Forest Cover and Sustainable Development in the Lumbini Province, Nepal: Past, Present and Future

Between 1996 and 2016, the forest area in Lumbini Province, Nepal—the birthplace of Lord Buddha—expanded by 199 km² (2.1%), rising from 49.3% to 50.3% of the total land cover. Projections using a hybrid cellular automata Markov chain model suggest further growth: an additional 81 km² by 2026 and 195 km² by 2036, reaching nearly 51.4% forest coverage. This increase aligns with global sustainability goals, including SDG-15 (Life on Land), the land degradation neutral world initiative, and the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2031). The study, based on Landsat satellite imagery and spatial modeling, underscores the potential for forest landscape restoration (FLR) in Lumbini while highlighting the need for robust legal frameworks and coordinated policies to sustain this positive trend.

Rimal, B., Keshtkar, H., Stork, N., & Rijal, S. (2021). Forest Cover and Sustainable Development in the Lumbini Province, Nepal: Past, Present and Future. Remote Sensing, 13(20), 4093. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13204093