Journal for Nature Conservation 20 (2012) 170–176 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal for Nature Conservation j our na l ho mepage: www.elsevier.de/jnc Invasive plants – Do they devastate or diversify rural livelihoods? Rural farmers’ perception of three invasive plants in Nepal Rajesh Kumar Rai a,∗ , Helen Scarborough a , Naresh Subedi b , Baburam Lamichhane b a School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Deakin University, Australia b National Trust for Nature Conservation, Biodiversity Conservation Centre, Chitwan, Nepal a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 12 October 2011 Received in revised form 4 January 2012 Accepted 9 January 2012 Keywords: Invasive plants Rural livelihoods Mikania micrantha Lantana camara Chromolaena odorata a b s t r a c t In this paper, we examine how rural people in the buffer zone of Chitwan National Park in Nepal perceive the effects of accidently transported invasive plant species, such as Mikania micrantha, Lantana camara and Chromolaena odorata, on their livelihoods. We found that their perception of the impact of each species on their livelihood varies with factors such as the duration of the presence of invasive plants in the landscape, and household characteristics. Results of a household survey indicate that farm house- holds close to the forests have responded to the invasive species both as a victim and a beneficiary. Farm households are likely to adapt to the invaded environment as they have a history of interacting with invasive plants and can commoditise them through appropriate intervention. Additionally, the findings indicate that rural people are willing to invest in the control and management of invasive plants if appro- priate technical assistance is available. Without assistance, they consider mitigating the infestation an unattainable mission and consider acceptance of the invasive species as a part of the rural ecosystem an inevitable outcome. © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Introduction Invasive plants are exotic species that threaten native ecosys- tems, habitats or species (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2008). They are considered either deliberate or accidental ecological con- sequences of economic processes (Holmes et al. 2009). The pace of the spread of invasive plants is increasing with economic activities including travel, trade and technology, and they have now invaded forests throughout the world (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005). Unquestionably, the introduction of new species into a forest alters the ecosystem properties and processes through the manip- ulation of plant species composition. Invasive species, therefore, are considered one of the important drivers of ecosystem change and the second most serious threat to natural habitats after habitat fragmentation (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005; Randall 1996). The effects of invasive plants on natural habitats are more com- plex than the direct negative impacts. Their additional potential positive impacts such as providing economic and ornamental val- ues have sparked a controversy as to whether they are friends or foe, pest or providence, and weed or wonder (e.g. Foster & Sandberg 2004; Pasiecznik 1999). Therefore, infestation of exotic plants may create complicated circumstances in the invaded ecosystem, ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 421949632. E-mail address: rjerung@yahoo.com (R.K. Rai). particularly in rural areas where the majority of people are directly involved in forest management, and forest products such as fire- wood, fodder, and medicinal herbs are considered a major input of agricultural household production functions. This suggests a need to understand the role of particular invasive plants in local livelihoods as a part of forest management and decision-making processes. Generally, rural people evaluate the impact of invasive plants based on how their economic needs are influenced by the species (e.g. Binggeli 2001; Shackleton et al. 2007). Some species which are considered detrimental to a specific group of rural people may be considered useful to others (e.g., Kannan et al. 2008; Mwangi & Swallow 2008). This is because invasive plant species have dif- fering characteristics offering a variety of ecosystem services, and farm households in developing countries are heterogeneous. The variations in interactions between agricultural households with diverse livelihood strategies and invasive plants producing differ- ent types of ecosystem services are undisputed (e.g. Kaufman 2004; Pasiecznik et al. 2001; Shackleton et al. 2007). In addition to the variations in the relationship between inva- sive plants and rural livelihoods, previous studies on invasive species have primarily concentrated in developed countries (Pysek et al. 2008). However, appropriate control strategies in develop- ing countries could be more beneficial in terms of conserving global biological diversity because these countries tend to have highly diverse natural habitats, and intervention can be cost- effective because of the availability of low-cost labour (Nunez & 1617-1381/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jnc.2012.01.003