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Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food Security pp 337–356Cite as

Ecosystems Services from Community Forestry: Prospects and Challenges for Improving Local Livelihoods in Nepal

Part of the Sustainable Development Goals Series book series (SDGS)

Abstract

Nepal’s community forestry is touted as a development success, especially in relation to how local community groups can be empowered by the state to conserve and manage communal forest areas for local livelihoods improvements. However, this success is limited in relation to the production and supply of conventional forest products or a narrow range of ecosystem services (ES). The concept of ES has recently landed in Nepal’s policy domain and an evolving body of research has also highlighted the potential of applying ES in community forestry for augmenting livelihoods improvements, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and biodiversity conservation. Yet, there is still a lack of evidence on the degree to which community forest user groups are expanding their forest management practices by including additional range of ES. Drawing on 14 case studies of community forests from across the country, as well as a recent review of literature and analysis of secondary data, this chapter assesses the potential of an ecosystem centred approach to community forest management for local community livelihoods in Nepal. We identify a variety of emerging initiatives towards ES-based management of community forests, demonstrating the need for a strategic shift away from the narrowly focused, subsistence-oriented forest management to a more holistic management of forest ES. We also identify priority challenges that need to be tackled in facilitating this shift to achieve the sustainable production of ES for livelihoods improvements and its contribution towards climate change mitigation and sustainable development goals.

Keywords

  • Community forestry
  • Ecosystem services
  • Marketing of forest products
  • Forest and poverty

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Fig. 19.1

Notes

  1. 1.

    USD 1=118 NPR on August 8, 2021.

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Acknowledgements

The first two authors would like to express their gratitude towards the ES and Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme for their funding to conduct this study. This chapter was originally presented in the 14th IASC conference in Japan held during 3–7 June 2013.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Study and Development Worldwide (IFSD), Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Hemant Ojha & Jagadish Timsina

  2. University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Hemant Ojha

  3. ForestAction Nepal, Bagdole, Lalitpur, Nepal

    Naya S. Paudel

  4. Global Evergreening Alliance, Burwood East, Melbourne, VIC, 3151, Australia

    Jagadish Timsina

  5. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, GPO Box 3226, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Sunita Chaudhary

  6. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia

    Himlal Baral

Authors
  1. Hemant Ojha
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  2. Naya S. Paudel
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  3. Jagadish Timsina
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  4. Sunita Chaudhary
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  5. Himlal Baral
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hemant Ojha .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst for Study and Dvlpmt Worldwide, Global Evergreening Alliance, Homebush West, NSW, Australia

    Jagadish Timsina

  2. Ctr for Sust Agricultural Systems, ILSE, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, Australia

    Tek N. Maraseni

  3. Bioversity International, Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal

    Devendra Gauchan

  4. Adjunct Faculty, Curtin University, Eden Hill, WA, Australia

    Jagannath Adhikari

  5. University of Canberra, North Strathfield, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Hemant Ojha

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Ojha, H., Paudel, N.S., Timsina, J., Chaudhary, S., Baral, H. (2022). Ecosystems Services from Community Forestry: Prospects and Challenges for Improving Local Livelihoods in Nepal. In: Timsina, J., Maraseni, T.N., Gauchan, D., Adhikari, J., Ojha, H. (eds) Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food Security. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09555-9_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09555-9_19

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