Social Mobilization and Governance of Community Forest in Chitwan, Central Terai, Nepal: A Case Study

Abstract

"Decentralization as a means to improve forest management and promote sustainability has been practiced while governing the forest. Although the Forest Act, 1993 and Forest Regulations, 1995 has clearly opened up the avenue for the implementation of Community Forestry (CF) program in the Terai as in the Hills of Nepal, CF program in the Terai region was started lately after it was originated and experienced its success in the Hill region of the country. This is because user group identification is serious issue in the Terai region. The Forest Act 1993 and the Forest Regulations 1995 has clearly defined Community Forest User Group (CFUG) as a self-governing institution with rights to acquire, sell, or transfer forest products. CFUG has the right of mobilizing the fund for managing and developing their community forest and for other community development activities. To assess social mobilization, incentives and user group's fund mobilization processes in the Terai community forest, a study was conducted using International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) protocols. This study was done in Parewaswori community forest of Chitwan district. The paper analyzes participation of forest users in the governance of the forest and utilization of user groups' fund (income derived from forest management)."