Abstract
The main objective of the study was to find the practices of Limbu people in resource management. The study also aims to find out the relation of Limbu with nature and the role of government and NGOs in resource management have also been taken into study. The study was conducted in Maunabuthuk VDC of Dhankuta district in east Nepal. The research was conducted for three weeks from July- August 2010. The data were collected through structured questionnaire and key informant interviews. A total of 42 Limbu households were taken into study. The households were selected basically on the availability of people in their house and snowball sampling was also applied. It was found that agriculture was their main economic activity while only few of the people were engaged in off farm activities. Intercropping was found to be a common practice of agricultural system by the Limbu people. The agricultural lands had been divided into upland and lowland. The slopes of the land had been preserved by fodder trees, bamboos, Amliso (bouquet grass) that they planted regularly. Orange plantation was the main source of cash income for them while the vegetables also supported their income. They had community forests, reserved forests and also private forests. They had established their own local system of management of their resources. Besides the Limbu people shared a special relationship with the nature and basically they are known as ‘nature worshipper’ and had various religious rites and beliefs in relation to nature. The role of the government for resource management has been minimal in comparison to the NGOs while the role of women in resource management has also been encouraging. Hence, though Limbu people are managing their resources as per their needs and with their local knowledge, still they have their own challenges to deal with and they also need to further develop their management strategies.