Portrait of a Gurung peasant girl of the Himalayan foothills. . - - Fighting Deforestation. One of the wor1d's most dramatic erosion and deforestation situations is in Nepa1 where forests, up to heights of 2 000m., have totally disappeared. For many years rice cu1tivation has been practiced on irrigated terraces on steep terrain -- some over 40 degrees -- to an e1evation of 1 500m. But now the soi1-ho1ding trees in these regions are disappearing quick1y for fue1wood and anima1 fodder resu1ting in huge 1ands1ides in the Hima1ayan foothi11s during monsoons with the inevitab1e loss of 1ives, homes and crops. The Nepa1ese government and UNDP/FAO are carrying out two urgent projects aimed at fighting the prob1em. One is to integrate watershed management and to oontro1 torrents, the other is to bring the popu1ation together in community forestry deve1opment. The UN invo1vement reinforces the Forest Ministry's activities which include the education and participation of 1oca1 communities (panchayats) in p1anting and protecting their own forests, providing them with seed1ings, p1anting quick1y-maturing fodder and fue1 trees, and the bui1ding of erosion-contro1 structures.