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

Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?
8. SUSTAINABLE TREE AND
FOREST MANAGEMENT
“NSCFP has done a commendable job in forest management. It is the source of greenery in
our otherwise denuded and degraded forests through plantations, and training in nurseries,
forest development and management.”
Krishna Bahadur Karki, Chairperson, Thangsa Deurali CFUG, Dolakha
“Still far more need to be done to promote the practice of sustainable management of forest
according to their types and on tree harvesting procedure in Community Forestry.”
Gopal Kumar Shrestha, DG, Department of Forests
Restoring tree cover to degraded slopes was an early project objective, as
described by the CFUG chairperson above, and is well illustrated by photographic
comparisons between the early 1990s and today (Pokharel and Mahat, 2010).
Indeed, afforestation had already been supported under the earlier SDC-funded
IHDP in Sindhu Palanchowk and Dolakha districts. Attempts were also made to
encourage private tree cultivation through the provision of planting material, although
it was later found that farmers often cultivate trees spontaneously when necessary
(fi nding their own seedlings), if they have the land to do so (Carter, 1992).
In keeping with other community forestry programmes in the country, attention
shifted in the mid 1990s from tree planting to sustainable forest management.
A particular silvicultural challenge at the time was how to convert areas planted
with monoculture pine (usually the fast-growing exotic Pinus caribaea) to mixed
broadleaved forest that would more readily serve fodder and fuelwood needs.
Whilst NSCFP worked on this issue, the project was particularly innovative in
developing “user-friendly” methods for sustainable, productive forest management.
Many members of Forest Department staff at the time were concerned that
handing over forests to communities would result in over-harvesting (especially of
timber), so determining sustainable harvesting levels was important both for them
and for CFUGs. In fact, the tendency of most CFUGs in the early years of their
formation was to ban all harvesting (often including fuelwood and fodder) in order
to conserve the forest. Unlike richer members who generally have some private
resources, the poorest generally have no alternative source of tree products. Thus
when promoting community forest management, it was a priority to determine how
forests could be managed for multiple products on a sustainable basis.
“NSCFP’s concept of forest management has been very effective. CFUGs which had conventional
views that trees should not be felled to conserve forests have now been actively
involved in the timely management of forests.”
Prakash Raj Bhandari, Chairperson, Ram Bazar CFUG,Okhaldhunga
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