8 Rainfed terraces (bari) have totally remodelled the mountain slopes near Kakani (size: 34 MB)

This is a mountain landscape totally transformed by human labour. These terraces support hill rice, maize, millet, buckwheat and, closer to Kathmandu and its burgeoning tourism, green vegetables and tomatoes. The houses are cautiously sited along the ridge crests. The terraces (bari) are not irrigated but depend upon natural rainfall. They slope gently out from the hillside so that during heavy monsoon downpours the surplus rain can run off their surfaces. This type of terracing is developed at higher altitudes (shorter growing season) and/or on steeper slopes than the khet (irrigated for paddy in summer and winter wheat). The bari terraces are more susceptible to soil erosion and landslides and because they are less productive than the paddy terraces, command lower priority attention for repair.

10 Landslide on a mountain slope below Kakani (October, 1978) (size: 29 MB)

This landslide occurred during the summer monsoon of 1978 and the photograph was taken the following October. The debris flow continued off the picture at lower left and extended for another kilometre almost to the main river course in the valley below. It was surveyed as part of the Kakani mountain hazard mapping. It proved to be one of many sites that helped lead to a more accurate understanding of the landscape dynamics of the Nepal Middle Mountain zone (see photograph 11).

11 Landslide on a mountain slope below Kakani (August, 1992) (size: 28 MB)

The landslide described above (caption 10) was re-photographed several times during the following twenty years and last visited in 2000 when no trace of it could be found. The area damaged by the landslide was kept as rough grazing for the first several years. Later a crop of maize was grown. By 1992 it had been completely re-terraced and was supporting vegetable crops for sale to Kathmandu hotels, thus producing a more valuable yield than the surrounding land. Under the assumptions that dominated Himalayan thinking during much of the 1970s and 1980s, the landslide scar seen in 1978, hypothetically, should have expanded and destroyed much of the mountain slope. Clearly, this did not occur and the local farmers were very much in control.

12 Intricate khet terraces in the Kakani area, Nepal (May, 1981) (size: 28 MB)

When we first began work in Nepal we heard much about the "ignorant" subsistence farmers who were cutting down the forests and destroying their own environment. Once we were able to discuss the situation with the villagers, aided by Tribhuvan students, we were able to propose a totally different explanation. The terraces shown in this photograph have been skillfully cut into the run-out debris of a landslide. It was triggered deliberately by knowledgeable villagers who had diverted a small mountain stream to saturate the soil so that slippage would occur. The resulting moist and loose landslide debris then yielded more easily to terrace construction. The subsistence farmers were certainly not the main cause of extensive environmental degradation but were the victims of misrepresentation by government and aid agency personnel who had not conducted any detailed investigations. Rather than a cause of the "problem" they should be regarded as a major part of the solution.