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54 • Cynthia McDougall, Hemant Ojha, Raj Kumar Pandey, Mani Ram Banjade and Bishnu Hari Pandit by undertaking a followup project in 2004–2007, with funding from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), to assess the potential for local facilitators (as opposed to research team facilitators) to catalyse an ACM approach at the CFUG and district levels, as well as to assess longer-term changes in the communities that are using an ACM approach. We draw on some preliminary insights from this followup project in the ‘Reflections’ section at the end of this chapter; as this followup project progresses, no doubt, further insights will refine the outcomes and lessons presented here. In this chapter we start by describing the Nepali context within which ACM initiatives were undertaken. We discuss the need for this research and provide a brief overview of the project, then describe the ACM-based institutional processes that were developed in the four CFUG main case study sites. We identify several local outcomes, including changes in the practices of CFUGs with respect to income generation and equity. Finally, we offer some lessons related to an ACM approach, especially in relation to the challenges of social change, such as attitudes, and touch on insights from the followup project regarding the dynamic enactment of the ACMbased practices. Context The forestry practice of local communities in Nepal is a result of a dynamic web of relations not only between local actors and forest systems, but also amongst themselves, and between them and a range of nonlocal actors. Geopolitical setting The 28 million people of Nepal, while ethnically and socially diverse, are engaged largely in a subsistence agricultural economy, with rural households making up approximately 88 percent of Nepal’s total population (UNDP 2001). Despite decades of international development ‘experiments’ (Gurung 1999), in 2003–04 an estimated 31 percent of Nepalis were living below the poverty line (DFID and World Bank 2006) 5 . The reinstatement of democracy in 1990 opened up new possibilities for civil society to engage in democratic decentralisation in various aspects of development and governance. In community forestry, policies and initiatives have
Chapter 3: Adaptiveness and Collaboration in Community Forestry in Nepal • 55 shifted towards more equitable and propoor development, including the formulation of the Forest Act 1993, which was intended to shift the control over forest from the state to local communities. Since approximately 1999, however, the armed conflict between the Maoist rebels and the monarchy and government has diverted much of the nation’s attention and resources. As of 2007, a multilateral ceasefire had been declared, and a democratic constituent assembly was to be elected. Rural life had returned to ‘normal’, albeit with the aftermath of prolonged violent conflict to deal with, and community forest users were conducting their activities without fear. Although the toll on resources, leadership and livelihoods has been considerable, the promise of an elected constituent assembly, a return to democracy and further decentralisation makes many forest stakeholders somewhat optimistic about local rights and natural resource management. In this period, a whole array of marginalised people—including Madhesi (people of the Terai region of southern Nepal), ethnic minorities, Dalits (people of the so-called ‘untouchable’ caste groups) and women—have come forward to engage in open public politics, even taking to the streets to assert their claims. Although affected by the conflict (Box 3-1), community forestry has probably remained Nepal’s most resilient local institution (Banjade and Timsina 2005; Ojha and Pokharel 2006; Pokharel and Paudel 2005) 6 . Box 3-1. National conflict and community forestry The security situation at the time of the ADB research project added complexity to the community forestry landscape. Although the Maoist insurgents did not target community forestry as much as other government-related initiatives, many CFUGs were nonetheless affected. For example, fearing encounters with the army or Maoists, some CFUGs limited or even stopped their forest products harvesting. This fear, Fear, the risk of being caught in the crossfire (Katel et al. 2006), the frequent banda (strikes), the recurring state-of-emergency limitations and international opposition to the monarchy’s clamp-down on civil rights and dissolution of the elected parliament suppressed both Nepali and international community forest-related initiatives, including large gatherings like CFUG general assemblies. Some CFUG and other local political leaders and district forest office staff faced threats of physical harm or expulsion from the community, and some district forest offices were destroyed. Some CFUGs were pressured to pay a levy to the insurgents, and in a few instances, they were apparently instructed to dissolve. Although this posed some challenges for the research project, especially in terms of travel and group meetings, the inclusive, propoor and flexible nature of the ACM approach was well suited to the volatile political context.
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Copyright © 2007 by Center for Int
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iv • Contents Chapter 5. Muddling
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vi • Foreword problem solving. Th
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viii • About the Contributors God
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Acknowledgements In early 1999, two
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Chapter 4: Improving Forest Quality
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Chapter 5: Muddling Towards Coopera
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Chapter 7: Discussion and Conclusio
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CIFOR is a leading international fo
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