• Journal of Korea Spatial Information System Society
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.73-78
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• 2009

100 households' survey was carried out in 2007 in Chitwan to foresee the people's livelihood and their insight into the forest conservation. This analysis revealed that households' was mainly survived with multiple livelihood categories where 98% citizens belong to food crops and 92% to livestock husbandry. The households' income shared by agriculture (crop and livestock), forest and remittance was 37% and 20% respectively. Results further showed that income distribution was somehow equal with Gini coefficient 0.25 than with the 0.37 of landholdings size. But, average per capita income of households was lower than the national standard with 33% of households below the poverty thresholds and 0.0945 poverty gap index. Similarly, 85% respondents assured for the current degraded status of forest and 83% of households for not participated in forest management activities due to low awareness in 82% households. These findings shows the forest assets could be unduly degraded in the past and forest availability which is extracting from the remaining forest is also decreasing in the area. Thus, tendency of forest dependency has been shifting to the small scale farming, other livelihood sources such as local business and services. This information could be useful in planning and decision-making process in searching of better alternative for the local livelihood as well as sustainable forest conservation strategy.