Nepal's community forestry: critical reflection from the governance perspective

ABSTRACTIn recent decades, the role of community forestry (CF) has been to address the livelihoods of local people beyond its original objective of forest protection. Yet, there have been governance-related concerns, particularly the distribution of benefits among group members. We used a case study approach to better understand the CF model from the perspective of household satisfaction and benefit distribution at the local level. For data collection, we used multiple methods, including key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and household surveys. The study utilised the Henry-Garret ranking for analysing key elements of forest governance and a probit regression model for identifying the major contributing factors of satisfaction towards CF governance. Results suggested greater equity in CF governance and the empowerment of marginalised forest communities. Though CF has created new opportunities to consolidate forest users’ efforts toward provisioning broader environmental services, the system continues to favour elites and other influential groups in CF decision-making. The study suggests improving equity and introducing incentives to primary forest dependents. The additional incentives will not only help communities to adapt to the changing context but also increase their interest in decision-making, particularly for equitable distribution of benefits and local collective action.KEYWORDS: Accountabilitypeople's participationequitable benefit sharingmarginalised groups AcknowledgementWe deeply acknowledge Professor Andrew Egan (Dean, Arts & Sciences and Professional Studies, University of Maine at Fort Kent) and Professor Kyran Kunkel (Professor, University of Montana; Research Associate, Smithsonian Institution) for English proofing. We express our deep gratitude to all our respondents from three community forests of Nepal who took time from their busy work to participate in the survey and provided us with the precious and required information for the study. We thank our study enumerators, Melina, Samjhana, Anjila, Madhuri, Praba, Ashok, Shambu, and Nirajan, for collecting data for the research. They all did much more than we could have expected.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 In fact, this proportion is very conservative given that majority of households possess the relevant characteristics that is atypical of a representative CFUG household.2 Oppressed, marginalised and scheduled caste in Nepal, e.g. blacksmith.3 Higher caste of Nepal, mostly Hindus.4 Provision to allocate 25% of fund in forest protection and development, 35% in pro-poor income generating activities, 40% in administration and others heading.5 It is a provision of 50% female should be on the committee. At least one female should be in either secretary or chair post.6 1-very good, 2-good, 3-somewhat good, 4 worse, 5-worst.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Project of Fujian Provincial Colleges and University Engineering Research Center of Plantation Sustainable Management under Grant PTJH18009; and Forestry Peak Discipline Construction Project of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University under Grant 72202200205.