Ms. Kanchan Lama, the Principal Investigator of “Economic Empowerment of Women through Forest Solutions” (WEE-FS) project (IDRC funded) at ForestAction Nepal participated as a panelist in the event on “Driving Gender Equality through Climate Action” (14th Nov2022). The event was a part of the Canadian Pavilion events held at the COP 27 in the city of Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. The panel, consisting of five speakers from the globe, highlighted the importance of addressing the gaps in women’s unconditional access to natural resources which are universally maintained by women and are the sources of livelihood for the indigenous communities, primarily women. Ms. Lama shared about the lessons learned through implementation of the low carbon, forest-based enterprise development interventions in a complicated socio-economic and environmental context of a poverty-stricken country like Nepal. She stressed on the issue of systematic deprivation of women from their rights to use the natural resources for productive purposes. She called for special attention to establish women as right holders of land and other productive assets for managing effective climate resilient action on the ground. As a takeaway message from the panel, she appealed to the global leaders of climate action to establish a “women climate adaptation fund” to facilitate an exclusively committed global action to support women in their climate resilient actions.
Community Forestry in Nepal has already created a history of its four decades. Over these years, the trees have grown, and the society has changed and so has the societal roles of individuals evolved. Such changes demand a shift in women’s role from caretaker to a decision maker. In such, mere representation is not enough, their leadership and voices matters the most.
In this backdrop, Forest Action Nepal (FAN) under Enhancing Livelihoods from Improved Forest Management in Nepal (EnLiFT) – an action research project financially supported by the Government of Australia through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) organized orientation programs on “Women Leadership Development on Forest Management” in Chautara-13 and Chautara-8. They were mainly aimed at sensitizing users and leaders of the Community Forest Users Group on women’s role and leadership in regards to decision making for sustainable forest management. The one day interactive event in each ward focused on the importance of individual users and impact of exclusion on community forest management, conceptual clarity on gender, socialization of gender, leadership qualities and barriers of women leadership.
A joint meeting between ForestAction Nepal and Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS) was organized on 11th September, 2022 on “Women’s Economic Empowerment in a Low-Carbon COVID-19 Recovery” funded by IDRC Canada. ForestAction Nepal is implementing- Women’s Economic Empowerment through Forest Solutions- WEE-FS in Sindhupalchok and Nawalparasi district and SIAS is implementing Co-production of Shock Resilient Business Ecosystems for Women Engaged Enterprises (CREW) in Ramechhap, Dolakha and Arghakhanchi districts. The meeting was organized to discuss the conceptual framing of women economic empowerment and share the projects achievements, issues and challenges in the action research.
The meeting was organized in two sessions, the first session was intended for sharing and discussion on the conceptual framework and project updates and second one on the opportunities, issues and challenges faced in project implementation. Dr. Bhim Adhikari shared the IDRC’s research priorities and the developmental challenges. He raised the issue of challenges of action research on influencing policy making at national and global level and expected two projects in the same country will bring synergy stimulating policy process.
Dr. Mani Ram Banjade, Principal Investigator- CREW project shared conceptual details of the women economic empowerment (WEE) framework. Five domains of WEE (economic, socio-cultural, environmental, technological and policy) and interlinkages between them important to build shock resilient women led enterprises. He further updated the project achievements and glimpses of base line survey analysis.
Ms. Kanchan Lama and Dr. Srijana Baral, discussed the conceptual framework adopted by WEE-FS project. Ms. Lama shared that in the WEE framework women’s societal relationship with her family is equally important as agency development and reducing the social biases and structural barriers in the empowerment process. Dr. Baral shared the project approaches and the updates made so far in the project outcome areas.
ForestAction Nepal’s consortium partner HIMAWANTI Nepal, AFFON and FenFIT presented their perspectives in issues and challenges faced in the project implementation. Similarly, SIAS partners (NIMS College, ARIA Solutions and Himalayan Bio Trade Limited -HBTL) reflected the same.
The discussions between the sessions were moderated by Dr. Naya Sharma Poudel and Dr. Dil Bahadur Khatri. The majority of the discussions focused on joint actions for WEE, cross learnings and policy gaps on developing low carbon economies. More such events are expected to be useful to both the projects and IDRC as a whole.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Adhikari shared that the projects are progressing well in line with IDRC’s strategic thinking and ideas. He appreciated the partnership approaches. He also suggested on developing scalable models for women empowerment through low carbon initiatives. He emphasized on knowledge generation and dissemination, as IDRC uses the academic outputs to map project’s impacts.
Alliance of Agriculture for Food (AAF)/ForestAction Nepal, in collaboration with ActionAid Nepal, organized a national level policy round table discussion on Agroecology in Nepal, in presence of policy makers and experts, on 30 November 2022 in Kathmandu.
During the event, issues like policy gaps to promote agroecology, food sovereignty and food security, natural resource management, land and land use, environmental degradation and climate change, nutrient, disease and pest management, agro-biodiversity, peasants’ right, agriculture production and trade, and agricultural research, extension, and education were discussed.
Key highlights of discussion are as follow:
– Need for an integrated agriculture policy that can balance current agriculture practices with agroecological principles.
