Temporary encroachment: Recently occupied areas mostly by Mukta

Kamaiysas and others hills migrants.

4. Areas occupied by the indigenous communities: Areas traditionally occupied

by indigenous tribes like Rajis, Sonahals, Majhis, Tharus etc. for their livelihoods.

The types of encroachment are public encroachment and institutional encroachment

(GoN, 2012)
1. Public Encroachment
 Recent encroachment: Encroached recently for agriculture production and
settlement.
 Temporary settlement: Encroached temporarily for small cottage, huts and
agriculture production.
 Old encroachment: Encroached permanently for concrete buildings and
agriculture production.
 Old and new encroachment: Encroachment of ecological importance
according to forest act 1993, section 16.

2. Institutional Encroachment
 Private, commercial and profitable institutional encroachment:
Encroachment done by private medical college, private school and college,
private invested profitable hydropower, FM station, telephone tower and others
like this.

9
  Religious, social and cultural encroachment: Encroachment done by
religious place and temples, gumba, grave and crematorium, community
building, government school and college and others like this.
 Non-profitable institution, P1 program project encroachment:
Encroachment done by police post, army camp, hospital and national priority
(P1) program such as road, canal, electricity and others like this.

Forest Act of 1993 is a strong legal instrument for controlling the encroachment. The
Act has defined encroachment as a serious crime and provided measures for
reinstating the illegally occupied forests. The article 16 (3) of Forest Act 1993 stresses
that any forest area legally registered with a land title also be nullified and reclaimed
as forests.

A study (DFSR, 2002) carried out in two Terai districts showed that 17,614 ha of
forests have been lost during 1978 and 1996 in Kanchanpur district. Similarly, Kailali
district lost 26,670 ha within the same period of 18 years. Most of the forest areas in
these districts were converted to agriculture and for infrastructure development such
as roads, irrigation channels, and electric lines. Expansion of river and stream width
due to scouring and sedimentation has also taken a toll on forests in these two
districts. The analysis of deforestation and forest degradation shows that the pressure
is highest in the Terai region (DFSR, 2002).

Reliable data on land use dynamics are essential for proper management, planning
and sustained utilization of the natural resources. The study of land use and land cover
provides information about the status of natural resources and is helpful in
monitoring, modeling and environmental change detection (Chopping and Bauer,
1996). Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology
have emerged as important tools in recent time for monitoring and management of
natural resources including conservation areas. The conventional methods of detecting
change in natural resources are costly and low in accuracy. With the help of the fusion
of both conventional and RS techniques, monitoring of land-use changes can be done
accurately and effectively (Langran, 1992). Application of remotely sensed data to
illustrate changes in land cover and particularly forest cover over time have been

10
reported by many investigators (Singh, 1989; Mas, 1999). Reviews specifically
addressing forest cover detection can be found in (Phong, 2004).

To date, the most successful attempt in developing a general purpose classification

scheme compatible with remote sensing data has been by Anderson et al which is also
referred to as USGS classification scheme Xiaomei Y, and Rong Qing L.Q.Y in 1999
noted that information about change is necessary for updating land cover maps and
the management of natural resources. The information may be obtained by visiting
sites on the ground and or extracting it from remotely sensed data.

The development activities like expansion in education and health services, the
development of roads and electricity, improvements in irrigation and agricultural and
related technologies, and the penetration of commercial forces are drastically
affecting forest land, each of these factors contributes with varying degree to the
change dynamics of that area as well as a contributory factor may be applicable in one
area, but not in another. Past studies carried out by Brandon & Bottomley, (1998),
Chen (2000), Diouf & Lambin( 2001), Kuntz & Siegert (1999), Lambin (1999),
Mendoza S. & Etter R., (2002), Vance & Geoghegan (2002) have emphasized the
importance of investigating land cover dynamics as a baseline requirement for
sustainable management of natural resources. The knowledge of “where are the
changes” and “what are causes of the changes” is essential for the formulation of
appropriate management strategies. The understanding of land cover change process
and driving forces will help policy makers/ resource managers to decide where the
action should be taken and what kind of intervention is needed. There are several
studies conducted in Nepal in relation to forest cover change (Awasthi and Balla,
2000; Gautam et al 2003 and Gardner and Gerrand, 2002)

