Buffaloes used to till rice fields in the plains need 40 kg of fodder per day. The search for animal feed (traditionally young tree leaves) is denuding the hillsides of the natural tree cover. - - General: General. One of the world's most dramatic erosion and deforestation situations is in Nepal where forests, up to heights of 2 000 m have totally disappeared. For many years, rice cultivation has been practiced on irrigated terraces on steep terrain, some inclines over 40 degrees, to an elevation of 1 500 m. But now the soil-holding trees in these regions are disappearing quickly for fuel wood and animal fodder resulting in huge landslides in the Himalayan foothills during monsoon season with the inevitable loss of lives, homes and crops. The Nepalese government and UNDP/FAO are carrying out two urgent projects aimed at fighting the problem. One is to integrate watershed management and to control torrents, the other is to bring the population together in community forestry development. The UN involvement reinforces the Forest Ministry's activities which include the education and participation of local communities (panchayats) in planting and protecting their own forests, providing them with seedlings, planting quickly maturing fodder and fuel trees and the building of erosion-control structures.