Nepal’s 60% area falls under the mountain which are unsuitable for the agriculture. The only option is farming of the livestock. Thus, pastoralism plays an important role in livelihood of mountain people. Until fairly recently, people from this region have practised transhumance which was made possible due to the abundance of land and low population levels of both human and livestock. This system made effective use of large tracts of land and at the same time maintained its productivity. But political problem in Tibet has banned traditional system of grazing. In lower altitudes community forestry has been a problem for people following transhumance system. Community forestry in lower areas doesn’t take the people from higher altitudes as their users and thus deprived from the right for grazing in those forest areas.

Hence, people are forced to overuse their resources which have resulted in degradation of existing resources. There has been no any substantial support till now to understand their problems. So, this study will be a small step in recognizing their problems and will come out with some solutions which are expected to bring a positive and long lasting impact in nature conservation.

Thus the proposed project plans to carry out following activities:

• Identification and mapping of major rangelands used by the local

• Assess the condition of these rangelands

• Assess current livestock production systems

• Rangeland management practices

• Perceptions of the pastoralists towards rangeland condition

• Development of the draft management plans for the identified rangelands with the involvement of herders and local people and conservation area management team.

To accomplish these listed activities group discussions will be carried out and the rangelands used by the community will be marked in the topographic maps. After mapping the rangelands, the sample plots of 2X2m will be laid and a set of indicators defined by Holzner and Kriechbaum (2000) will be measured and based on the indicators, the pasture condition will be evaluated into class defined by Holzner and Kriechbaum (2000).

To collect data on the current livestock production system, existing rangeland management and to find out the perception of the people towards the current rangeland condition, a social survey will be carried out. The questionnaire will consist of livestock inventories, aspects of management and productions, animal health and disease, major constraints to livestock production and other related topics.