Remote sensing for vegetation and land cover mapping and change detection,
particularly in areas where due to accessibility, spatial extension or other factors, the
conventional means of ground survey are not sufficient, is considered by several
authors as having great potential and as an extremely valuable tool (Turker and
Derenyi, 2000). The potential of using satellite data to detect and characterize changes
in forest cover depends on the ability to quantify temporal effects using multi-
temporal data sets (Bauer et. at.2000).Remotely sensed data sets are emerging as a
better choice for forest managers to observe spatially explicit changes over the time
11
period. Satellite based remote sensing offers additionally the possibility of acquiring
information on a regular basis, essential in applications where a high repeat frequency
is required (Pathirana, 1999 and Wyatt, 2000). Satellite remote sensing data has been
used in Nepal since past two decades in specified areas with limited application.
Forestry sector is one of the main application areas where this technology has been
using from the beginning. Satellite remote sensing is one of the viable techniques to
monitor the changing pattern of forest cover and Maximum likelihood classification is
the most common supervised classification method used for land cover land use
change with remote sensing image data (USGS, 1972).

According to Jensen (1996), digital image classification is the process of assigning

pixel to classes. Usually, each pixel is treated as an individual unit composed of
values in several spectral bands. By comparing pixel to one another and to pixel of
known identity, it is possible to assemble groups of similar pixels into classes that
match to the informational categories of interest to users of remotely sensed data. In
recent year, many advanced classification approaches; such as artificial neural
networks, fuzzy sets and expert systems, have been widely applied for image
classification (Munyati, 2000). Cihlar (2000) discussed the status and research
priorities of land cover mapping for large areas. Franklin and Wulder (2002) assessed
land cover classification approaches with medium spatial resolution remotely sensed
data. In general, image classification approaches can be grouped as supervised and
unsupervised, pixel-based and object-oriented, hard and soft classification based on
whether the training samples are used or not, spatial unit of analysis, and whether
parameters are used or not respectively (Franklin et al, 2002).
Supervised classification is the process of using a known identity of specific sites
(through a combination of fieldwork, analysis of aerial photography, maps, and
personal experience) in the remotely sensed data, which represent homogenous
examples of land cover types to classify the remainder of the image. These areas are
commonly referred to as training sites (Jensen, 1996). Signature can be defined as the
set of pixels assigned in an image file to a class. It may be parametric or non-
parametric. The theoretical lower limit of the number of pixels in a training set must
be n+1, where ‘n’ is the number of spectral bands used (Kiefer,1994). In practice,
minimum 10n to 100n pixels is used to improve statistical representation (mean vector
& covariance matrix).
12
Change detection procedures can be grouped under three broad headings
characterized by data transformation procedures and analysis techniques used to
delimit areas of significant changes: (1) image enhancement, (2) multi-date data
classification and (3) comparison of two independent lands cover classifications (Mas,
1998). One of the important factors determining the accuracy of change detection is
the precise geometric registration between multi temporal images (Lilles et al., 2004).
Histogram matching which converts the histogram of one image to resemble the
histogram of another is useful for change detection (ERDAS, 2008).
Change detection techniques using remote sensing techniques involve the use of
multi-temporal satellite data sets to discriminate areas of land cover change between
dates of imaging (Lilles et al., 2004). It can provide up-to-date spatio-temporal
information about forest resources status that supports in making decision on
appropriate intervention (policy formulation, planning and management). The basic
principle of change detection using remote sensing is that changes in the land cover
result in changes in radiance values, analyzing spectral differences in signatures of an
object (land cover change) can be detected. Thus change detection in remote sensing
play a key role in improving spatial and temporal change information resulted by
natural and anthropogenic activities in terms of time and cost effectiveness The
applicability of semi-automated and object-oriented approaches for satellite remote-
sensing data has been the subject of many recent studies (Mass, 1999). Post-
classification techniques have significant limitations because the comparison of land-
cover classifications for different date’s does not allows the detection of subtle
changes within land-cover categories, change detection will be performed using post-
classification comparison method which produced acceptable results (Congalton,
1991).

