Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evolving Perspectives of Sustainability in the Case of Community Forestry in Nepal

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sustainability Perspectives: Science, Policy and Practice

Part of the book series: Strategies for Sustainability ((STSU))

Abstract

Nepal’s community forestry has evolved from afforestation, forest conservation, social inclusion and equity to harnessing economic potentials. It has shown immense potential for forest sustainability by integrating ecological, social and economic dimensions but historically these dimensions received shifting focus hence one or more dimensions received inadequate attention. The donor priorities, discourses spanning from national and international arenas and shifting government policies had an effect on inflated treatment to one or the other dimensions of sustainability. We argue that by granting clear, strong and perpetual tenure rights to local communities would help better integrate ecological, social and economic dimensions of sustainability of forest commons.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    When the concept of community forestry was first introduced in mid-1970s, initially patch of forests were handed over to the local government. Later user group concept was accepted but the approval has to be made by the regional forest directorates rather than district forest offices (DFOs). People had practically no access to these directorates as they were situated in distant places, and all the processes were facilitated by the DFOs.

References

  • Agarwal B (2001) Participatory exclusions, community forestry, and gender: an analysis for South Asia and a conceptual framework. World Dev 29:1623–1648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agarwal B (2009) Gender and forest conservation: the impact of women’s participation in community forest governance. Ecol Econ 68:2785–2799

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal A (2001) Common property institutions and sustainable governance of resources. World Dev 29:1649–1672

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal A (2005) Environmentality: technologies of government and the making of subjects. New ecologies for the twenty-first century. Duke University Press, Durham and London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Agrawal A, Chhatre A, Hardin H (2008) Changing governance of the world’s forests. Science 320:1460–1462

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Arnold JEM (2001) Forests and people: 25 years of community forestry. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Bajracharya D (1983) Deforestation in the food/fuel context – historical and political perspectives from Nepal. Mt Res Dev 3(3):227–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basnyat B, Treue T, Pokharel RK, Lamsal LN, Rayamajhi S (2018) Legal-sounding bureaucratic re-centralisation of community forestry in Nepal. Forest Policy Econ 91:5–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattarai B (2016) Community forest and forest management in Nepal. Am J Environ Prot 4(3):79–91. http://pubs.sciepub.com/env/4/3/3

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryant RL, Wilson GA (1998) Rethinking environmental management. Prog Hum Geogr 22:321–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chadwick MT, Seeley JA, Sherchan GR (1995) Preliminary comments on a wealth ranking exercise performed with forest user groups from three geographical areas of Nepal. Nepal-UK Forestry Research Project, Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • Chambers R (1983) Rural development: putting the last first. Longman, London/New York

    Google Scholar 

  • DCSI (2016) Industrial promotion statistics 2015/16. Department of Cottage and Small Industries. Ministry of Industries Government of Nepal, Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • DFRS (2015) State of Nepal’s forests. Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) Nepal, Department of Forest Research and Survey (DFRS), Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • Eckholm EP (1976) Losing ground: environmental stress and world food prospects. World Watch Institute, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabricius C, Koch E, Magome H, Turner S (eds) (2004) Rights, resources and rural development: community-based natural resource management in Southern Africa, First edn. Earthscan, London/Sterling, VA

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2011) Reforming forest tenure: issues, principles and process, FAO forestry paper. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Feeny D, Berkes F, McCay BJ, Acheson JM (1990) The tragedy of the commons: twenty-two years later. Hum Ecol 18:1–19

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher RJ (2000) Decentralization and devolution in forest management: a conceptual overview. In: Enters T, Durst PB, Victor M (eds) Decentralization and devolution of forest management in Asia and Pacific. FAO and RECOFTC, Bangkok

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilmour DA, Fisher RJ (1991) Villagers, forests and foresters: the philosophy, process and practice of community forestry in Nepal. Sahayogi Press, Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • Graner E (1997) The political ecology of community forestry in Nepal. Verlag fur Entwicklungspolitik, Saarbrucken