– Farmers are the knowledge hub of agroecology, as they are long-term practitioners of innovative, environment and smallholder farmer’s friendly practices.
– Areas and scope of sustainable agriculture are not explored enough.
– Documentation, exploration, revision, and integration of agroecological knowledge, with aggressive research and application from the research community, academic institutions, and the corporate sector is lacking.
– Collaboration between education, research, and extension is necessary.
– Marketing of agricultural products need to be enhanced.
– The dignity of farmers must be protected. Research needs to be done in response to issues with farmer’s fields.
“The future generation do not have to worry about how to find bamboo for basket weaving anymore. We are proud of having made a sustainable resource base for the future generation.”
These were the words of Manmaya Bhujel to the ForestAction Nepal team, when we interviewed them recently.
The 29 households of the Bhujel community (a caste group in Nepal) appeared to be happy, encouraged and confident in dreaming about the long-term impacts of their bamboo plantation, on the occasion of “National Plantation Day of Nepal” 2022, when we met them on their homestead fallow land. This is a story about how their confidence and their dreams developed.
The story began more than a year ago, in November 2021, when a small team from ForestAction Nepal visited the village at the invitation of the Deurali Community Forestry Users Group (CFUG), Dhodeni and Ward Chairperson. They visited as part of the work for the IDRC-funded GLOW project entitled “Economic empowerment of women through forest solutions”.
The Bhujels: a migrant community
The Bhujels here have lived inside the community forest for decades. However, they have not yet obtained CFUG membership as they cannot afford to pay the required membership subscription fees to the CFUG. They have no idea if they can make a request to the CFUG for a special subsidy. Moreover, they do not inherit land to be eligible for CFUG membership.
Long ago, the Bhujels migrated from the neighbouring district Tanahu and settled here. One political leader encouraged them to migrate with promises of land and resources. However, later the leader proved selfish and wrong. Once he fulfilled his vested political interest, he did not even look back at them. The migrated Bhujel community could not return but continued to live in the forest as residents, although without obtaining a clear knowledge about how to access their civic identity until now.
Dependent on forest resources – but without clear rights
The community is heavily dependent on the forest. Some timber traders make use of the elderly men and young people as cheap labour for timber harvesting and transportation. The women usually harvest and sell minor forest products, such as, Sal (Shorea robusta) leaves, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, edible seasonal ferns, other wild vegetables and herbs. Besides consuming, they also sell those items in the market, which is located two hours’ walking distance away. During winter, they can reach the market on the three-wheeled “tempo”( a manual tricycle).
Due to their living below the poverty line, and lack of any alternate employment opportunity, the Bhujel community members do waged labour in the neighborhood fields. The men earn NRs. 600/day (USD 6.50) and women earn NRs. 500/day (USD 4.00) for the same work. The prevailing societal assumption is that women cannot do hard work equal to that of the men.
The CFUG occasionally employs them for managing the forest by clearing out the dry leaves, trimming and thinning trees. For three months in a year, they weave bamboo basket (doko-daalo, made from bamboo) and tray (nanglo, Himalayan bamboo).
Despite their reliance on bamboo–based products for livelihood, they do not have procedural access to the bamboo trees. Consequently, they buy bamboo at a costly rate of NRs250/ (USD 2.00) per piece. In addition, they must pay NRs 2000/- (more than USD 15.00) per trip by tractors for transportation of bamboo stems from the distantly-located site of the community-managed forest to the Bhujels’ village.
Research points to the fact that Indigenous Peoples such as this community are often marginalised by development processes which are intended to provide sustainable livelihood and wellbeing solutions. With an objective to reform such practices, the Economic Empowerment of Women through Forest Solutions project responded seriously to the voice raised by this community on their livelihood issues.
Women groups planting the bamboo. Photo by Usha Thakuri
Action research sparks new, collaborative process
At the beginning, the project team was confused by widely-spread rumors, such as, “the Bhujel women are alcoholic, they would ruin the project by drinking day and night, while their men keep working hard to produce bamboo baskets for livelihood. The youngsters of the village are timber smugglers, they would not allow outsiders to enter for project activities,” and so on.
The project team reflected on these negative opinions with empathy and decided to explore whether they were correct, and how the Bhujels are experiencing deprivation.
On one hand, they saw a ray of light – a positive signal – when the Deurali CFUG Chairperson and the Ward Chairperson suggested that the project implement actions with the Bhujels. They found that it is not the Bhujels themselves, rather certain external social forces that play the game of creating rumours. Such external actors were concerned about their potential losses, with the idea that “if the Bhujels become aware about their rights, they might lose the cheap labour force to continue with illegal activities of forest exploitation.”
A preliminary baseline assessment helped the project team to understand the community better as a “skilled group” in possession of indigenous bamboo weaving skills, but fully deprived of education, health and livelihood related resources and services. Although the Gaindakot Rotary Club supported them to construct small homes with toilets and drinking water supply, the community remains far from being involved in local development decision-making. “Someone” decides everything on their behalf, they just follow others’ prescriptions.