The increasing availability of information products generated from satellite imagery

data has added greatly to our ability to understand the patterns and dynamics of the
earth resource systems at all scales of inquiry particularly important application of
remote sensing is the generation of land use/ land-cover maps from satellite imagery
(Meyer, 1995). Compared to more traditional mapping approaches such as terrestrial
survey and basic aerial photo-interpretation, land-use mapping using satellite imagery
has the advantages of low cost, large area coverage, repetitively, and computability,
13
Consequently, land-use information products obtained from satellite imagery such as
land-use maps, data and GIS layers have become an essential tool in many operational
programs involving land resource management. The prospect for the use of satellite
imagery data in land-use management and planning is an extremely promising one.
As a result of the recent development of sensor technology, the quality of satellite
imagery available for land-use mapping is improving rapidly. Particularly noteworthy
in this regard is the improved spatial and spectral resolution of the imagery captured
by new satellite sensors. A key task of satellite is to develop image data analysis
approaches appropriate to a particular resource management application (Turner et al,
1994). It is necessary to assess accuracy to quantitatively assessing classification
accuracy if remote-sensing derived land-use maps and associated statistics are to be
useful ant the accuracy assessment in remotely sensed image classification is
necessary for evaluating the obtained results although there are a wide variety of
techniques, most of land cover change detection analysis is performed using the
simple techniques of post classification comparison (Blaschke, 2005)

14
 CHAPTER THREE: OBJECTIVES

3.1. General objective

The general objective of the study will be assessing status of encroachment
throughout the study area (Morang district) from 1972 to 2010.

3.2. Specific Objectives

1. To explore the encroached forest area of Morang district.
2. To find the trend of forest encroachment.
3. To map and find the rate of change of forest cover.

3.3. Limitation
 Study limited only on Terai VDCs of Morang district
 Image classified only on two classes.
 Classification was not proceed for the images of the same date due to
difficulties in image extraction process
 Spatial metrics and land use change modeling could not do due to the lack of
software.
 The image of the 1999 cannot be referenced by other images.
 The land given to different institutions as lease and encroached forest area
were also included as deforested forest.
 The study images were selected after the handover of encroached forest area
to the encroachers according to the Act related to Jhora land of 2028 (1972)
which was prominent Act that legalized forest encroachment in Jhapa,
Morang and Sunsari districts of Eastern Terai.

15
 CHAPTER FOUR: METHODOLOGY

4.1. STUDY AREA

4.1.1. Introduction
The study area lies in the Morang district, eastern region of Nepal. This district
185,500 ha of land area of which forest occupies 55,500 ha (29.9 percent) followed by
agriculture land 105,270 ha (56.7 percent), settlement 5,059 ha (2.7 percent), river,
road, canal 4,069 ha (2.2 percent) and rock, landslide, barran land 11,793 (6.3
percent) (DFO, 2007). The population of the district is 843,220 among which male
population is 422,895 and female population is 420,325, the total household in this
district is 126,557 and population increase rate is 2.27 (CBS, 2001). Morang district
contain 65 VDCs and 1 submetro municipality. The study was done in 18 VDCs of
Morang district having the area of 63,955 ha.

Figure 3: Map of the study area

4.1.2. Location and Physiographic Characteristics

The boundary of Morang district is, east: Jhapa district, west: Sunsari district, north:
panchthar, Ilam and Dhankuta district, south: India. Geographic position are 87° 16'E
to 87° 41'E and 27° 20'N to 27° 53'N approximately (according to the map provided

16
by district forest office, Morang, 5 years working plan) . It consist mahabharat,
siwalik and Terai physiographic zone. Terai forests have clayey loam, alluvium soil,
siwalik contain rocky type soil. Terai region of this district occupy 80% and hill
occupy only 20% of the total area. Altitudinal range of this district is 60 to 2410
meter.

4.1.3. Climate

Climate of Morang district is tropical, subtropical and temperate climate. The average
maximum temperature is 39.3°C and average minimum temperature is 6.1°C.
Average rainfall is 1812 mm.

4.1.4. Biodiversity Resources

Morang district is highly rich in biodiversity resources. The Churia hills harbors high
biodiversity values and form part of the habitat network of flagship species. It is also a
critical water catchments area for the lowland Terai supporting productive agricultural
land. Morang district forest acts as a corridor for Indian Assami elephants. Wild boar,
common deer, chital, antelope, leopard, are the major wild life found there. Most of
the forest is covered with Sal forest. In some places there are Tropical Mixed Hard
Wood with Sal associates.