    Google Scholar 

  • Guha R (1989) The unquiet woods: ecological change and peasant resistance in the Himalaya. Oxford University Press, Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Guthmann J (1997) Representing crisis: the theory of Himalayan environmental degradation and the project of development in post-rana Nepal. Dev Chang 28:45–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobley M (1996) Participatory forestry: the process of change in India and Nepal. Rural Development Forestry Network, Overseas Development Institute, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Ives JD, Messerli B (1989) The Himalayan dilemma: reconciling development and conservation. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Jain S (1984) Women and people’s ecological movements: a case study of women’s role in the Chipko movement in Uttar Pradesh. Econ Polit Wkly 19:1788–1794

    Google Scholar 

  • Joshi O, Parajuli R, Kharel G, Poudyal N, Taylor E (2018) Stakeholder opinions on scientific forest management policy implementation in Nepal. PLoS One 13(9):e0203106. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203106

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kanel KR (2004) Twenty-five years of community forestry: contribution to millennium development goals. In: Kanel K, Mathema P, Kandel BR, Niraula DR, Sharma A, Gautam M (eds) 25 years of community forestry: contributing to millennium development goals. Proceeding of the fourth National Workshop on community forestry. Department of Forests, Kathmandu, pp 4–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Khadka M (2009) Why does exclusion continue? Aid, knowledge and power in Nepal’s community forestry policy process. Shaker Publishing, Maastricht

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson AM, Barry D, Dahal GR (2010) New rights for forest-based communities? Understanding processes of forest tenure reform. Int For Rev 12:78–96

    Google Scholar 

  • LFP (2010) The resilience of community forestry user groups in conflict: lessons from Nepal, findings of a study on the impact on forest user groups of Nepals Maoist insurgency (1996–2006). Livelihoods and Forestry Project, Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahat TBS, Griffin DM, Shepherd KR (1987) Human impact on some forests of the Middle Hills of Nepal. Part 4. A detailed study in southeast Sindhu Palchok and northeast Kabhre Palanchok. Mt Res Dev 7(2):111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maini JS (1992) Sustainable development of forests. Unasylva 43(169). http://www.fao.org/docrep/u6010e/u6010e03.htm#sustainable%20development%20of%20forests

  • Malla YB (2001) Changing policies and the persistence of patron-client relations in Nepal: stakeholders’ responses to changes in forest policies. Environ Hist 6(2):287–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MSFP (2013) Persistence and change: thirty years of community forestry in Nepal. Multi- stakeholder forestry program. Government of Nepal, Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • MSFP (2016) Scientific forest management initiatives in Nepal: MSFC experiences and lessons learnt. Multi Stakeholder Forestry Programme, Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • Negi S, Pham TT, Karky B, Garcia C (2018) Role of community and user attributes in collective action: case study of community-based forest management in Nepal. Forests 9(3):136. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9030136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nightingale A (2002) Participating or just sitting in? The dynamics of gender and caste in community forestry. J For Livelihood 2(1):17–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Nightingale A, Sharma JR (2014) Conflict resilience among community forestry user groups: experiences in Nepal. Disasters 38(3):517–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NSCFP (2011) Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: what have we learned? NSCFP, SDC, Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • Nurse M, Malla Y (2005) Advances of community forestry in Asia: workshop on capitalisation and sharing of experiences on the interaction between forest policies and land use patterns in Asia. Regional Community Forestry Training Center (RECOFTC), Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • Ojha HR (2006) Techno-bureaucratic Doxa and challenges for deliberative governance: the case of community forestry policy and practice in Nepal. Polic Soc 25(2):131–175. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1449-4035(06)70077-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ojha HR, Persha L, Chhatre A (2009) Community forestry in Nepal: a policy innovation for local livelihoods, IFPRI Discussion Paper. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC. 00913

    Google Scholar 

  • Ojha HR (2009) Science, bureaucrary and politics. The dynamics of community forestry evolution in Nepal: a presentation made during the Community Forestry International workshop, 15–18 Sept. 2009, Pokhara

