摘要：The habitats of Nepal’s endangered red pandas provide ecosystem goods and services to surroundinghuman communities. Here, to help reduce pressure on the panda, we quantified the current use of themost important ecosystem goods and services obtained in and around a protected area in westernNepal, trends over the last 20 years, and factors driving those trends. Our results show that moreecosystem goods and services were sourced by communities living outside the protected area thaninside except for fodder and bedding for animals, recreational activities and ecotourism. Incomesinside the protected area were higher than outside. Of the seven main services investigated (i) use ofmedicinal plants had increased but their availability had declined; (ii) bamboo use remained steady butless was available; (iii) there were no perceived trends in firewood use or availability; (iv) there was lesstranshumant pastoralism to upland pastures but pasture availability had declined; (v) less fodder andbedding for animals was collected inside the park than outside, but the availability was unchanged; (vi)use of sacred religious sites had declined inside but not outside the park; (vii) the reverse was true forrecreational tourism. Direct drivers of change in ecosystem service provision included changes inweather patterns and fluctuations in the market for goods; indirect drivers were institutional governance and regulation, population growth, literacy, poverty, and infrastructure development. Policies thatensure sustainable use of ecosystem goods and services from panda habitats could improve locallivelihoods, reduce natural resource degradation and help conserve the panda.
