Causes And Effects Of Environmental Degradation

Though Nepal is predominantly an agricultural country, the agriculture sector is suffering from several problems. The farmers do not get good seeds or fertilizers in time; neither do most of them have the facility of irrigation, which plays a pivotal role in production. Lack of manure, declining soil fertility is due to the fodder shortage for the livestock. Restoring fertility is the major effect of crop productivity in the hills, but the poor families have a very limited income for survival. On the other hand the attempts made for increasing crop production have dearly cost environment that is facing a continual degradation. Poverty and environment have a mutual relationship because poverty is both the cause and effect of environmental degradation. In Nepal, natural resources are declining in both hilly and Terai regions. It has provided the poor with the only feasible short-term mechanism for their survival. At micro-level, environmental degradation imposes significant direct costs on them.

Sunita Bista
Maitidevi, Kathmandu