4.2. Materials and Methods

4.2.1. Materials
4.2.1.1. Data
Four Landsat images (Table 2) were downloaded from the United States Geological
Service, from glovis (http://glovis.usgs.gov) web sites on 21 September 2012. All
scenes correspond to the peak of the growing season of vegetation, with 9 to 18 years
in between acquisitions. Aerial photographs of the year 1964 was acquired from the
Department of Forest Research and Survey, Rapid EYE image of 5m resolution of the
date 2010 was acquired from Forest Resource Assessment Project Nepal as well as
1:25,000 topo-sheets of Morang district of Nepal Survey Department were also
acquired from Department of Forest Research and Survey archives . Landsat MSS and

17
TM satellite imageries were selected for forest cover and encroachment analysis of
the Study area during a period 38 years (from 1972 to 2010). The reasons for selecting
the Landsat images are due to the free access, appropriate spatial and spectral
resolution, and relevancy to the objectives of the study. The main data used in the
study included four Landsat satellite images acquired (Table 2) for the years 1972
(MSS), 199O (TM), 1999(TM) and 2010 (TM).

Table 2: Name and Character of the Images.

Satellite Date Path/Row Source Spatial Band
Resolution Used
(m)
Landsat 1972 Nov 7 150/41 GLOVIS 60 4,5,6,7
MSS
Landsat TM 1990 Nov 21 139/42 GLOVIS 30 1,2,3,4
Landsat TM 1999 Nov 06 139/42 GLOVIS 30 1,2,3,4
Landsat TM 2010 Feb 13 139/42 GLOVIS 30 1,2,3,4

Four Landsat images for the year 1972, 1990, 1999 and 2010 were used in this study
allowed us to provide an explicitly temporal perspective, and to examine the forest
cover and encroachment in Morang district. In the field we collect information from
key informants i.e. the local inhibitors during taking the GPS points and district forest
office, Morang staff. For secondary source data, I collected the different data from
DoF and DFO, Morang and articles from the internet Google Websites. I had visited
the library of DFRS, DNPWC.

18
 Image Pre-Processing Geo- Image input into
LANDSAT TM and referencing, Histogram ERDAS IMAGINE 9.2
MSS matching, CUBIC
CONVOLUTION

GPS points, Supervised

Topo-sheet, Training sample collection Classification, Maximum
Airphoto, Rapid (field verification) likelihood algorithm
EYE Image

Image import to Arc GIS

Manual classification 9.3 for preparation of
(Editing, correcting and forest cover and
coordinate transformation) Encroachment map (2010)

Forest cover and

Encroachment area
calculation

Figure 4: Image classification Methodology

.

4.2.1.2. Software

The following software’s were used for this study for different purposes:
 ERDAS IMAGINE 9.2. for supervised image classification,
 Arc GIS 9.3 for vector data analysis and area calculation.
 Other general software of Microsoft office.

4.2. 2. Methods
An integrated approach of remote sensing and GIS was applied in this study to
generate encroachment map and analyze the forest cover changes Morang district.
Four remote sensing images (1972, 1990, 1999 and 2010) from Landsat satellites
were processed for evaluating forest cover change. Image classification was carried
out using supervised classification approach applying nearest neighborhood
algorithm. Encroachment was analyzed by post classification analysis and time series
analysis. Image classification methodology is similar for all four images, so
classification methodology is illustrated for 2010 image in the figure 4.

19
4.2.2.1. Satellite image pre-processing

One of the important factors determining the accuracy of change detection is the
precise geometric registration between multi-temporal images (Lilles et al., 2004).
Histogram matching which converts the histogram of one image to resemble the
histogram of another is useful for change detection (Erdas, 2008). The resembling of
Multi Spectral Scanner (MSS) data to 30 m pixel was done using cubic convolution.
The satellite image set was preprocessed through geometric correction and histogram
matching to enhance those images. All images were geometrically corrected to the
UTM WGS 84. Once all the map layers were prepared, they were projected and
transformed into the Transverse Mercator system using Universe Transverse Mercator
(UTM) zone 45 projection system.

4.2.2.2. Ground truthing

All the Landsat images of the date 1972,1990,1999,2010 and latest rapid eye image of
2010 were printed and used for ground verification with the aid of GPS. In the field, I
used the GPS of Garmin 60 X and Topo Sheet of 1990 of the scale of 1:2500.

4.2.2.3. Key informant survey

During the time of GPS data collection for ground truthing, I consult with the local
people and staff of District Forest Office, Morang i.e. key informants and asked some
informal question like as where is the place of encroached forest land, year of
encroachment.

