Pdf nepals community forestry is considered as one of the popular model of decentralization in natural resource management. It focuses on two main aspects of the welfare contribution of the lhf program. Regional community forestry training center for asia and the pacific bangkok, thailand kunwar, s. Growing businesses in tourism, allnatural products and timber sales are popping up across the forest landscape, boosting local incomes, especially for women, while encouraging sustainable forest management. Community forests in nepal are built on the experience of other countries around the world, especially its neighbors in south asia. In order to understand the context and particular designs and objectives of nepals community forestry program, key literature on community forestry is summarized. A forest is a large area of land covered with trees or other woody vegetation. The main forest management strategy of nepal, based on forest dependent peoples participation, is known as community forestry cf. The objectives of the project are to improve the provision of adequate forestry data and its. The adoption of regular silvicultural treatments has increased the. As nepal wrote a new constitution and laid out guidelines for three tiers of elections, community forest users worried that the new government would leave little room for the voices of traditionally marginalized groups, like rural women and dalits, a historically persecuted community in nepal. The adoption of regular silvicultural treatments has increased the availability of forest products.
Although there is an extensive literature on nepal s natural resources, there has been insuffi cient analysis of the costs and benefits of present and possible future sustainable and biodiver. Community forestry pays off for nepal cifor forests news. The community forestry program in nepal is a global innovation in participatory environmental governance that. Liu1 1institute of geographic sciences and natural resources research, chinese academy of sciences, beijing 10010, china 2university of chinese academy of sciences, beijing 49. Fecofun emerged from the idea that forest users from all parts of the country should be linked in order to strengthen the role of users in policy making processes. Forest management and evolution of community forestry cf. Social and community forestry started in nepal during the seventies after the adoption for the national forestry plan in 1976 country divided into 5 development regions,14 zones,75 districts. Protecting forests, improving livelihoods community forestry in nepal. Community forestry and local development citeseerx. Over,000 forestry users groups were formed in the first 12 years of the community forestry programme cf database, 2003. Protecting forests, improving livelihoods community. Forestry users group have become very popular in hilly regions. Community forestry programme through the local forest users group has shown its positive impacts in the.
Nepals community forestry program is a sustainable forest management and livelihood enhancement program reformed from earlier programs of the previous century. Notes on forest and types of forest found in nepal extra. A fiveyear survey showed that the forest cover is slowly and gradually increasing in nepal. It is considered as one of the most wellestablished and successful models in the region, with a positive impact on both communities livelihoods and on the condition of the forests. This paper provides brief introduction to the forest and community forest in nepal and context and status of community forest in nepal. Forest resource assessment fra nepal project 20102014 has been designed to facilitate nfi in nepal. Concept of participatory forestry emerged 1978 some form of forest management rights deconcentrated to local political bodies 1991 onward. The challenges of community participation in forest. Indigenous forestry, community forestry, selforganised institution, property rights, relations with the state. The forest act was enacted in 1993, where community forestry was recognized as one of the forestry programs for nepal. Aug 19, 2015 nepals community forestry program is a sustainable forest management and livelihood enhancement program reformed from earlier programs of the previous century. Context problem statement millions of people depend for their livelihoods on the terai forests in the southern plains of nepal, which are also an important source of national income.
Proceedings of the fourth national workshop on community forestry, community forestry division, department of forests, kathmandu, nepal. Fecofun emerged from the idea that forest users from all parts of the country should be linked in order to strengthen. From passive management to health and wealth creation from nepals community forest. Pdf community based forest management cbfm is a system of managing forest by the participation of local community for the mutual benefit of forest. The status of forest conditions before and after intervention of the forestry projects in community forest in three districts of nepal is examined. Benefits are observed from the adoption of adaptive collaborative management and collective learning and action research in three sampled districts. Campus, kathmandu, nepal b central department of economics, tribhuvan university, kathmandu, nepal accepted author version posted online. Forestaction nepal is undertaking forest survey as part of compre. Community forest management in the middle hills of nepal. As we all know that the day by day growth of population and pollution has been suffering human beings as well as other wild animals which have created a need of education which directly deals with natural resources like forests, rivers, lakes, wet land etc by giving student the proper knowledge of managing such resources. Community participation in forest resource management in nepal. Community based forest and livelihood management in nepal. Nepal around the chitwan national park in southern nepal, forests are supporting the emergence of a host of sustainable local businesses.
