Regulatory migration regimes and the production of space: The case of Nepalese workers in South Korea

This paper engages with contemporary debates in labour geography through its focus on: migrant workers as active agents of change; precarious employment, its complexities and consequences; and the importance of material spaces in migrant labour struggles. Since the early 2000s the South Korean government has been strengthening the institutionalised regulation of low-wage migrant workers. A key tool in this process is the Employment Permit System (EPS), in force since 2004. Under this policy migrant workers are temporary sojourners and effectively socio-politically, culturally and spatially excluded from Korean society. EPS restricts migrants’ freedom to choose or change workplaces, which renders them vulnerable to economic and social precarity. Employers use these restrictions to segregate migrant workers from co-nationals, and low-waged migrant workers often find themselves in exploitative working conditions in isolated places. This paper is based on deep ethnographic fieldwork in “Nepal Town” in Seoul and remote Nepalese workers’ accommodation. We examine how such precarious working conditions and isolation impact on workers’ active involvement in the formation and transformation of Nepal Town in Seoul. We examine the ways in which Nepal Town is a site of spatial agency and praxis for Nepalese workers and explore the potentialities of ‘reactive ethnicity’. The empirical insights provided, suggest that the regulatory migration regime for low-wage migrant workers is strongly linked with new formations of material landscapes of connection, mobility, freedom and safe space. Such space production enables migrant workers to perform agency and employ tactics of resistance in order to create spaces of possibility.     

Assessments of ecosystem service indicators and stakeholder's willingness to pay for selected ecosystem services in the Chure region of Nepal

The Chure region of Nepal—the area sandwiched between the hills in the north and the plains in the south—is considered an ecologically fragile, structurally weak, and highly erosion-prone region. The forest in the Chure region provides several ecosystem services to people living in the downstream areas. However, assessment and quantification of ecosystem services in this region are very limited. This study, conducted in a watershed of the Chure region of western Nepal, combined local users' perspectives with experts' opinions to identify and rank ecosystem services based on land use types, to investigate the downstream users' willingness to pay for ecosystem services, and to explore the socio-economic factors affecting their willingness to pay. The study found that forests offered the highest number of ecosystem goods and services in this area. Local people were familiar with 10 different ecosystem services provided by the watershed and ranked drinking water service at the top. The downstream beneficiaries would be willing to pay a higher amount for drinking water service than they were currently paying if the quality of the service and its sustainability were assured. The amount they were willing to pay for ecosystem services increased significantly with monthly income. The results of this study are useful for other areas in which an upstream–downstream linkage exists and the upstream communities play a crucial role in maintaining ecosystem functions and the resulting supply of ecosystem services to the downstream communities.     

Determinants of agricultural commercialization and mechanization in the hinterland of a city in Nepal

In view of the significance of agricultural commercialization for rural development, this study analyzed factors determining agricultural commercialization and mechanization in the hinterland of an urban centre in Morang district, Nepal. Information needed for the study was collected through a questionnaire survey, covering 120 farm households, and group discussion and key informant interviews. The regression analysis of determinants of agricultural commercialization revealed four significant variables, namely, the amount of inorganic fertilizer used, area under tractor-ploughing, area under pump-set irrigation and landholding size. The predicted R value of 0.87, R square of 0.75, and adjusted R square of 0.75 indicate the high explanatory power of the model as a whole. The regression model related to the area under pump-set irrigation predicted the degree of agricultural commercialization and the distance from the city as significantly influencing factors, with a predicted R value of 0.79, R square of 0.63, and adjusted R square of 0.62. The analysis of determinants of the area under tractor-ploughing found only the degree of commercialization as a significantly influencing factor, with a predicted R value of 0.77, R square of 0.59, and adjusted R square of 0.58. In both instances of farm mechanization, the degree of commercialization is the most influential factor, indicating the significant role of mechanization in agricultural commercialization. The major policy implications of the findings of the study are outlined.     