4.3. Data analysis

4.3.1. Image classification and accuracy assessment

In order to quantify recent changes in vegetation cover in the study area, it is

necessary to map the vegetation cover at present and at some time in the past. Change
in vegetation cover was quantified during 1972-2010. It is apparent that successful
detection of forest cover changes requires effective classification methods. In various
empirical studies, different classification methods are discussed e.g.
supervised/unsupervised, pixel or object-based classification, etc. The image
classification was carried out in ERDAS Imagine 9.2. A supervised classification

20
technique with maximum likelihood algorithm was applied. Landsat images of all the
required dates are classified into two land cover type i.e. a) Forest. b) Non forest
because study area is covered only by government forest. The classification was based
on 55 training samples were given to image, 1972 and 68 samples to image1990, 45
samples to image 1999 and 57 samples to 2010 as signature classes. After the
classification recoding of the signature value was done. Manual classification is done
by using the raster tools filling with related signature value and editing, correcting and
coordinate transformation was done. For classified the image off 1972, 1990, 1999
and 2010 , the aerial photo of 1966 , topographic map of scale 1: 25000 , Rapid eye
image of 2010 along with Google earth was used as reference. After the classification
in ERDAS 9.2, the classification maps were exported to Arc GIS 9.3 for further
processing.

For accuracy assessment, pixels in the classified images were compared to the
referenced pixels.

4.3.2. Forest Change (encroachment and deforestation) detection

Conversion from one class to another was calculated using formula Cij
=Aijk×10+Aijk+1 for the 1997-1990, 1990-1999 and 1999-2010 in ArcGIS software
using spatial analyst. Than only conversion from forest to non forest area was
highlighted for the identification of encroachment or deforestation area. Based on the
information available from DFO, Google image and personal experience,
deforestation and encroachment area were distinguished and calculated.

4.3.3. Rate of change of forest cover and encroachment

Multi-date Landsat images (1972, 1990, 1999 and 2010) were classified and area was
calculated for each classes including forest. Percentual change of forest cover
dynamics during different study period is accompanied. To estimate the rate of
change of forest cover i.e. deforestation, area covered in base year (t) and (t-1) years
are needed so the following formula was used to estimate the rate of change forest
cover i.e. deforestation.

21
 Rate of change for deforestation (%) = [(b/a) ¹∕ ⁿ -1]*100

(source: UNDP, RFDTh and FAO)

Where a = base year data
b = end time data
n = number of years
 Rate of change for encroachment (%) = [(e/a*1/n)]*100
Where,
e= encroachment in ha
a= base year data
n= number of years

22
 CHAPTER FIVE: RESULT AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Result
5.1.1. Accuracy assessment

Classification accuracy was assessed using overall accuracy and kappa coefficient.
Typical accuracy assessments involve verification of the randomly generated
locations using reference data. For accuracy assessment, pixels in the classified image
were compared to the reference pixels (ERDAS, 2008). For instance, the MSS image
of 1972 was classified and evaluated using aerial photographs of 1964, with the
assumption that forest cover change before highway construction was not significant.
However, in case of LANSAT TM of 1990 and 1999, 150 randomly placed points
were generated and compared with topographic map. At last Landsat TM of 2010,
150 randomly placed points were generated and compared with GPS data from field.
This gave classification accuracy and kappa by error matrix which is listed Annex-2.

5.1.2. Status of forest

During 1972 the total area of forest was 45717.13 ha and was sharply declined to
24855.07 ha in 2010. In 1990 forest area was 34012.09 ha and was slightly decline to
32220.66 ha in 1999.

5.1.3. Forest Encroachment status

Large amount of forest area was encroached during 1972-1990 which was 8205.74 ha
and rate of encroachment was decline in between 1990-1999 and 1999-2010
respectively.
Table 3: Status of Encroachment
Rate of Rate of
Approx.Rate of encroachment encroachm
change due to (%) ent of
forest Encroachment encroachment 1972-2010
image area (ha) (ha) (ha/year) (%)

23
 MSS(1972) 45717.13 - - - -
TM(1990) 34012.09 8205.74 455.874 0.997 -
TM(1999) 32220.66 315.37 35.041 0.103 -
TM(2010) 24855.07 300.87 27.352 0.085 0.51

Considering the encroachment according to VDc wise, large amount (2217.94 ha) of
forest area were encroached in Sanischare VDc during 1972-1990. On the same
period, Bayarban (1591.95 ha), Pathari (1708 ha), Belbari (677.27 ha) and
Madhumalla (476.35 ha) were also affected by encroachers. In Yangshila, Bhogatani,
Tandi, Jante, Kerabari, Letang and Madhuballa small amount of encroachment were
created during 1990-2010 (see details at ANNEX- 3).

