Private, Collective and Centralized System of Institutional Arrangements in Community Forestry in Nepal

Abstract

"The practice of protection and utilization of common forest resources by rural people in Nepal has a long established history; the active management of such forests is a relatively new concept. The mechanism of community forestry has been developed since 1978 to stimulate active involvement of local people in forest management activities as a means to improve the livelihoods of these people. A well-managed community forest can provide a range of forest products to support the livelihoods of rural people. Under the community forestry framework, it is the local people who make decisions regarding the forest management, utilization and distribution of benefits from a forest; they are organized as a Community Forest User Group. Therefore, the responsibility of protection and management of a large proportion of Nepal's forest resources is on Community Forest User Groups. Presently around 850 thousands hectares of forest is under the control of about 11,000 Community Forest User Groups. However, it has been believed that the management of community forests in the hills of Nepal by Community Forest User Groups is passive and protection-oriented resulting in fewer benefits than otherwise could have. Consequently, the community forestry is now not only faced with the increasingly multifaceted challenge of reconciling the ranges of demand of various users within a community forests but also fulfilling the increased demand for forest products at national level. "This paper analyses the forest management and institutional development activities of three selected Community Forest User Groups from different parts of Nepal. It was observed that to tackle the present situation; Community Forest User Groups have developed various alternative institutional arrangements such as private and centralized system of forest protection and limited utilization. The legal foundation endorses only for collective institutional arrangements for the management of common forest resources by the Community Forest User Groups in the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal. Allocation of limited use rights and protection provision to individual as private property are interesting and crucial for the successful rehabilitation of degraded forests. Such arrangements are believed to be formulated as best and appropriate alternatives in the local situation."