Being under domination of “others”, they remain passive by losing their own creativity and confidence. They sound to feel marginalised, frustrated and depressed. Some even lost the hope of a better life. As a woman remarked, “Can you bring us some magical solution to our hard lifestyle? How long will we go on with bamboo weaving from morning till night?”
Another remarked, “We are held capture by micro finance loans. How can we get free from our loans?” Some others voiced, “How can we have easy access to bamboo bushes near to our village so that we can manage bamboo for basket and tray weaving without paying the high price to buy bamboo stems?”
The project team came up with a creative idea for being much closer to the community by relationship-building with them. By taking women’s reproductive health issues as a central issue, the project team organised a “lifestyle interaction programme”. This comprised a one-day interaction, supported by philanthropists, in which a majority of the community people participated. A general primary-level health check-up, interaction on women’s health issues, problems related to men and youth were identified and provided by a naturopathy doctor.
She checked women’s health and provided some basic treatment for a few victims of uterus prolapses. We also provided dental health orientation to the children who happily used toothbrushes supplied by us after they had taken their snacks. The young men came to get checked up of their basic health condition. It was an unanticipated finding that more male, both elderly and young, had high blood pressure and sugar problems. But the women had no such problem; the women’s problems related to a few of them having uterus prolapses.
Following this event, a household needs assessment survey was conducted for a bamboo plantation near to their homestead to establish a sustainable resource base for the bamboo weavers. A total of 34 households demanded and 29 of them planted bamboo rhizomes. The executives from the local government and the community forestry management group encouraged them by joining the bamboo plantation ceremony.
The bamboo rhizomes have a 95% survival rate. A total of 17 women also participated in the entrepreneurship development and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) training held in the Deurali CFUG premises. As their favoured major enterprise, the Bhujel women selected improving their bamboo products. Later, they also began demanding training on bio-degradable cup and plates (duna tapari) production.
Re-setting development dynamics and hope for the future
Aspirations and hopes are back among the women. Today, when we interact with the Bhujels, the women come forward to proudly share about their learning from training and other events. Their confidence level is high, with smiles in their faces. They are planning to expand and strengthen their bamboo stock for enriching access to bamboo for weaving baskets and trays.
The project adopted a feminist approach to build self-awareness among the women. This included:
– empathising and encouraging them to take the lead for year-round enterprise development actions,
– enabling them to get organised for negotiating with the local government authorities, forest authorities, CFUG committee and the market sector to create sustainable access to forest resources and marketing processes.
The project is at a crossroads now to focus its investment more on strengthening the Bhujel community women’s leadership for reflecting on their civic status, status on land rights, right to resources, their potential roles on sustainable forest management and mitigating climate disaster.
The project’s action learning process has begun with such mixed initiatives as: analysis of the gender specific needs; interests of skilled, indigenous women; women’s attitude and knowledge about mitigating carbon emissions; and adaptation initiatives for climate resilience through nurturing the forest resources – by managing a sustainable forest resource base for livelihood and environmental health.
Dream: Can this small beginning lead to an economically viable forest and environmental health?
Mr. Bhandari is Field Coordinator, Ms. Baral is Project Manager and Ms. Lama is Principal Researcher – Economic Empowerment of Women through Forest Solution at ForestAction Nepal.
Alliance of Agriculture for Food (AAF) in collaboration with 20 organizations and active engagement of all concerned stakeholders, successfully organized a month-long celebration of 42th World Food Day 2022. The major objective of the program was to create public awareness on the issues of food and agriculture to realize the importance of agriculture for food in the current context of agriculture development in Nepal. Moreover, it was also deliberated to create forums for the general public and to create pressure on policy shapers/makers for formulating effective policy measures pertaining to food and agriculture showing the cases of critical issues as well as best practices at ground.
The celebration events were organized in local, province and federal levels. The program begun with a press meet in Bharatpur, Chitwan on 22 September, 2022 with the aim of informing about the weeklong program. Various interaction programs along with rallies, food festivals and exhibitions were organized in Kathmandu, Surkhet, Dhangadi, Biratnagar, Hetuada and Kalika Municipality of Chitwan. A National dialogue on food and climate justice, and seminar on Agroecology: Rebuilding sustainable food systems were organized in Kathmandu. Where different organizations lead the themes related to Agroecology. All these interactions covered different dimensions of food and agriculture such as food rights, climate justice, policy discussion on right to food, food sovereignty, food security, and landlessness; agriculture of Karnali and Terai Madhesh; roles of rural women farmers; and contribution of agro-biodiversity to food security. Each thematic session consisted of presentations of panelists in the field followed by critical comments and open discussions.
The closing of month-long deliberations was followed by a Raithane Sanjh (local food festival) on 21st October 2022.
During the program period, Factsheet of Food and agriculture was prepared and widely distributed. Likewise, AAF prepared articles and published in national newspapers and online media. Appeals were also prepared and presented to political leaders, policymakers, government officials including local government representatives, public figures, media persons, farmers, activists, and representatives from different organizations. The major collaborators include: ActionAid Nepal, LiBIRD, CSRC, FIAN, NFGF, NLRF, SWI, IM Swedish, ERI, CEPP, CAED, ANAJ, DCA, Digo Bikash Institute, halokhabar, ubjani.com and Provincial and local governments.