Figure 6: VDC wise Forest Encroachment

5.1.4. Forest deforestation status

With the large amount of encroachment, maximum amount of deforestation was also
recorded in between 1972-1990 and was 11705.04 ha. In between 1990-1999 a very
less amount of forest area (1791.43ha) was deforested than compared to the 1972-
1990 and 1999-2010 (see details at ANNEX- 4).

24
Table 4: Status of Deforestation
Rate of
forest
Approx.Rate of cover
change due to Rate of forest change of
forest change deforestation cover change 1972-2010
image area (ha) (ha) (ha/year) (%) (%)
MSS(1972) 45717.13 - - - -
TM(1990) 34012.09 11705.04 650.280 -1.63 -
TM(1999) 32220.66 1791.43 199.048 -0.60 -
TM(2010) 24855.07 7365.59 669.599 -2.33 -1.59

Large amount of forest were deforested during 1972-1990 in Sanischare (2353.63 ha),
Bayarban (1702 ha), Pathari (1819.84 ha), Belbari (962.77 ha) and Madhumalla
(676.25 ha) where as remarkable forest were lost during 1999-2010 in Yangshila (620
ha), Bhogateni (811.62 ha), tandi (765.93), Jante (1371.96), Kerabari (991.78 ha) and
Letang (1216.52 ha).

Figure 7: VDC wise Deforestation

25
Figure 8: Land cover map of 1972

26
Figure 11: Map of Forest Encroachment and Deforestation (1990-1999)

Figure 12: Land cover map of 1999

27
Figure 13: Map of Forest Encroachment and Deforestation (1999-2010)

28
Figure 14: Map of Forest Encroachment (1972-2010)

5.2. DISCUSSION

Classification of multi-date Landsat satellite images for the year 1972, 1990, 1999 and
2010 reveals that Morang district has been experiencing rapid land cover dynamics.

29
Considerable amount of forest area (20862.06 ha) including shrub and grassland has
been decreased during the entire study period, 1990-1999 an annual deforestation rate
of 0.6% which is equal to deforestation rate identified by DoF in 2005 (0.6%) for
Terai district. Same report has identified that 1155 ha of forest area was deforested in
between 1990-2000 in Morang district. In the first period (1972-1990), 11705.04 ha
forest has been converted into non forest i.e. other land use with annual deforestation
rate 1.63 % of which forest encroachment is 8205.74 and annual rate of encroachment
is 0.997%. Similarly, with 0.6% annual deforestation rate 1791.43 ha of forest has
been deforested during 1990- 1999 of which encroached area is 315.37 ha with annual
rate of encroachment 0.103%. At the end of the study period (1999-2010) 7365.59 ha
of forest land has been deforested at the annual rate of 2.33% of which encroachment
area is 300.87 ha with annual rate of encroachment 0.085% from 1999. The total
deforested area during the study period is 20862.06 ha among which loss of forest
land due to encroachment is 8821.98 ha.

According to DFO, Morang the encroachment of Morang district is 537.25 ha. which
is the data compiled up to 1995 (DFO, 2007) and there exists lack of data updating
of forest encroachment .

Government of Nepal has given use rights to use forest land of Morang district to
different institutions such as Purbanchal University, Nepal Army camp etc. as lease is
626.53 ha. from 1990-2000 (Dof, 2011). In this study forest area given as lease are
also included in the deforested area so total deforestation will be 1781.53 ha. i.e.
annual rate of deforestation becomes 0.53% and according to this study (in the period
1990-1999) the deforested area was 1791 ha. i.e.0.6%, annual rate of deforestation.
According to Forest cover change analysis (1990/91-2000/01), deforestation rate
found to be less than before period because of natural regeneration growing profusely
in the CF.

The annual rate of deforestation is very high during the period 1999-2010 because of
changes in river courses and also due to the construction of roads, transmission lines,
human encroachment etc.

30
The annual rate of encroachment has been found to decrease in the three successive
study periods mainly because of effectiveness of the implementation of government
interventions to combat illegal encroachment and formation of community forest in
Morang district. Even though, buffer or fringe areas nearby settlements are much
affected by encroachment due to increase in population i.e. 12.65% population
increased from 2001 - 2011 (CBS, 2011).

