Out-Migration And Reforestation

A challenging global trend is that of deforestation in developing countries.  But there are places where the opposite trend is happening.  Nepal is one such place.



According to satellite imaging, in 1992 forest covered 26% of Nepal.  As of 2016, that number was 45%. 




To some extent, the forest regrowth was a result of policy changes
from about three decades ago, when the government began removing management
authority from bureaucrats and shifting it to local communities across the
country.  This local management helped to
reduce illegal logging and many local villages undertook tree-planting
campaigns.




But perhaps a bigger factor at play is human migration.  In recent decades, millions of Nepalis have
left the country to work in the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia, and
elsewhere.  The out-migrants wire money
home and meanwhile, families left behind rely less on forest products or
abandon farmland, aiding reforestation. 
A 2018 study showed that the areas with the highest out-migration
experience, on average, had the most forest recovery.




Globally, migration has important impacts on forests, but not always
positive ones.  In many countries,
forests seem to recover as people leave rural areas to work elsewhere.  El Salvador, for example, has seen a rebound
of its forests as many of its rural residents move to cities or even to the United
States. But in Guatemala and Nicaragua, the return of migrants bringing money
they have earned overseas has led to an expansion of cattle ranching that has
harmed forests.




The global relationship between migration and forests is a complicated
one that depends on whether the migration is one-way or “circular” (meaning
that the migrants eventually return) and how returning migrants make use of
their earnings from abroad.




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In Nepal, Out-Migration Is Helping Fuel a Forest Resurgence




Photo, posted September 30, 2018, courtesy of Flickr.




Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.