The incidence of conflicts among communities over the collection of Yarsagumba, the high value caterpillar fungus, has increased after the Government of Nepal has lifted a ban on its collection and trade in 2001. In most cases, conflicts over Yarsagumba harvesting persist either between locals and outsiders, or between collectors within a local community. In the Api Nampa Conservation Area in Darchula District, Nepal, conflicts are primarily caused by the competi

Deforestation and forest degradation mostly caused by human interventions affect the capacity of the forest ecosystem to provide ecosystem services and livelihood benefits. Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is an emerging concept that focuses on the improvement of the ecosystem as well as the livelihood of the people at the landscape level. Nepal has successfully recovered degraded forest land mainly from the hilly region through forest restoration initiatives, especially community-based forestry. However, the Tarai region is still experiencing deforestation and forest degradation. This study navigated the gaps related to forest restoration in the existing policies and practices and revealed that the persistence of deforestation and forest degradation in Tarai is a result of a complex socioeconomic structure, the limitations of the government in implementing appropriate management modality, unplanned infrastructure, and urban development. We suggest that forest restoration should focus on ecological and social wellbeing pathways at the landscape level to reverse the trend of deforestation and forest degradation in the Tarai regions of Nepal. The study provides critical insight to the policymakers and practitioners of Nepal and other countries (with similar context) who are engaged in forest/ecosystem restoration enterprise.

This paper assesses the supply chain of Yartsagunbu (Caterpillar Fungus) in Darchula district of Nepal to identify who holds the power and how they gain power for management and marketing. We recorded two types of supply chain: (ⅰ) open supply chain, driven by open market, where the product is transported to Kathmandu before export to international market, and (ⅱ) close chain practiced by indigenous Shauka community following customary trade route to Tibet. The open chain is longer with higher number of actors compared to the close chain. This study observed that actors have intensive horizontal competition in the open chain to collect and purchase maximum quantity. Therefore, profit is disproportionately distributed to the actors in higher level of the supply chain. The profit is based on the price the actor receives, which is determined by their bargaining power. An actor's bargaining power is determined by the capital holding capacity, market information, risk appetite, networking and social ties. The study suggests that Government's interventions such as providing security to traders, access to finance, organizing auction and providing market information can help to increase the bargaining power of lower level actors. The study also suggests to minimize the disturbance in the collection site through limiting the collection permit and revising the revenue based on the market price.

Deforestation and forest degradation mostly caused by human interventions affects the capacity of forest ecosystem to provide ecosystem services and livelihood benefits. Forest Land Restoration (FLR) is an emerging concept which focuses on the improvement of ecosystem as well as livelihood of the people at the landscape level. Nepal has successfully recovered degraded forest land mainly from the hilly region through forest restoration initiatives especially community based forestry. However, the Terai region is still experiencing deforestation and forest degradation. This study navigated the gaps related to forest restoration in the existing policies and practices and revealed that the persistence of deforestation and forest degradation in Terai is a result of a complex socio-economic structure, limitation of government to implement appropriate management modality, unplanned infrastructure, and urban development. We suggest that forest restoration should focus on ecological and social wellbeing pathways at the landscape level, to reverse the trend of deforestation and forest degradation in the Terai regions of Nepal. The study provides a critical insight to the policy makers and practitioners of Nepal and other countries (with similar context) who are engaged in forest/ecosystem restoration enterprise.

Headache is a common presentation during postpartum period. Anesthesiologist, obstetrician, and neurosurgeon should be aware of the possibility of subdural hematoma in patient complaining of headache following spinal anesthesia.