Does outmigration lead to land degradation? Labour shortage and land management in a western Nepal watershed

In Nepal, changing demographic patterns are leading to changes in land use. The high level of outmigration of men in the hills of Kaski District, Western Development Region of Nepal, is affecting the household structure but also land management. Land is often abandoned, as the burden on those left behind is too high. How do these developments affect the state of the land in terms of land degradation? To find out, we studied land degradation, land abandonment caused by outmigration, and existing sustainable land management practices in a subwatershed in Kaski District. Mapping was done using the methodology of the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT). While previous studies expected land abandonment to exacerbate slope erosion, we demonstrate in this paper that it is in fact leading to an increase in vegetation cover due to favourable conditions for ecosystem recovery. However, negative impacts are several, including the increase of invasive species harmful to livestock and a decline in soil fertility. Traditional land management practices such as terraces and forest management exist. To date, however, these measures fail to take account of the changing population dynamics in the region, making the question of how migration and land degradation are linked worth revisiting.     

Earthquake processes of the Himalayan collision zone in eastern Nepal and the southern Tibetan Plateau

Focal mechanisms determined from moment tensor inversion and first motion polarities of the Himalayan Nepal Tibet Seismic Experiment (HIMNT) coupled with previously published solutions show the Himalayan continental collision zone near eastern Nepal is deforming by a variety of styles of deformation. These styles include strike-slip, thrust and normal faulting in the upper and lower crust, but mostly strike-slip faulting near or below the crust–mantle boundary (Moho). One normal faulting earthquake from this experiment accommodates east–west extension beneath the Main Himalayan Thrust of the Lesser Himalaya while three upper crustal normal events on the southern Tibetan Plateau are consistent with east–west extension of the Tibetan crust. Strike-slip earthquakes near the Himalayan Moho at depths >60 km also absorb this continental collision. Shallow plunging P -axes and shallow plunging EW trending T -axes, proxies for the predominant strain orientations, show active shearing at focal depths ∼60–90 km beneath the High Himalaya and southern Tibetan Plateau. Beneath the southern Tibetan Plateau the plunge of the P -axes shift from vertical in the upper crust to mostly horizontal near the crust–mantle boundary, indicating that body forces may play larger role at shallower depths than at deeper depths where plate boundary forces may dominate.     

高频GPS测定的尼泊尔MW7.8和MW7.3地震震时地表动态变形过程

以陆态网络和尼泊尔境内高频（1 Hz）GPS观测数据为基础,采用动态双差相对定位方法,获取2015年尼泊尔M_W7.8和M_W7.3地震震时近场地表动态变形过程。结果表明,M_W7.8地震震中东侧高频GPS站动态位移幅度明显大于震中西侧;各高频GPS站动态位移幅度不仅与测站震中距有关,而且与地震破裂传播方向有关;M_W7.3地震引起的水平动态位移相对较小。将高频GPS与邻近强震仪动态位移时序进行对比发现,二者在振幅和相位上具有较好的一致性。     

Digital terrain modelling using Corona and ALOS PRISM data to investigate the distal part of Imja Glacier, Khumbu Himal, Nepal

This study used Corona KH-4A and Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) PRISM images to generate digital terrain models (DTMs) of the distal part of Imja Glacier,where a few supraglacial ponds (～0.07 km 2) expanded into the large Imja Glacier Lake (Imja Tsho,～0.91 km 2) between 1964 and 2006.DTMs and subsequently derived topographical maps with contour intervals of 1 m were created from the high-resolution images (Corona in 1964 and ALOS in 2006) in the Leica Photogrammetric Suite (LPS) platform.The DTMs and topographic maps provided excellent representation of the elevation and micro-topography of the glacier surface,such as its supra-glacial ponds/lake,surface depressions,and moraine ridges,with an error of about +/-4 m (maximum).The DTMs produced from the Corona and ALOS PRISM images are suitable for use in studies of the surface change of glaciers.The topographical maps produced from the Corona data (1964) showed that part of the dead ice in the down-glacier area was even higher than the top of the lateral moraine ridges,while the glacier surface in the up-glacier area was noticeably lower than the moraine crests.This suggests more extensive melting of glacier ice in the up-glacier area before 1964.The average lowering of the glacier surface from 1964 to 2006 was 16.9 m for the dead-ice area west of the lake and 47.4 m for the glacier surface east of the lake;between 1964 and 2002,the lake surface lowered by 82.3 m.These figures represent average lowering rates of 0.4,1.1,and 2.2 m/year for the respective areas.     