‘हरियो वन नेपालको धन” भन्ने उक्ति हामीले जन्मजात देखि नै सुन्दै आएका छौँ । हुनपनि हो, नेपाल प्राकृतिक स्रोत तथा जैविक विविधताको हिसाबले सम्पन्न देश मध्यमा गनिन्छ । फरकफरक भौगोलिक विशेषतायुक्त जमिन, जल तथा जङ्गल क्षेत्र यहाँका प्रमुख प्राकृतिक स्रोतहरू हुन । बहुसङ्ख्यक नेपाली जनताको जीविकोपार्जन प्राकृतिक स्रोतहरूमा आधारित छ । वन अनुसन्धान तथा सर्वेक्षण विभागको तथ्याङ्कलाई आधार मान्ने हो भने नेपालको वन क्षेत्र बढ्दो आवस्थामा पाइन्छ । यद्यपी, त्यसबाट देशको अर्थतन्त्रमा सोझो प्रभाव भने परेको देखिएको छैन । समुदायले दाउरा, घाँस, काठपात, पानीको स्रोत उपभोग जस्ता दैनिक उपयोगमा आउने सेवा बाहेक थप स्रोत लाई आर्थिक उपार्जनसँग जोड्न सकेको छैन । वनजंगल बढेपनि वनमै आधारित उद्योग, कलकारखाना उल्लेखनीय रुपमा संन्चालनमा आउन सकेका छैनन् ।
सामुदायिक वन क्षेत्रबाट काठहरू परिक्षण स्थलमा ढुवानी हुँदै । (फोटोः कपिल दाहाल)
वन क्षेत्रको विस्तारले माटो, जलाधार, चराचुरुंगी, वन्यजन्तु, हावापानी र जैविक विविधतामा प्रत्यक्ष/अप्रत्यक्ष टेवा पु¥याएको कुरालाई नकार्न नसकिएतापनि उत्पादनशील समेत रहेको वनबाट नेपालले लाभ लिन धेरै ढिलो भईसकेको अवस्था छ । जसले गर्दा, स्थानीय स्रोत (काठ) खेर गईरहेको छ भने काठको आन्तरिक माग परिपूर्ति गर्न हरेक वर्ष हजारौं क्यूबफिट काठ विभिन्न देशबाट आयात भईरहेको छ । नेपालमा वन व्यवस्थापनका लागि सामुदायिक वन एक सफल कार्यक्रमको रूपमा स्थापित भएतापनि उपलब्ध काष्ठ र गैह्रकाष्ठ उत्पादनलाई दिगो रूपमा उपयोगमा ल्याई वन स्रोतमा आश्रित घरधुरी तथा परिवारहरूको जीवनस्तर उकास्ने काममा लक्ष्य भन्दा निकै कम मात्रै योगदान पु¥याइरहेको छ । वन क्षेत्रबाट हुने आम्दानीको मुख्य हिस्सा काठले ओगटेको भएतापनि लामो समयदेखि वन क्षेत्रमा काठ व्यवस्थापनको विषय समुदायको लागि जटिल कार्य बन्दै आएको छ । यस्तो अवस्थामा स्थानीय स्तरमा काष्ठ तथा काष्ठजन्य उत्पादनमा स्थानीयको पहुँचमा वृद्धि गर्ने तथा स्थानीय क्षेत्रमा रोजगारी सृजना गर्ने सवालमा घुम्ती सःमिल एउटा विकल्प हुन सक्छ ।
सःमिल परिक्षणको तयारी । (फोटोः कपिल दाहाल)
संसारमा काठ चिरानका लागि विभिन्न किसिमका यन्त्रहरु प्रयोग हुँदै आएका छन् । नेपालमै पनि पछिल्ला केही दशकमा काठ चिर्ने काममा फरक–फरक किसिमका यन्त्रहरु प्रयोग हुन थालेका छन् । परम्परागत आरा, बन्चरोको ठाउँमा पावर चेनःस जस्ता यन्त्रको प्रयोग हुन थालेको छ । यस्तैमा, घुम्ती सःमिल काठ चिरानका लागि प्रयोग हुने यन्त्र नै हो । यद्यपी, अवश्यकता अनुसार स्थानान्तरण गरी काठ चिर्न सकिने यसको प्रमुख विशेषता हो । स्थानीय उत्पादनमा आधारित काठ उद्योगको स्थापना तथा विकासको सम्भावना रहेको हाम्रो देशमा यसको मितव्ययी प्रयोगबाट आम उपभोत्ताको स्थानीय काठमा पहुँच बढ्ने तथा थाकथलोमै रोजगारीको अवसर पनि सृजना हुन सक्छ ।
