Mitigation of road construction induced land degradation effects on livelihoods: A case of rural access programme Nepal

Road building on geologically vulnerable slopes can trigger erosion, mass wasting and sedimentation. Disturbance of the natural drainage systems and making deep cuts and fills across already fragile slopes are the main causes. This often leads to excessive land degradation of land areas adjacent to the road. These effects have a direct bearing on the livelihoods of people who survive by subsistence agriculture farming. The engineering solution of balancing soil mass between cut and fill is good practice, but is almost impossible to attain in the rural hills of Nepal. Side casting is unavoidable and has become a major cause of land degradation. Based on past experience, the Rural Access Programme (RAP) has adopted labour-based, environmental friendly and participatory approach of road construction coupled with bioengineering measures to control erosion, mass wasting and sedimentation to minimize land degradation. Unlike conventional road construction techniques, RAP has adopted the “Green Road Concept” phased construction without blasting or heavy machinery. RAP uses road construction as the entry point for social and economic development programmes to improve and sustain livelihoods of the directly affected project families of the poorest of the poor people living within the zone of influence (90 minutes walk) of the road. Thus RAP has intervened through physical, social and economic development programmes to reduce land degradation effects of road construction on livelihoods. RAP works with local road building groups having 15 to 20 members per group and has over 12,000 members working on 307 km length of road construction, including bioengineering and environmental management activities. Wages are paid on a task work basis, shared between group members based on days worked by each member. They are encouraged to save 10% of their wages in group savings and credit schemes, used to lend among the group members for other income generating activities. Initial results of the programme are very encouraging, indicated by significant reductions in the interest rates charged by the informal moneylenders operating in an environment where formal financing institutions are beyond reach. Also, degraded land outside the road corridor but within the right-of-way, has been put to use as a means of livelihoods by roadside neighbours and by road building groups during the operation phase of the road. The paper deals with the socio-economic aspects of land degradation and the mitigation measures adopted to minimise the effects. It also shares the experiences and challenges faced by rural people of the programme areas with the intellectual community, as promoted by the Global Transport Knowledge Partnership gTKP.