Nepal’s Community-Based Forestry
Background
Decentralisation of natural resource management has emerged as a growing trend worldwide. Various management approaches are adopted according to countries' social, economic, and ecological settings. In this context, Nepal, a developing nation located in South Asia, has been dealing with forest management in different ways. The country has taken the lead in initiating an innovative policy of community-based forest management among developing countries. Nepal is considered a leader in community-based forest management as the country has introduced progressive forest acts.
Under community-based management, the major management approaches include:
Community forestry
Community forestry is now one of the major management strategies adopted by the Government of Nepal to manage the national forests. Under community forestry, a patch of national forests is handed over to a local community, known as the Community Forest User Group, for protection, management and utilisation purposes. The benefits generated from forest management go to the community. The community uses those benefits for both their community development and forest development. A ten-year management plan and constitution are prepared before handing over a forest to the community. The operational plan specifies what species and what products, when and how to cut, where and when to carry out reforestation. On the other hand, the constitution explains who uses the forest and who gets what benefits. As of 2022, there were 22,380 Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) in Nepal, managing 2.3 million hectares of forest and 3.34 million households involved in community forests. The following photo shows the impact of community forest management in restoring forest vegetation.
Leasehold forestry (LF)
Under this management approach, a patch of the state’s degraded forest is handed over to people living below the poverty line. The LF helps people get access to land and generate income from animal husbandry, apiculture, sericulture, and non-timber forest products. The LF program has been successful in improving the various capitals (social & natural) of the poor livelihoods by increasing livestock production and restoring degraded land.
Religious forestry
Religious forests are part of the state forests and are formally handed over to a religious body for the protection of any religious site in which they have been protecting for a long time. The forest products produced from religious forests can be used within the religious forest for religious purposes only. A total of 2,897 hectare forest area has been handed over to 186 registered religious bodies.
Collaborative forestry
Collaborative forests are state forests managed in collaboration with local communities, local governments, and central governments. The main aim of collaborative forest management is to supply forest products to distant users, who are traditional forest users and live far from the forest area. Mainly, large contiguous forests in the land of Nepal are under a collaborative forest. There are 31 collaborative forests covering 75,714 hectares of state forest.
Protection forestry
Protection forests are part of state forests that have high biodiversity and scientific and cultural values but are not covered by national park and wildlife reserve, but are managed as protection forests. Areas that seem sensitive from the watershed management perspective are also designated as protection forests.
Impact of community-based forest management
The various community forest management modalities have been instrumental in conserving and managing forest resources and have effectively restored degraded land and wildlife habitats. A recent study by NASA showed that Nepal’s forest cover increased from 26% in 1992 to 45% in 2016. Nepal's community-based management models have become learning centres for various neighbouring countries.
Written by Narendra Chand, Carbon Forestry Consultant, Ekos