Abstract
Maintenance of biodiversity and other ecosystems services essential for human well-being requires an effective legal framework to prevent over-exploitation and give incentive for protection of biodiversity. There is uncertainty about what types of legal framework are most effective in different ecological, economic and cultural settings. HimaLines will test is that legal frameworks and property structure are influencing ecosystem services, including biodiversity, and that differences in legal frameworks will affect services and benefits. Protection (national parks or conservation areas) has been efficient in limiting land-use and ecosystem service degradation, but biodiversity can also be protected by regulation of land-use and establishment of incentives for maintaining biodiversity in non-protected areas. These effects can be quantified and assessed. Specifically, in the Himalayas, we will test: Prediction 1: Differences in legal frameworks between National Parks, Conservation Areas, Buffer Zones and the surrounding matrix landscape is reflected in the local land-use practices. Prediction 2: Given that deforestation, land-use change and property rights are so closely linked, the potential of forest utilization in providing timber, fuelwood, fodder and medicinal/edible plants while restoring degraded land is feasible. Prediction 3: Tree population structure and dynamics are affected by land-use and tree regeneration will differ between protected and unprotected areas. Prediction 4: Wild edible, medicinal and aromatic plants are highly valued in Nepal. Differences in legal frameworks between protected and non-protected areas will affect harvesting regimes and hence population dynamics of these species (ecosystem benefits) differently.
Norway