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Murree, located in the sub-Himalayan Mountains, with geographical position extending from 33°52′ to 33°59′ North and 73°24′ to 73°31′ East is the worst slide-affected area of Pakistan. This area is recurrently affected by landslides and causes severe damages to land, life lines, houses, livestock and human life. This article has tried to determine the socio-economic determinants of landslide risk perception in Murree hills of Pakistan. Information was collected from 200, randomly selected sample households through questionnaire survey. The questionnaire consisted of questions regarding socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and risk perceptions about landslides. Socio-economic variables affecting landslide risks were also determined through relevant literature. A binary logistic regression was used to find out determinants of landslide risk perception in the study area. Results revealed that out of five variables, three variables including educational level, location and past experience had significant impact on landslide risk perception. The study recommends important policy implications for preparedness and mitigation plans against landslides in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arable land in Bhutan is under serious threats of land degradation. Proper land management approach is needed to control soil erosion problems. This study is an attempt to characterize and document the conventional and the community-based land management approaches, applied in Chukha and Dagana districts, respectively. The study tried to make a comparative assessment of their social, economic and environmental impacts on the participating farmers. Farmers’ level of participation in the program, implementation of the soil erosion control measures (SECM) and subsequent social, economic and environmental impacts were found to be significantly influenced by the type of approach applied. The study found that community-based approach is by any means better suited for the study sites than the conventional approach. The social, economic and environmental attributes of respondents from the community-based approach were found to have improved significantly as compared to the conventional approach. The community-based approach was thus found to have a higher potential to meet the diverse requirements of rural subsistence farming communities in Bhutan than the conventional approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this research we have attempted to measure vulnerability of the communities living in the flood prone area of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Extensive literature review was conducted to identify the flood vulnerability indicators. Primary data were used to achieve the objective of this study. Questionnaires were used to collect the primary data from the selected households and from the director of Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management. Subjective assessment technique was used to allocate weights to the selected indicators of vulnerability. A sample size of 280 respondents was taken from three selected locations of Charsadda, Nowshera and Peshawar. Simple random sampling was employed for the selection of respondents. Results revealed that overall vulnerability as well as component vulnerability for the selected locations was very high. The study therefore recommends preparedness, provision of funds for building houses with flood resistant materials and building houses in safer places. There is also a need for enhancing the adaptive capacities of the concerned communities through their socio-economic uplift. Implementation of these policies would lower the vulnerability of the communities to flood disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conservation strategies of two national parks i.e., Chiltan Hazarganji of Pakistan and Kaeng Krachan of Thailand were compared in this study. It was found that that Kaeng Krachan national park has much better "Zoning schemes" conservation strategies than Chiltan Hazarganji national park. However, the "trophy hunting" and community involvement of Chiltan Hazarganji were also important for conservation of Chiltan Markhor. The best conservation strategies of Kaeng Krachan national park may be attributed not only to awareness of the Thai people about biodiversity conservation but also the strong political will of Thailand's government to promote tourism industry of the country. The study therefore recommends the exchange of information on natural resources conservation between the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with flood problems caused by Hissara drain, district Charsadda which is a typical example of rural flooding. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate effects and remedies for flash floods in District Charsadda and suggest recommendations for overcoming the problem. The study area is rural. Hence agriculture land-use is dominant in the area. There are two spells of rainy season in an year in the study area. The winter rainfall occurring due to western disturbances shows a high record during the months of March and April. The highest summer rainfall is in the month of August. The average winter rainfall is higher than that of summer rainfall. The study area faces the problem of flash floods. Heavy rainfalls and tortuous course of the drain are the major natural causes of flood whereas encroachment of drain boundaries, construction of weir structures and bridges on the drain are the major flood intensifying factors. Flood reduction programmes are poor in the area. Floods are the potential hazard of the area. They seriously affect the agriculture sector and physical infrastructure in the area. Flood hazard hinders the socio-economic development of the study area. Flood losses are mainly due to uncontrolled land-use. If land-use is controlled, not only would flood losses be minimised but flood intensity would also be reduced to a greater extent. The paper consists of nine sections. After a brief introduction of the study section two gives an introduction of the study area. Section three states research methodology. Section four describes flash floods situation whereas section five highlights causes of flash floods in the study area. Section six deals with impacts of flash floods and section seven evaluates flood hazard reduction measures in the study area. Section eight gives findings of the study whereas section nine suggests recommendations for mitigation of flood disasters in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study has investigated the drivers of destructive fishing practices in inland rivers of district Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan. Key informants interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaire survey with 286 fishermen were used to collect data. Four destructive fishing practices i.e. blasting, cyanide fishing, electric fishing and small mesh nets were employed to create an index which was used as dependent variable in this study. Thirty variables were identified as drivers of destructive fishing practices through literature survey but after multicollinearity tests only seven explanatory variables were selected for the stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. The results revealed that five variables including, number of alternative livelihood opportunities, fish stock in rivers, average household income, distance to water bodies and amount of culture fish in the market have negative impact on destructive fishing practices. The other two variables i.e. average years of formal education and the cost of gears have positive effect on the dependent variable. The findings of this study have significant policy implications for reduction in the intensity of destructive fishing practices in the study area. The study recommends proper implementation of the policies on licensing, awareness regarding conservation of fisheries resources and provision of alternative livelihood opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]