नेपालमा भएका वन क्षेत्रहरूको दिगो व्यवस्थापन गर्न सकेको खण्डमा काठको उत्पादनबाट मात्रै पनि आम्दानी कैयौं गुणा बढी गर्न सकिने कुरा स्पष्ट देखिन्छ । वन तथा वातावरण मन्त्रालयले सातै प्रदेशमा वनमा आधारित हरित रोजगार सृजना गर्ने उद्योग सञ्चालन/सृजना गर्ने लक्ष्य लिईरहेको परिवेशमा निकट भविष्यमा वनमा आधारित उद्यमको विकास, विस्तार तथा यसका आधारमा हुने काष्ठ प्रविधिको विकास, तथा तराई–मधेस एवं मध्य पहाडी क्षेत्रको भूमिमा उच्चस्तरका काठहरूबाट काष्ठजन्य उत्पादन हुने अपेक्षा गर्न सकिन्छ । यस्तोमा अन्य ठूलो औद्योगिक प्रकृतिका काठ चिरान गर्ने यन्त्र तथा उद्योग स्थापना गर्न जटिल रहेका स्थानमा घुम्ती सःमिल एउटा विकल्प हुन सक्छ ।
सःमिलमार्फत काठ चिरान गरिदै । (फोटोः कपिल दाहाल)
यही परिस्थितीको माँझ मुख्यतया नेपालको पहाडी क्षेत्रमा सामुदायिक वन, कवुलियती वन तथा निजी वनबाट उत्पादन भएका काठलाई उपभोक्ताहरूको आवश्यकता अनुसार कटान तथा चिरान गर्न अन्य देशका ग्रामीण समुदायका लागि सुविधाजनक साबित भएको घुम्ती सःमिल नेपालको परिपे्रक्षमा स्थानीय समुदायको खर्चको कटौती, गुणस्तरको चिरान काठ उत्पादन, न्युनतम बस्तुको नोक्सान आदी उद्देश्य राखी डिभिजन वन कार्यालय, सिन्धुपाल्चोकले खरिद गरेको थियो । स्थानीय सामुदायिक वनका पदाधिकारी तथा उपभोक्ताको यस सःमिल प्रतिको धारणा लिने तथा प्रविधिक पाटो केलाउने साथै स्थानिय समुदायलाई यस घुम्ति सःमिल सञ्चालन गर्न सक्षम बनाउने प्रयास स्वरुप २०७८ साल चैत्र १४ देखि १७ सम्म (४ दिने) घुम्ती सःमिल परिक्षण कार्यक्रम गरिएको थियो । सामुदायिक तथा निजी वन व्यवस्थापन अभ्यासमा सुधार गरी सामाजिक, आर्थिक तथा वातावरणीय पक्षमा सुधार ल्याउने लक्ष्य लिई जीविकोपार्जन सुधारका लागि परिष्कृत वन व्यवस्थापन कार्यक्रम (इन्लिफ्ट परियोजना) विगत केही वर्षदेखि चौतारा साँगाचोकगढी नगरपालिकाको वडा नं ८ र १३ लाई कार्यक्षेत्र वनाई विभिन्न १८ वटा सामुदायिक वनहरूमा विभिन्न क्षेत्रगत गतिविधि संचालनमा सहजीकरण गरीरहेको छ । डिभिजन वन कार्यालय सिन्धुपाल्चोक तथा इन्लिफ्ट परियोजनाको सहजीकरणमा यस क्षेत्रका सामुदायिक वनहरू श्रीछाप देउराली, संसारी डाँडा, बाँझेकपासे लगायतका सामुदायिक वनहरुमा सःमिलको प्रशिक्षण, परीक्षण र प्रदर्शनी कार्यक्रम सञ्चालन गरिएको थियो । यस कार्यक्रमले मुख्य रूपमा प्राविधिक परीक्षणले घुम्ती सःमिलको लागत, श्रम, चिरान समय, काठको क्षती, कार्यसम्पादन, इन्धन खपत, पार्टपुर्जा ओसारपसार, आराको गुणस्तर, दक्षता, परिचालन सुविधा, सःमिलको सामाजिक स्वीकृति परीक्षण, काठको गुणस्तर र सरोकारवालाहरूको सामान्य धारणा इत्यादिको विस्तृत अध्ययन गरी दस्तावेज तयार गरिएको छ । दीर्घकालिन रूपमा यस कार्यक्रमले वन पैदावारको उचित सदुपयोग, स्थानीय अर्थतन्त्रमा टेवा, स्थानीय बस्तुको दिगो उपयोग तथा व्यवस्थापनमा उचित भूमिका खेल्ने अनुमान गर्नुका साथै स्थानीय स्तरमा काटिएको काठको दिगो आपूर्ति सुनिश्चित गर्नेछ भन्ने गर्ने उद्देश्य लिएको छ ।
घुम्ती सःमिल परिक्षणको प्रारम्भिक नतिजालाई आधार मान्ने हो भने घुम्ती सःमिलबाट विद्यमान स्थानीय आरा मिलहरू को तुलनामा स्थापना तथा सञ्चालन गर्न सजिलो देखिएको छ । उपभोक्ताको माग अनुसार निश्चित साइजको चिरान गर्न सकिने तथा अन्य आरा मिल भन्दा कम जोखिम, ट्रलीको उचाई कम भएकोले काठ लोड अनलोड गर्न सजिलो, समथर र स्केल बमोजिमको चिरान काठ उत्पादन, मिल स्थापना पश्चात दक्ष कामदारको निगरानीमा सामान्य कामदारबाट पनि सञ्चालन गर्न सकिने, ध्वनी तथा वातावरण प्रदुषण कमी, करिब ३/३२ इन्चको सानो आरा हुनाले काठमा कम क्षती पुग्ने तथा एक पटकमा ४–८ वटासम्म कडी चिरान गर्न सकिने जस्ता सवल पक्ष देखिएको छ । घुम्ती सःमिल स्थानीय सामुदायिक वन क्षेत्र वरीपरी नै सञ्चालन गर्न सकिने भएकाले काठ ढुवानी गर्न लाग्ने समय तथा लागत घट्ने, गोलाई नै किन्नु पर्ने बाध्यताको सट्टा स्रोत भएको ठाउँमै आवश्यकता अनुसारको चिरान काठ किन्न पाइने साथै विपन्न उपभोक्तालाई रोजगारीको सिर्जना हुन्छ ।