Successful efforts to control malaria and other debilitating diseases since 1950s
resulted in a large influx of people to the Terai from the north because of highly
productive agricultural land, subsequently, large scale land clearing for agriculture,
settlements, and timber by these settlers led to depletion of biodiversity, soil erosion
and low water tables and increased deforestation and encroachment of the
Terai/lowlands.

With these recent accounts, the government policies need to be reviewed to scrutinize
if these policies are directly associated with the area of encroachment of forests in
Nepal. The issue is more prominent in the Terai/lowlands,

Land policies such as Land (Measurement) Act of 2019 (1962) is responsible for
legalizing forest areas for private ownership. Specifically Section 6 (5) of the Act with
the fourth amendment of 1978 has been outstanding to measure and provide title to
the one who has cultivated and been holding the titles since the 'past' with or without
any proof of the ownerships.

The land of Morang district was surveyed in 1967 and given land owner certificate to
the land holders. Again from 1967-1971 forest was cleared and to manage the
cleared forest area, the Act related to Jhora land 2028 (1972) came into existence and
this Act was a prominent Act that legalized forest encroachment in Jhapa, Morang and
Sunsari districts of Eastern Terai. The Act provided the encroached forest land to the
respective 'landowners' (actually encroachers) free of costs. The Act also had a
provision to sell the encroached forest land to Raiti (tenants) in cases where the
landowners (the first encroachers) had left the land to them. Due to this reason after
1972 more forest land were encroached i.e. cleared because of getting land owner
certificate but due to the political influence from 1979-1989 the encroached forest

31
land ownership was given to encroachers. In Morang district again in 1998 Basanta
Ayog was established to give the encroached forest land to the encroachers but due to
political instability this commission also failed and remained as encroached land, and
due to this reason the encroached forest area is very high i.e. 8205.74 ha from 1972-
1990 with respect to other study period. By 1972 encroached forest land have been
converted to big settlement, agricultural land. Besides, these land registration policies,
there are some other policies that provided full authority to the government to
distribute significant area of land (be it forests or barren under government
ownership) for specific purposes (COMFORT, 2006)

The policies concerned with various infrastructure development programs such as

construction of roads/highways, high-tension lines and canal, resettlement, housing
and city development of the government have substantially contributed to forest
encroachment.

One of the principle policies as has been envisaged in the concept paper for the Tenth
five year- plan (2002-2006) is employment generation for the poor and disadvantaged
group of society through promotion of forest-based industries. However, lack of
employment opportunities in the hills and mountains has encouraged migration to the
Terai resulting in forest encroachment.

However, the forest authority being both the owner and the manager of the resources
should take the lead role in this endeavour. Taking into considerations the obligations
of various international conventions, covenants and treaties along with the existing
national development strategies, goals and plans, the concerned Departments should
formulate a comprehensive natural resource management policy, plans and programs
to address the issues and minimize the consequences of forest encroachment. In this
regard, this report could be a milestone.

32
 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATION

6.1. Conclusions

Evaluating the result obtained by post classification analysis, accuracy assessment,

change detection and Key informants, following conclusions are drawn
 Rapid encroachment of forest land has been experienced along highways and
near settlements. It is due to the concentration of migrants from the hill and
proximity to highways (East-west and north-south)
 Most of the forest area has been converted into agricultural land and bare land
during 1977-2010.
 Annual rate of deforestation was 1.63%, 0.60%, 2.33% and 1.59% during
1972-90, 1990-1999, 1999-2010 and 1972-2010 respectively. Forest area has
been rapidly decreased during 1999-2010.
 Annual rate of encroachment was 0.997%, 0.103%, 0.085% and 0.51% during
1972-90, 1990-1999, 1999-2010 and 1972-2010 respectively.
 The trend of forest cover change is high in the present days than the past time.
The diminishing rate of forest cover change is increasing with increasing time
period i.e.1972-1990, 1990-1999 and 1999-2010 forest cover were decrease in
area but the trend of forest encroachment decreasing.
 Therefore, further deforestation or loss of forest resources must be arrested
through management in collaboration with the local community as early as
possible. However, the prevailing political situation of the country may not be
favourable for complete eviction of encroachments prior to the proposed
constituent assembly election the new interim government should formulate a
comprehensive forest policy to deal with the forest encroachment problems on
priority basis.

