Abstract
Recent policy measures have recognized people's participation in forest/watershed conservation in the Asian countries. In places like Nepal, where societies are highly stratified by caste/ethnicity, people's concerns and socioeconomic conditions have significant implications for implementation of watershed management activities. This paper analyzes the relationship between people's concerns, socioeconomic conditions, land use, terrain slope and proportion of caste/ethnic households. The analysis revealed that there is a significant effect of caste/ethnicity on people's concerns and socioeconomic conditions. It was also found that people's concerns are more serious in the medium and high slope areas compared to the flat areas. Predictor variables for food availability are proportion of low caste households in the ward, and medium and high slope area. For fuelwood availability, they are walking distance to fuelwood forest, ownership of farmland, low caste households, high caste households and proportion of level terrace in the ward. Proportion of low caste households is the main predictor of illiteracy, followed by high slope area. Thus, it was found that people's concerns are collectively affected by the socioeconomic conditions of the local people, land use and natural conditions.