सःमिलमा चिरान गरिएको काठ (फल्याक) संकलन गरिदै । (फोटोः कपिल दाहाल)
यसरी विभन्न फाईदा हुदाँहुदै पनि यसका केही सीमाहरू भने देखिन्छ । सडक पहुँच भएको स्थानमा मात्र संचालन र ढुवानी गर्न सकिने, मेसिन लोड र अनलोड गर्न समय लाग्ने, ब्लेड साट्दा वा धार लगाउन प्राविधिक पक्षलाई ध्यान दिनु पर्ने, ठूलो व्यास भएको काठ चिरानको लागि अनुपयुक्त, बोल्ट, ट्रली, लेभल स्तरको आवधिक जाँच जरुरी हुने, कडा खालको काठ चिरानमा कठिन हुने, फल्याक चिरान गर्दा अन्तिममा ३ इन्च काठ बाँकी रहने, लेभल, ब्लेड, पानी, धार गार्ड, आदि पटक पटक अवलोकन गरी राख्नु पर्ने, मिलमा गोलिया काठ फिटिंगको लागि समय लाग्ने तथा योग्य प्राविधिकहरूको निगरानी चाहिने देखिएको छ ।
डिभिजन वन कार्यालयका प्रतिनिधिद्धारा सःमिल परिक्षणको निरिक्षण र छलफल गर्दै । (फोटोः कपिल दाहाल)
यसरी हेर्दा घुम्ती सःमिल प्रभावकारी देखिएता पनि यसको प्रयोगमा भने केही व्यवधानहरु देखिएको छ । वन व्यवस्थापन तथा स्रोत उपभोगको सवालमा विभिन्न अध्ययनहरूले यहाँको कानुनी तथा व्यवहारिक अड्चनहरू, अव्यवहारिक नीतिगत निर्णय, कर्मचारीतन्त्र, परम्परागत सोच र व्यवस्थापन शैली प्रमुख बाधकको रूपमा देखिएको छ । लागत कम गर्न, सामाजिक रूपमा स्वीकार्यता बढाउन, नीतिगत, व्यवहारिक तथा प्राविधिक पक्षलाई केलाउन थप नमुना क्षेत्रमा सम्भाव्यता परीक्षण गर्नु पर्नेछ । साथै, पूर्ण मर्मत संभार गर्न सक्ने स्थानीय दक्ष प्राविधिक उत्पादन गर्नुका साथै घुम्ती सःमिल सञ्चालन गर्न सकिने कानुनी आधार विकास गर्नु पर्ने अबको बाटो हो । कानुनी रुपमा दर्ता गरी उद्यमको रुपमा विकास गर्न केही नीतिगत जटिलता रहेको देखिए पनि समस्याको गाठो फुकाउने र उद्योग संचालनमा सहजीकरण गर्ने गरी नेपाल सरकारसँग समन्वय गरी स्थानीय स्तरमा वन उद्यम विकास, रोजगारी सृजना, महिला सशक्तिकरण र गरिबी न्युनीकरण गर्ने वातावरण घुम्ती सःमिल एक विकल्प हुन सक्छ ।
घर नजिकै सःमिलबाट दलिन र फल्याक चिरान गर्न पाउँदा खुसी हुँदै उपभोक्ताहरू । (फोटोः कपिल दाहाल)
कपिल दाहाल, फरेष्टएक्सन नेपालमा अनुसन्धानकर्ता हुनुहुन्छ ।
माथि उल्लेखित विषयवस्तुहरू नितान्त लेखकको विचार र स्थलगत अनुभवमा आधारीत हो । फरेष्टएक्सन नेपाल र ईन्लिफ्ट परियोजना नेपालको धारणासँग प्रतिनिधित्व गरेको मानिने छैन ।
Private forest owner in Sindhupalkchok with her son. Courtesy of Ganga Neupane
Srijana Baral and Kanchan Lama of ForestAction Nepal share some of the hardships women face in forest communities in Nepal. They introduce a new GLOW project that aims to empower women entrepreneurs to establish forest-based, low-carbon small businesses to enhance their climate resilience.
