Adaptive collaborative management of community forests in Asia ...

56 • Cynthia McDougall, Hemant Ojha, Raj Kumar Pandey, Mani Ram Banjade and Bishnu Hari Pandit
Social forces: caste, ethnicity, gender and wealth
Nepali society is ‘marked by inequalities in terms of class, caste, gender and
access to land’ (Ojha et al. 2002: 21). Although the legal code of Nepal does
not recognise caste distinctions 7 , power is distributed, in fact, primarily
along the lines of the Hindu-based Indo-Aryan framework, in which caste
and gender are main factors. This is a simplification of a complex situation;
nevertheless, historically, the ideology and cultural values of the caste
system have established and maintained the highest caste groups, Brahmins
and Chettris, in positions of symbolic and political power at all levels in the
country. As noted by Ojha et al. (2002: 22), ‘although caste and ethnic
differences do not necessarily determine matters such as the distribution
of land ownership, income, consumption patterns and access to resources
(Blaikie et al. 1980), in most cases, almost all “untouchable” caste group
members are poor, and there is a high correlation between caste and wealth’.
In 2003–04, for example, the percentages of people of hill Dalit and Terai
Dalit groups below the poverty line were 48 and 46 percent, respectively—
notably higher than the national average of 31 percent (DFID and World
Bank 2006).
In Nepal, gender is a key aspect of social differentiation, with women being
disadvantaged in political processes, from household to community and
national levels. Though it varies from urban to rural and by ethnic group,
gender inequality is a major social influence, and the overall pattern indicates
that most women have less access to resources and public decision-making
processes than men (Agarwal 1994).
One effect of the caste system and related gender and diversity patterns
in Nepal is that such social stratification inhibits the development of a
participatory environment in informal interaction, as well as in participatory
decision-making in community forestry (Agarwal 2001; Ojha et al. 2002;
DFID and World Bank 2006). Nightingale (2002, 2003, 2005) recounts,
for example, how low-caste members and women are disadvantaged in
community forestry practice, and in an analysis of decision making, Gurung
(2002) reveals male bias in forestry organisations in Nepal.
Community forestry
Forests are an important element of rural livelihoods and farming systems
in the middle hills of Nepal (Gilmour and Fisher 1991; Gilmour et al. 2004).