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

Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned?
10. FOREST POLICY
CONTRIBUTION
“The strength of the project in being able to infl uence policy and legislation was made
possible by the strong and close involvement of project staff at fi eld level combined with
detailed monitoring indicators which enabled the justifi cation for specifi c recommendations
to be made on the basis of concrete and often quantifi ed fi eld realities”
Patrick Robinson, forestry adviser to SDC Nepal 1989-1995 including CTA NSCFP 1990-
1995
Nepal is well known in international forestry circles for its innovative policy on
community forestry, developed and revised over a passage of more than forty
years. The most important national policy and legislation currently guiding forestry
in the country comprises the Forest Act 1993, the Forest Rules and Regulations
1995, and the Community Forestry Guidelines, 2009. The Act sets out Nepal’s
legislation on all aspects of forestry, including community forestry, whilst the Rules
and Regulations provide more detail on the manner in which the legislation should
be implemented. The Guidelines updated, and go beyond, the Forest Rules and
Regulations in the level of detail prescribed. An important policy document that
formed a basis for elaborating all these documents was the 25 year Master Plan
for the Forestry Sector, which was approved in 1989 and has now come to an end
of its period of coverage.
A new Forest Sector Strategy
for a further 15 years is under
development. This is to be aligned
with the spirit of new constitution
which is proposed to be a federal
republic of up to 15 states. National
and state governments will have
to share power on resource
governance. The role of the districts
will possibly be limited to planning
and coordination functions, and
village municipalities, around 1,400–
one third of the current number- are
expected to be more empowered
in terms of governing natural
resources, tax revenue and
administrative structures. They will have to work closely with local communities
in matters related to natural resources including forests, water, sand, and land.
FECOFUN advocates for the safegaurd of the rights of forest users
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