The country has 5,962,438 hectares land covered by forest. Nepal has a long history of community forestry, with the first community forests set up 30 years ago. The program addresses the twin goals of forest conservation and poverty reduction. Final technical report submitted to centre for international. Workshop was represented by participants experienced in community forestry. May, 2016 a fiveyear survey showed that the forest cover is slowly and gradually increasing in nepal. Impacts of community forestry on livelihoods in the middle. The project is a bilateral cooperation between government of nepal gon and government of finland gof. Nepals community forestry is a unique model of devolution in asia and has experience of more than two decades. When community forestry was being promoted in the hills the major objective was protection of a dwindling, degraded resource. As envisaged in the decentralization act of 1982, the. In order to understand the context and particular designs and objectives of nepals community forestry program, key. To date, 19,361 community forestry user groups cfugs have been formed of which are composed of 1072 women only committee members.
At that time it was not anticipated that the forests could rejuvenate and provide significant economic returns. Community forestry is an evolving branch of forestry whereby the local community plays a significant role in forest management and land use decision making by themselves in the facilitating support of government as well as change agents. In order to understand the context and particular designs and objectives of nepals community forestry program, key literature. Although there is an extensive literature on nepals natural resources, there has been insuffi cient analysis of the costs and benefits of present and possible future sustainable and biodiver. The governments initial policy was to provide the basic forest resources to local communities through their active participation in forest improvement and management. Hundreds of more precise definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing and ecological function. Community participation in forest resource management in. The energies released from this selfgovernance movement resulted in a powerful expansion of community forests in nepal, which has directly benefited about 1. Initiatives in nepal 1 background on nepals forestry sector forestry is an integral part of the rural livelihood of nepal. The principal components of this project are forest nursery. Community forestry in nepal indiaenvironmentportal.
As more than 70 percent of nepals population depends on. It involves the participation and collaboration of various stakeholders including community, government and nongovernmental. Sustainability assessment of community forestry practices. Since the emergence of community forestry in nepal, there has been gradual progress towards recognizing gender equity through laws, policies and strategies governing the forestry sector table 1. It has attracted international attention because in nepal, decentralization is linked with emerging. The resource base in nepal nepal covers over 1,000 kilometers in a transition zone between the gangetic plain and the high himalaya, lying between india and tibet. Abstract the community forestry program in nepal is a global innovation in participatory environmental governance that encompasses welldefined policies, institutions, and practices. A report submitted to the gordon and betty moore foundation pp 5465 pandit, r. Rosenbach jessica whittemore joel deboer a project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of science natural resources and environment at the university of michigan april 20 faculty advisor.
Nepal uk forestry research project this is very successful project in forestry. Between 1990 and 2010, nepal lost an average of 59,050 ha or 1. Indeed, throughout the world, community forestry is recognised as having far more potential bene. Community forestry in nepal an overview the community forestry program in nepal encompasses a set of policy and institutional innovations that empower local communities to manage forests for livelihoods, while also enhancing conservation benefits. Understanding womens participation in forestry in nepal. Establishment of community forestry in nepal is a successful step in conservation of forest. Forest users and environmental impacts of community forestry in the hills of nepal. There are over 6500 species of flowering plants, over 1500 fungi species, over 350 lichen role of forest on climate change adaptation. Many of ferns partner organisations have lobbied for the creation of.