尼泊尔8.1级地震后青藏高原NE向地震活动条带的形成及其意义

针对2015年4月25日发生于印度板块北边界中段的尼泊尔8.1级地震后,青藏高原中强以上地震活动呈现NE向条带分布的现象,本文将区域地质构造动力环境和以GPS水平位移为约束的数值模拟相结合,初步分析研究了这一地震活动条带的基本特征和形成机理;进而将其与1996年前后出现在青藏高原及东北部邻区的"西藏榭通门-内蒙古包头"NE向地震活动条带、以及该条带形成后强震活动由东向西的迁移状况进行比较,探讨了目前的NE向地震活动条带对未来强震活动趋势的预示意义。结果认为:尼泊尔8.1级地震后青藏高原NE向中强以上地震活动条带,是在印度板块北推挤压动力持续作用下,因青藏高原NE向构造应力加强引起的构造活动响应,并与尼泊尔大地震低角度逆冲错动和地壳介质能量传递影响有关;而未来地震趋势可能使该条带附近强震活动"填空",进而使该条带东、西两侧较大范围强震活动性增强。     

尼泊尔M_W8.1地震对我国大陆井水位动态的影响及其地震预测意义

分析了尼泊尔M_W8.1地震引起的中国大陆井水位同震响应变化特征,并利用同震水位阶变量反演中国大陆震时应力调整状态。结果显示,尼泊尔M_W8.1地震引起中国大陆井水位的同震响应主要表现为振荡型与阶变型变化。从震时应力调整状态来看,中国大陆受此次地震影响较为明显的区域主要是南北地震带,特别是甘青交界、云南地区及川渝黔交界等应力增强明显。从震例分析来看,在尼泊尔M_W8.1地震发生后的2a内,中国大陆有4次地震发生在甘青交界与云南地区,这表明水位同震效应阶变反演的震时应力增强区域,可能对未来地震危险区具有一定的指示意义。     

Climate change on the southern slope of Mt. Qomolangma （Everest） Region in Nepal since 1971

Based on monthly mean, maximum, and minimum air temperature and monthly mean precipitation data from 10 meteorological stations on the southern slope of the Mt. Qomolangma region in Nepal between 1971 and 2009, the spatial and temporal characteristics of climatic change in this region were analyzed using climatic linear trend, Sen＇s Slope Estimates and Mann-Kendall Test analysis methods. This paper focuses only on the southern slope and attempts to compare the results with those from the northern slope to clarify the characteristics and trends of climatic change in the Mt. Qomolangma region. The results showed that： （1） between 1971 and 2009, the annual mean temperature in the study area was 20.0℃, the rising rate of annual mean temperature was 0.25℃/10a, and the temperature increases were highly influenced by the maximum temperature in this region. On the other hand, the temperature increases on the northern slope of Mt. Qomolangma region were highly influenced by the minimum temperature. In 1974 and 1992, the temperature rose noticeably in February and September in the southern region when the increment passed 0.9℃. （2） Precipitation had an asymmetric distribution; between 1971 and 2009, the annual precipitation was 1729.01 mm. In this region, precipitation showed an increasing trend of 4.27 mm/a, but this was not statistically significant. In addition, the increase in rainfall was mainly concentrated in the period from April to October, including the entire monsoon period （from June to September） when precipitation accounts for about 78.9% of the annual total. （3） The influence of altitude on climate warming was not clear in the southern region, whereas the trend of climate warming was obvious on the northern slope of Mt. Qomolangma. The annual mean precipitation in the southern region was much higher than that of the northern slope of the Mt. Qomolangma region. This shows the barrier effect of the Himalayas as a whole and Mt. Qomolangma in particular.