The Economic Empowerment of Women through Forest Solutions (WEE-FS) project is being implemented over the next three years in four municipalities in Nepal. The municipalities are in two regions: Sindhupalchok in the hills and Nawalpur in the Terai (Nepal’s lowland region). The project aims to generate evidence-based knowledge for women’s economic empowerment through low carbon, forest and nature-based entrepreneurial solutions that enhance women’s resilience against climate change and external pandemic and economic shocks.
The project is funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and implemented by a consortium of partners with diverse expertise including ForestAction Nepal – a research organisation, the Himalayan Grassroots Women’s Natural Resource Management Association (HIMAWANTI) – a civic network of women’s groups, the Association of Family Forest Owner’s, Nepal (AFFON) – a network of private forest owners, and the Federation of Forest-based Industry and Trade, Nepal (FenFIT-Nepal) – an association of private entrepreneurs.
Opportunities and challenges for empowering Nepali women in community forestry
The first quarter of the project has involved better comprehending the diverse opportunities and challenges people are facing. Particularly excluded groups in the communities of Sindhupalchok and Nawalpur include women and girls from forest-dependent local communities, single and widowed women, Indigenous groups, Dalits (also known as the ‘Untouchables’) and land-poor and landless groups.
Decades of conservation efforts and changing rural livelihoods have contributed to increased forest area. This, together with male out-migration from the localities (in search of employment elsewhere), offers ample opportunities for women to engage in forest-based businesses that contribute to a low-carbon economy.
Enhanced external development support in these communities has also opened up opportunities for women to participate in ’outdoor’ activities that expose them to more information about government policies. Development activities have included better access to drinking water (through taps installed at the door steps of homes), roads and internet services, and, most importantly, an enhanced presence of local government in the area.
Although living conditions are gradually improving for many, it is not the same for all women and girls, especially those living in poverty and belonging to socially-excluded communities. Forest-dependent communities are deprived of forest resources due ‘gender-blind’ approaches (where gender is totally disregarded) of community forest user groups (CFUGs). Forest guards often prevent women from entering the forest to access basic timber and non-timber products such as firewood, grass, fodder and wild food. We came across a huge collection of sickles and axes seized by forest guards, many of which belonged to women mainly from poor sections of the community, who had entered the forest to collect firewood and fodder. Hence it is of paramount importance to sensitise forest guards and CFUG authorities including women’s groups primarily relying on forests on gender-friendly approaches.
In addition to challenges related to gaining access to the forest, we identified that women and marginalised groups face multiple other risks – both non-climate and climate-related. These include women’s food insecurity, health hazards, unemployment, exclusion from public information, and the barring of women from making important decisions about forest and other productive resources. Communities are also ill-prepared to cope with (un)anticipated hazards such as floods and landslides and risks from a changing climate, including the growing rate of crop failure and food insecurity, and other new crises such as Covid-19. Amidst all of these interconnected hardships, women and girls are the ones to suffer the most.
Although women’s self-empowerment has increased in recent years, patriarchal values are still very active in a society that prevents women from assuming leadership to claim their share of forest benefits.
“Single women face social discrimination, we cannot voice our issues freely, how can we access timber and other materials freely in the same way, like other women get? Our turn seems to come last, although they say that there is policy for us, but we never get any special treatment, rather we have to bear curses from our fellow women in the public” – a Dalit women shared her struggles for obtaining forest products from community forest.
Women in forest-based enterprises
Forest-based enterprises offer economic opportunities to women through nature-based solutions to enhance their safety nets to absorb climate shocks and build resilience. Several women’s groups in Sindhupalchok and Nawalpur are traditionally engaged in forest-based enterprises, although at a small-scale using traditional knowledge and skills. Women-friendly innovations are needed for efficiency in the absence of technological advancement.
Women are engaged in preparing herbal medicines for treating gastritis problems and Covid-19 symptoms. The Bhujel and Thami Indigenous women are skilled at preparing bamboo and cane handicrafts including brooms from broom grass and mats using dwarf fan palm (Thakal). Some have informally begun to operate enterprises making and selling wooden furniture, however it is still challenging for women to get involved in timber-based products, both in their sale and marketing.
Cardamom plantation in Tripurasundari, Sindhupalchok. Courtesy of Srijana Baral
In the Nepalese context, the extraction of timber or non-timber forest products is based on a management plan prepared by forestry experts. The management plan is based on a resource inventory and the management interventions are carried out accordingly. In addition, the women who are engaged in collecting these resources often possess indigenous knowledge on resource management, which contributes to environmental sustainability.
Forests in different management and tenure regimes, including community forests, private forests and leaseholds forests, all hold potential as sources of low-carbon income for women. Many households are found to own private forests and trees on farmland, but family forests are more privately functional and not systematically registered and documented. Many people, however, are unaware of the benefits of registering the forests and using them for commercial purposes.
This was evident during our conversation with Mrs. Kamala Devi Basnet, a private forest owner in Sindhupalchok: “My family owns a multi-storied natural forest on half a hectare of land. I raised the forest and expected it to be a source of income for educating my four children, but now I realise it’s not worth much. A trader came to me and offered a nominal price i.e. Rs 500/tree for medium-sized trees and Rs.1000/tree for big-sized trees. I want to explore the market, but I don’t know where to go and how to get service I want”. She is not aware of any technical support that she could obtain from the Divisional Forest Office. She is now thinking of registering the private forest.
