How does diction affect theme in a story?
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The tourists who flock to Nepal in ever-increasing numbers are offered an idyllic vision of rural life, seemingly unchanged for centuries, set among some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world. Yet this image is illusory; despite revenue from tourism and massive injections of foreign aid (now totaling over half the national budget), the rural population in the Hills of Nepal is caught in a cycle of impoverishment. Their only resource, the land, is literally slipping away from them.
The Hills comprise the broad band of mountainous land, between 600m and 3,000m in altitude, which lies between the high snow-capped Himalayas to the north and the Ganges plain to the south. The traditional mixed farming system in this area involves a delicate and crucial balance in the use of arable and forest land. The fertile valley bottoms and the steep hill slopes are intensively cultivated by constructing terraces, often with complex irrigation systems. Above the arable land the natural forest has always provided a wealth of products and benefits. As well as fuelwood and construction timber, villagers collect leaf fodder for dry season animal feed, litter for animal bedding and subsequently (mixed with manure) for compost, and many other important products including fruit, mushrooms and medicinal herbs. The forest also provides grazing land for livestock. Equally essential is its role in soil and water conservation. Tree roots bind the soil of the steep upper slopes and at the same time reduce run-off from heavy monsoon downpours; this has the dual benefit of stabilizing the slopes and improving water supply from springs and wells.
The stability and fertility of the agricultural land thus depend absolutely on the maintenance of a healthy forest. It has been estimated that a forest area three times the arable area may be necessary for the maintenance of the agricultural system as a whole. Yet over the last decades the forest area has declined dramatically, and the trend is continuing. The problem of deforestation in Nepal is not one of exploitation by outsiders; there are almost no roads in the Hills, and logging on a commercial scale would not be feasible. The problem stems rather from the acute and increasing pressure on the land. The Hill population is now estimated at 1,500 people per square kilometer of cultivable land, with livestock numbers comparable to the huma
The Hills comprise the broad band of mountainous land, between 600m and 3,000m in altitude, which lies between the high snow-capped Himalayas to the north and the Ganges plain to the south. The traditional mixed farming system in this area involves a delicate and crucial balance in the use of arable and forest land. The fertile valley bottoms and the steep hill slopes are intensively cultivated by constructing terraces, often with complex irrigation systems. Above the arable land the natural forest has always provided a wealth of products and benefits. As well as fuelwood and construction timber, villagers collect leaf fodder for dry season animal feed, litter for animal bedding and subsequently (mixed with manure) for compost, and many other important products including fruit, mushrooms and medicinal herbs. The forest also provides grazing land for livestock. Equally essential is its role in soil and water conservation. Tree roots bind the soil of the steep upper slopes and at the same time reduce run-off from heavy monsoon downpours; this has the dual benefit of stabilizing the slopes and improving water supply from springs and wells.
The stability and fertility of the agricultural land thus depend absolutely on the maintenance of a healthy forest. It has been estimated that a forest area three times the arable area may be necessary for the maintenance of the agricultural system as a whole. Yet over the last decades the forest area has declined dramatically, and the trend is continuing. The problem of deforestation in Nepal is not one of exploitation by outsiders; there are almost no roads in the Hills, and logging on a commercial scale would not be feasible. The problem stems rather from the acute and increasing pressure on the land. The Hill population is now estimated at 1,500 people per square kilometer of cultivable land, with livestock numbers comparable to the huma
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