A range f factors in the community forestry context of nepal can be related to the different o components of the livelihood systems model presented in figure 1. Many users groups have been able to lease in government forests and to manage these forests with a set of rules made by them. Nepals experience illustrates the widespread ramifications of a community forestry program. They address the general implementation practices relevant to community forestry, leaving detailed technical aspects to be covered by technical guidelines and toolboxes. The federation of community forestry users nepal fecofun is a formal network of forest user groups fugs from all over nepal. It has a land area of 147,181 km2, and a population of approximately 24 million. The community forestry program in nepal is a global innovation in participatory environmental governance that encompasses welldefined policies, institutions, and practices. Recently, six different modalities of forest management are categorized as cbfm that covers about 2. Sudeep jana appointed as a member of the iccas territories of life territories and area. As nepal wrote a new constitution and laid out guidelines for three tiers of elections, community forest users worried that the new government would leave little room for the voices of traditionally marginalized groups, like rural women and dalits, a historically persecuted community in nepal and india. The program encompasses a set of policy and instrumental innovations that were especially designed to empower the local livelihoods through the proper management and utilization of forest products.
Training and extension programs have disseminated knowledge and transferred technologies in the field of vegetable. Gilmour and fisher 1991 defined community forestry as the control, protection and management of forest resources by rural communities for whom trees and forests are an integral part of their farming systems. Nepals policy and development program was based on. Regulations were passed in 1995, which elaborated operational modalities for community forests. Forests have been managed by the community as community forest forest act, 1993 and forest regulations, 1995 provided conducive environment to devolve management rights to cfugs. Pdf community based forest management cbfm is a system of managing forest by the participation of local community for the mutual. Forestaction nepal and livelihood and forestry program, kathmandu, nepal. Other projects implemented were the nepal australia forestry project in two hill districts, and the integrated rural development projects with forestry components in the koshi hills, rapti, rasuwa and nuwakot districts in the central and eastern hills.
Nepals forests contain 485 million metric tons of carbon in living forest biomass. Nepals community forestry is considered as one of the popular model of decentralization in natural resource management. Similarly, in 1987 first national community forestry workshop took place in kathmandu, nepal. Community forestry is a participatory forest management system in nepal that was started in the late 1970s. The community forestry guidelines provided in this document aim to offer practical procedural and operational guidance for the establishment and management of community forests. A master plan of the forestry sector 1989 placed the community forestry program as one of its six primary programs. Federation of community forestry users nepal fecofun. Department of forests and soil conservation officials. The program was launched in the mid 1970s as part of an effort to curb the widely perceived. The welfare impacts of leasehold forestry in nepal the welfare impacts of leasehold forestry in nepal 1.
Dec, 2017 nepal around the chitwan national park in southern nepal, forests are supporting the emergence of a host of sustainable local businesses. A redefinition of the external policy and legal context, through new laws particularly the 1993 forest act and associated 1995. Sustainability assessment of community forestry practices in. Forest act of 1993 and forest regulation of 1995 these acts, a breakthrough for community forestry in nepal, provide a legal basis for the implementation of community forestry and build on the master plan for the forestry sector of 1988.
Community forestry programs in nepal and their effects on. The effects of the nepal community forestry program on. Introduction this study examines the contribution of leasehold forestry lhf, an innovative forestry management program, to household welfare in nepal. The pf and ppf rules box 2 allowed for the transfer of responsibility for forest management from the government to the local panchayat as panchayat forest pf1 and panchayat protected forest ppf2 joshi 1993. Decentralized forest governance ganga ram dahal and apsara chapagain nepal s community forestry has become an example of progressive legislation and policies in the decentralization of forest management. Community forestry is a branch of forestry that deals with the communal management of forests for generating income from timber and nontimber forest products as forms of goods while in other hand regulating ecosystem, downstream settlements benefits from watershed conservation, carbon sequestration and aesthetic values as in forms of services. Community based forest management cbfm is a system of managing forest by the participation of local community for the mutual benefit of forest and local people. Nepal, different types of forest cover are found in different region of nepal.
185 829 1346 816 1346 529 391 529 867 1095 1593 1296 821 1163 871 1572 598 1559 258 121 1178 1622 435 1201 600 223 917 1605 1499 1067 1239 512 251 1606 936 836 718 1310 719 354 79 1030 1343