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PDF
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Type:
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Working Paper |
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Author:
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Nightingale, Andrea; Ojha, Hemant R. |
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Date:
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2012 |
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Agency:
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ForestAction Nepal, Kathmandu |
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Series:
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Discussion Paper Series 12:1 |
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URI:
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https://hdl.handle.net/10535/8279
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Sector:
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Forestry |
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Region:
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Middle East & South Asia |
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Subject(s):
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forests
deforestation
livelihoods
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Abstract:
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"Nepals Terai is suffering unabated loss of forest cover and the elites from all quarters of the society are usurping extra-legal benefits from the process of forest degradation. The socially marginalised groups are at times caught and prosecuted as offenders, when they actually look for basic livelihoods through some meagrely paid illegal jobs offered by the elites (such as tree felling), or when they actually look for a piece of land to produce food for survival. The research and analysis of the forest governance problem has often not gone beyond the optic of the elites, and the established language of forestry, donors, and feudal politics. This paper seeks to problematize the dominant received wisdom about explaining the current Terai forest stalemate, by bringing to bear ambitious theoretical lenses on power and authority to explore the possibility of genuinely democratic and inclusive forest governance. We hope that this approach can animate discussions on some of the fundamentals underpinning the problem of Terai forest governance in Nepal. Certainly the language and concepts we employ are not directly accessible to those local people fighting for alternative forestry, and yet we hope it will engage nationally based scholars and activists to think beyond the boxes and explore more radical ways for transforming forest governance in Nepals Terai."
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