Dependency on national park resources of people living in a mountain protected area

Abstract

National Parks can provide diverse benefits to those living in and around them, supporting livelihoods and providing opportunities to harvest natural resources and to participate in nature-based tourism. To explore the direct benefits to local people, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted in four villages in Langtang National Park, Nepal. Firewood and fodder / grasses were the main resources harvested by local people. Household size and the total number of livestock units were the only significant predictors of resource use (firewood and fodder). These findings suggest that local people are dependent on national park resources. Strategies to reduce firewood dependency and hence pressure on the national park forests are recom-mended.