    Google Scholar 

  • Ojha HR, Banjade MR, Sunam RK, Bhattarai B, Jana S, Goutam KR, Dhungana S (2014) Can authority change through deliberative politics?: lessons from the four decades of participatory forest policy reform in Nepal. Forest Policy Econ 46:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ostrom E (1990) Governing the commons: the evolution of institutions for collective action. Political economy of institutions and decisions. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Paudel NS, Adhikary A, Mbairamadji J, Nguyen Quang T (2019) Small scale forest enterprise development in Nepal: overview, issues and challenges. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Plummer R, Fitzgibbon J (2004) Co-Management of natural resources: a proposed framework Environ Manag 33:876–885 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-003-3038-y

  • Poffenberger M (2006) People in the forest: community forestry experiences from Southeast Asia. Int J Environ Sustain Dev 5:57–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pokharel BK (1997) Foresters and villagers in contention and compact: The case of community forestry in Nepal. Ph.D. Dissertation, Norwich, East Anglia, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Pokharel BK, Nurse M (2004) Forests and peoples livelihood: benefiting the poor from community forestry. For Livelihood 4(1):19–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Pokharel BK, Branney P, Nurse M, Malla Y (2008) Community forestry: conserving forests, sustaining livelihoods and strengthening democracy. In: Ojha HR, Timsina NP, Kumar C, Banjade MR, Belcher B (eds) Communities, forests and governance: policies and institutional innovations from Nepal. Adroit Publications, New Delhi, pp 55–91

    Google Scholar 

  • Pokharel B, Carter J, Parajuli RR, Byrane S, Gurung BD (2009) Community forestry in Nepal as a means of empowering people living in poverty: an assessment of its social, economic and environmental sustainability. Paper presented in Community Forestry International Workshop, Pokhara, Nepal

    Google Scholar 

  • Pokorny B, Johnson J (2008) Community forestry in the Amazon: the unsolved challenge of forests and the poor. Nat Resour Perspect 112:1–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Rai Paudyal B (2008) Agrarian structures and distributive outcomes: a study of community forestry in Nepal. Shaker Publishing, Maastricht

    Google Scholar 

  • Regmi MC (1999) [1972] A study in Nepali economic history. Adroit Publications, New Delhi (2nd reprint), pp 1768–1846

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutt RL, Khanal-Chhetri BB, Pokhrel R, Rayamajhi S, Tiwari K, Treue T (2015) The scientific framing of forestry decentralization in Nepal. Forest Policy Econ 60:50–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Springate-Baginski O, Blaikie P (eds) (2007) Forests, people and power: the political ecology of reform in South Asia. EarthScan Forestry Library. Earthscan, London/Sterling, VA

    Google Scholar 

  • Subedi BP, Ghimire PL, Koontz A, Khanal SC, Katuwal P, Sthapit KR, Mishra SK (2014) Private sector involvement and investment in Nepal’s forestry: status, prospects and ways forward. Multi Stakeholder Forestry Programme – Service Support Unit, Kathmandu

    Google Scholar 

  • Thapa GB, Weber KE (1990) Actors and factors of deforestation in tropical Asia. Environ Conserv 17(1):19–27. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892900017252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thoms CA (2008) Community control of resources and the challenge of improving local livelihoods: a critical examination of community forestry in Nepal. Geoforum 39:1452–1465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2008.01.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • THT (2016) Over 80 per cent of timber imported from foreign countries. https://thehimalayantimes.com/kathmandu/80-per-cent-timber-imported-foreign-countries/

  • World Bank (1979) Nepal: development performance and prospects: a World Bank country study. World Bank, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Yadav NP, Yadav KP, Yadav KK, Thapa N (2009) Facilitating the transition from passive to active community forest management: lessons from Rapti Zone, Nepal. J For Livelihood 8(2):51–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NIMS College, Lalitpur, Nepal

    Mani Ram Banjade

  2. Forest Action Nepal, Lalitpur, Nepal

    Naya S. Paudel

Authors
  1. Mani Ram Banjade
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Naya S. Paudel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mani Ram Banjade .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. York University, School of Information Technology, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Peter A. Khaiter

  2. York University, School of Information Technology, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Marina G. Erechtchoukova

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Banjade, M.R., Paudel, N.S. (2020). Evolving Perspectives of Sustainability in the Case of Community Forestry in Nepal. In: Khaiter, P., Erechtchoukova, M. (eds) Sustainability Perspectives: Science, Policy and Practice. Strategies for Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19550-2_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation