| Author | Pachhai, Sarita |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.NR-01-11 |
| Subject(s) | Community forests--Nepal--Dhading
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of
Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development
|
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. NR-01-11 |
| Abstract | The number of Community Forests (CF) and Operational Plan (OP) negotiation is
rapidly increasing in the Middle Hills of Nepal. It is believed that the local people are
capable of managing their community forests according to the activities mentioned in
approved OP. However, the principle and approaches have not been so easy to put into
practices as originally envisaged. The gap between approved OP and its implementation
status encompassing the influential factors such as social, biological and institutional has
been analyzed in this study. Field survey was carried out through household survey, forest
inventory, Forest User Group Committee meetings and discussion with users and other key
informants of three Forest User Groups (FU Gs) of Dhading District, which were analyzed
to find out the existing gap in Constitution and OP implementation.
It has been found that there is a variation in FUGs between the mandatory rules on the
guidelines followed and in actual practice in the FUG formation process as well as
implementation of OP activities from both field staff who facilitate the process and local
users who make and implement the OP rules. The study shows that the level of OP
implementation depends on how it has been prepared, how is the ethnic representation and
functioning of the committee, who took part in decision making, how its content are shared
and communicated, how is the quality of service of field staff during the preparation and
implementation of OP and its follow up activities. Unequal landholding size, dual
membership of users and conflicts in FU Gs are the constraints for effective implementation
of OP.
Community Forestry has been effective in improving forest condition and inputs of forest
products to users and in decreasing the rate of forest land degradation though extraction of
forest products found high from community forests in compared to the approved OP.
However, there is need to refine the OP to focus about the sustainable harvesting of forest
products from the community forests. The objectives of forest management are oriented
towards the fulfilling local needs, though less clear in terms of products and services
exactly needed for and from the forest and their relative proportion.
The problems and conflicts within CF arise mostly due to ignorance of existing rules of
OPs by users. The Master Plan of the Forestry Sector and legislation has clearly placed the
onus for the development and conservation of forest resources in FUGs. However, how
FUGs are to cope with the problems in implementation is still unclear. The FUGs have not
still altered incompatible prescription mentioned in OPs because their difficulty is that
users still need some external assistance to develop their capability to improve the OP. The
income generated from the community forests is used for local development activities
rather than skill development of FUGs, thus lacking a sort of sustainable forest resource
use.
This study recommends that the issues concerning OP preparation and implementation
should be dealt and comprehensively analyzed by DFO as well as FUGs in order to achieve
the high level of OP implementation and sustainable management of community forests. |
| Year | 2001 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. NR-01-11 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Natural Resources Management (NRM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Apisit Eiumnoh; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Webb, Edward L. ;Soparth Pongquan ; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Danish International Development Assistance ; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2001 |