Agricultural Settlement and Land Use in Mountains - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 587

first federal forest law was passed, stressing the importance of local management of
the forests to ensure both productive and protective functions. Following similar legis-
lation and action in other Alpine countries, the area and, more recently, the density of
the forests have since increased significantly (Price et al. 2011a). In contrast, the weak
communal organization in the northwestern Andean cordillera of Peru, combined with
population growth and national economic and political upheaval, spurred overexploit-
ation of forest and grassland resources (Cotler and Maass 1999). In 2004, Nepalese
Sherpas instituted a community-based conservation program to mitigate and even re-
verse the degradation of three decades of “adventure tourism” in the alpine zone below
the Everest massif. The impacts included overharvesting of alpine forest and shrub ve-
getation, accelerating overgrazing and soil erosion, and unregulated building of tourist
lodges (Byers 2005).
The second initiative, as discussed earlier, recognizes that forests are more than just
trees. That is to say, the other nonwood forest products, cultural and religious values,
and overall watershed protection are equally important to mountain communities, so
that sustaining them is vital to maintaining cultural identity and long-term economic vi-
ability. Moreover, since lowland populations benefit from mountain “environmental ser-
vices” such as carbon sequestration, soil stability, and recreation potential, an emerging
question is whether or not local people should receive payments for these services to
incentivize environmental conservation (Franco-Maass et al. 2008).
Finally, agroforestry is more likely to be institutionalized when land tenure is clearly
defined, and when local communities—instead of a central government or dominant
landowner—share the political and management authority. Baker (2005), investigating
India's rolling Chota Nagpur Plateau, found that integrating rural people with forest
management can improve rural welfare and reverse environmental degradation. Such
preconditions increase the likelihood that the entire socioeconomic and cultural fabric
will contribute to sustainable agroecosystems. This is more common in mountain areas
of East Africa and South Asia where forest and land resources are owned by families or
communities. This is not the case in Colombia, Ecuador, and the Philippines, where the
highland tropical forest diminishes 1 percent a year to accommodate commercial graz-
ing, timber harvests, landless immigrants, native population growth, and illicit crops
(Grau and Aide 2008).