Ecological services

There are a number of components to the broad range of ecological services that forests provide. According to Sousson, Shrestha and Uprety (1995), these include (c.f., World Bank 1997):

· the regulation of water regimes by intercepting rainfall and regulating its flow through the hydrological system;

· the maintenance of soil quality and the provision of organic materials through leaf and branch fall;

· the limiting of erosion and protection of soil from the direct impact of rainfall;

· modulating climate; and

· being key components of biodiversity both in themselves and as a habitat for other species.

Whilst these services are important, this report is more concerned with those that have a more specifically human dimension: economic and sociocultural services.