Yonzon is a member of Environment Protection Council, Nepal and a resource biologist.
The ecological integrity of Langtang National Park, only 32 km north of Kathmandu, is under enormous stress. Some 19,000 inhabitants, and another 58,000 people living around the park, rely on the food, fodder and fuelwood it provides, and those populations are steadily growing. As if that were not enough, commercial exploitation of the park's plant resources now threatens to tip the balance. Ironically, Langtang's protected status hinders rather than helps its continued survival.
The upper reaches of the Tandi, Melamchi, Larkey and Balephi rivers meet the southern perimeter of Langtang National Park at an elevation of 1000 m. The park is bounded to east, and to the north at more than 7000 m. by the Nepal-Tibet border and, to the west, by the Bhote Kosi river. This great range of elevation has given rise to an astonishing diversity of flora, from the upper tropical forest to regions of alpine shrub and perennial ice. As many as 32 different mammals and 283 species of birds make their homes among these diverse plant communities. Small communities of local peoples, including Tamangs, Sherpas and Tibetans, have survived on the wildlife and plant resources of Lang tang's forest for centuries. Over that time they have probably gathered more knowledge on their use than anybody else.
These people have no choice but to rely on the forest. Barren wilderness accounts for more than half of the park's 1710 sq km. Some 27 percent of the park area is under forest cover and 5 percent under shrub. Agriculture accounts for just 1.6 percent. It is estimated that at least 0.2 hectare of land is required to sustain a human life in Nepal 's hills but the per capita land holding in Langtang averages 0.006 ha — enough only to produce a quarter of the annual food requirement. Thus, grazing livestock and harvesting forest resources become necessary for survival.