33
6.2. Recommendation

Based on findings of the present study following recommendations are made to

manage the forest encroachments on a sustainable way:

Policy Considerations
 Based on the new policies, short term working and benefit sharing mechanism
should be developed for the management of critical or very sensitive Biodiversity
hot spots, Wet lands Churia hills.
 Policy for replication of Leasehold Forestry Program, extension of CF, and
suitable Wild life Corridor Management Program should be developed and
implemented immediately;
 Guidelines for seizing the fake registration of forest land from private individuals
have to be developed
 The forests areas must also be protected from deforestation, that people should be
made self-reliant in timber, fuel wood, fodder and other forest products, and that
local communities should be given the responsibility of managing forests
according to geographical conditions and social needs.
 Giving the use rights of forest as lease to different institutions should be strongly
stopped by GoN,

Management and Control of Encroachment

 Complete eviction of encroachment in the prevailing political context may not be
possible at present situation. Therefore, a community based short term strategy
(such as formation of conservation committee, giving more responsibilities to
CFUGs organizing awareness and mass media campaigns, and sharing of
benefits, rights, and concession on forest products) for the conservation of
biodiversity hot spots, soil conservation sensitive areas, and critical wetlands
should be developed in consultation with the district stakeholders.

34
 Encroachment being a national problem, baseline assessments of encroachment
should be conducted throughout the Terai regions and a comprehensive.
Encroachment Management Master Plan for each district should be prepared and
implemented in all Terai districts.
 Community forestry program should be promoted wherever possible and replicate
the group leasehold forestry program throughout the Terai region.

35
 REFERENCES
Acharya, K.P., Dangi, R.B., and Acharya, M., 2011. Understanding the forest
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 ANNEX
Annex 1: Record of Forest Encroachment (DFO, Morang)

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Annex 2: Result of Kappa and Accuracy Assessment
Dates of image Overall kappa coefficient Overall classification
accuracy
1972 0.8081 84.83%
1990 0.7861 82.06%
1999 0.8349 85.31%
2010 0.8494 91.33%

Annex 3: VDCs wise Encroachment

Encroachmnet (ha)
S.N VDC 1972-1990 1990-1999 1999-2010
1 Yangshila 97.93 96.19 51.39
2 Bhogateni 12.60 42.76 11.45
3 Tandi 25.86 17.90 1.21
4 Jante 90.68 17.70 37.33
5 Kerabari 242.73 20.84 13.34
6 Letang 109.70 9.58 54.19
7 Madhumalla 476.35 16.44 57.44
8 Belbari 677.27 39.08 7.28
9 Sundarpur 30.71 4.42 1.82
10 Indrapur 118.47 2.95 13.56
11 Mrigauliya 65.82 - -
12 Urlabari 55.78 6.84 0.61
13 Bahuni 307.17 10.34 1.82
14 Dangihat 198.92 3.69 22.74
15 Keroun 176.98 2.21 2.43
16 Pathari 1708.87 4.42 10.92
17 Bayarban 1591.95 11.90 4.85
18 Sanischare 2217.94 8.11 8.49
Total 8205.74 315.37 300.87

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Annex 4: VDCs wise Deforestation
Deforestation (ha)
S.N. VDCs 1972-1990 1990-1999 1999-2010
1 Yangshila 397.40 354.60 620.81
2 Bhogateni 254.14 221.41 811.62
3 Tandi 472.03 217.22 765.93
4 Jante 512.44 249.35 1371.96
5 Kerabari 508.76 107.24 991.78
6 Letang 398.56 143.96 1216.52
7 Madhumalla 676.25 91.68 443.78
8 Belbari 962.77 74.78 483.47
9 Sundarpur 198.36 27.68 158.03
10 Indrapur 200.20 31.14 26.25
11 Mrigauliya 95.51 17.30 24.19
12 Urlabari 281.01 34.60 71.25
13 Bahuni 371.01 31.14 95.41
14 Dangihat 308.56 25.95 44.34
15 Keroun 191.92 1.73 48.37
16 Pathari 1819.84 19.03 24.19
17 Bayarban 1702.64 51.16 93.41
18 Sanischare 2353.63 91.49 74.28
Total 11705.04 1791.43 7365.59

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 PHOTOPLATES

Forest Land encroached by different institutions

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Forest land encroached for Agriculture and settlement

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47