Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?

Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?
Much has changed in development thinking, and also development needs, over the
last twenty years. This is clearly refl ected in the way the project focus shifted over
time – from being primarily (although never solely) technically and environmentally
oriented in early years, to focusing more heavily on social and political aspects –
especially poverty alleviation, equity and good governance - in later years.
NSCFP was active in setting such trends, and indeed recognised the
need for, and attempted to promote, social inclusion from the start.
Development trends must also be set in Nepal’s particular context
of violent civil confl ict over the period 1996 to 2006. This infl uenced
both the way in which the project was implemented, and the whole
focus of operations. To provide a somewhat simplifi ed overview, key trends in
project activities are captured in the table on the next page.
Rather than providing a chronological summary of NSCFP’s activities, this
document is structured into nine topics, as follows:
• Implementation modality/fund management
• Human resource and institutional development
• Pro-poor livelihoods
• Social inclusion: caste, ethnicity and gender
• Good governance
• Confl ict sensitive project management
• Sustainable tree and forest management
• Forest based enterprises
• Forest policy contribution
Whilst these topics are treated separately for purposes of analysis and
documentation, they are of course inter-linked and over-lapping. By focusing on
them, the intention was to highlight fi ndings that should be taken into account in
future support to Nepal’s community forestry programme – particularly through the
new Multi-Stakeholder Forestry Programme. With this in mind, key issues for the
future are listed at the end of each section.
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