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

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Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned? Discussions and debate are on-going in the constitutional assembly on the roles, responsibilities and rights of local and indigenous communities (including property rights over forest land). The current arrangement of only two types of property rights (state property and private property) being applicable to natural resources is being questioned. The demand of civil society organisations such as FECOFUN for the recognition of community property rights is gaining increasing public support. At the time the original Master Plan was drawn up, an institutional reform took place that greatly facilitated the implementation of community forestry: each division in the Forest Department was made responsible for its own programme. This meant that community forestry had a clear status, and responsibility for its implementation was placed in the hands of the District Forest Offi cers (DFOs). Thus offi cial decision-making (notably the approval of CFUG establishment and their operational plans) was devolved to a local, relatively accountable, and practical level. This coincided with a time of major political development in Nepal – the demise of the one-party panchayat system in 1990, a strong demand for democracy, and expectation of change. The concept of CFUGs (see section on governance) was in keeping with this demand. In theory, the development and implementation of policies follows a “policy cycle”, along which clear points of possible contribution to the process can be identifi ed (see box 10). Box 10: The theoretical “policy cycle” The development of policies may be seen to follow a circular pattern, made up of the following stages. • Issue identifi cation – where access to reliable, evidence-based information is crucial • Assessment of policy options – where a range of possible policy responses are considered, and where their implications should be thoroughly reviewed • Policy formulation – the stage of drafting legislation and passing it through the necessary discussion and consultation procedures to become law • Policy implementation – the process in which a new policy is put into action, often requiring in turn the drafting of supporting rules and regulations; here of course there may be a risk of unintended consequences • Policy evaluation – the stage at which the effects of a policy are assessed on the ground; the results, showing issues that need to be addressed, are fed back into further policy development . Source: Adapted from Bird, 2009:4 In practice in Nepal, the process of policy development is rarely so clearly defi ned or streamlined, and opportunities for contribution are often ad hoc, dependent on being “at the right place at the right time”, and not always possible to plan in advance. Furthermore, the space for project intervention is generally quite limited, 72
Departments and Ministries Two decades of community forestry in Nepal: What have we learned? and lies mainly at the level of ministerial guidelines and departmental manuals, and not so much at legislative level. Yet this is crucial because legislation provides the framework for such guidelines, as indicated in the diagram below. The Hierarchy of Forest Policy Development Nepal’s International commitments and obligations ↕ Millenium Development goals Rio Treaty etc. Donors Other Sector Policies ↕ Project Sphere of Influence → → → → → → → National Policy Statement Forest Sector Policy Forest Legislation By-Laws (regulations) Guidelines Norms and procedures Manuals Examples APP PRSP 10th 5-year plan National Nature Conservation Strategy MPFS (1988) Forest Policy Forest Act 1993 Forest By-Laws (become law only after being published in Offi cial Gazette Ad hoc decisions, directives CF Inventory Guidelines NTFP Guidelines Service provider Guidelines Schedules rates Administrative procedures Project manuals Training manuals Governed by Parliament NPC (Chaired by PM) Cabinet Parliment NRM Parliamentory committee Cabinet Clearly national governments make the policy of their country, but in doing so they are infl uenced to varying degrees by external agencies, regional agreements and international conventions. Although community forestry in Nepal has been 73
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TWO DECADES OF COMMUNITY FORESTRY I
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Namdu, Dolakha, 1989 Namdu, Dolakha
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FOREWORD Over 20 years ago, the Swi
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List of Abbreviations AIDS : Acquir
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CONTENTS Foreword .................
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1. INTRODUCTION Two decades of comm
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