Private and family forests are a huge resource for promoting women’s economic empowerment, but women often lack the skills to fully capitalise on forest assets.
Problems in marketing locally-produced items due to the abundant supply of Chinese and Indian made paper and plastic items, needs serious attention from the district municipalities to discourage it. One option is to impose strict trade regulations to block its supply in order to encourage a market for locally-produced bamboo and cane items.
Strategies for further actions
Forest-based enterprises need adequate policy back-up. Policies introducing subsidies, tax and VAT exemptions might support the women entrepreneurs. Women are active in managing forest resources; well versed in women’s rights and gender roles, but lack adequate power to make decisions over forest incomes. The project can support by introducing women-friendly, low-carbon technologies and skills to support non-timber-based industries that could include a range of products such as handmade paper, Allo (Himalayan giant nettle) prepared clothes, and bamboo and cane baskets that are widely used by local communities.
Several women-led forest-based enterprises are not able to expand their business mainly due to unclear forest and trade policies. They face further challenges, such as lack of negotiation skills as well as opportunities to diversify products and access markets. Strengthening the capacity of women and introducing appropriate technologies to save women’s time and labour, along with motivational entrepreneurship coaching, will be a priority for the project.
Financial institutions hesitate to prioritise women-managed enterprises (and timber-based ones), which needs to be addressed. To support enterprises and women’s economic empowerment, local governments in Sindhupalchok have introduced a policy related to agro-based enterprise and applied through the micro-enterprise development programme in in the district. These initiatives need upscaling at the national and other local government level. The project will support the Ministry of Forests in revisiting and reforming policies and strategies to create opportunities from forests.
Ms. Baral is Project Manager and Ms. Lama is Principal Researcher – Economic Empowerment of Women through Forest Solution at ForestAction Nepal.
Members of food and agriculture team of Forestaction Nepal, recently accomplished a field visit to Far West Province. The main objective of the field visit was to conduct agro-ecological assessment in Mahakali River basin (Bheemdatt and Dodhara Chandani Municipalities of Kanchanpur district, and Parashuraam Municipality of Dadeldhura district). This assessment has been carried out in collaboration with NNSWA (Kanchanpur based organization), and was conducted between 29th May to 3rd of June, 2022.
Municipality level interactions, in presence of newly elected representatives, were conducted in all of above three municipalities. The possible roles of local government in promoting agriculture for food at local level, was discussed during municipality level interactions.
At ward level, separate focus group discussions were held with farmers group, women farmers group, and Dalit women farmers group. Also, separate interaction was held with few of the individual farmers. During the interaction, the current scenario of food and agriculture of respective ward level, the problems, challenges being faced by the farmers including the problems invited due to over flooding in Mahakali and Jogbuda rivers during rainy season, the scope of agriculture, agriculture related enterprises that the farmers have envisioned, were discussed.
During the field visit, agriculture and livestock offices, situated at municipality, were also visited, and interacted with the officials.
The report making process is in progress. All the information collected from the field is being analysed. At the same time, policy documents and other similar study related articles and reports, and respective municipality’s profile is being reviewed.
The field study report will be shared later once it is finalized.
Alliance of Agriculture for Food (AAF) is expanded in Chitwan valley too. AAF is collaborating with other networks and alliances of organic food producers and sustainable agriculture promoters, located inside Chitwan valley, and jointly raising the issues of food and agriculture, conducting awareness campaign against the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and bringing such issues into public debate, and promoting agroecological farming.
Recently, AAF organized an interaction event at Kalika municipality, in presence of newly elected local representatives, and discussed over the contemporary issues of food and agriculture of respective municipality. Also discussed the potential roles and responsibilities of local government to promote agriculture for food at local level.
Food and agriculture team at Forestaction Nepal has been running an apprenticeship course on “transformative activism for sustainable agriculture” since 2010. The motive behind running this course is to build the capacity of the farmers, activists, agriculture students, and others who are interested in farming, and make them able to involve in the campaign of “Agriculture for Food”, either through practices, or through their engagement in policy advocacy at local level. Further, changing ourselves by reflecting and learning by doing and teaching by learning is motto of this training.
So far now, the team has already successfully conducted seven of its series, with an average of 20 participants in each batch, and has now started the new series of it.
The new series of this course includes two groups of participants. The one group includes the participants solely from Terai Madhesh region, whereas, the other one includes the fresh agriculture graduates including some farmers/activists as participants.
The Terai Madesh group has 25 participants, who are currently engaged in with different groups, and are promoting agriculture, working in the social sector, education field, and some are students too. The first module of this series for this group was organized at Thimura, Chitwan, for five days starting from 29th of April 2022.
Similarly, the first module for the next group was organized at SWI, Nakhhu, lalitpur, for five days, staring from 20th of May, 2022. This group has altogether 22 participants.
The theme of the first module for both of the groups was “Back to Basics”.
In this module, under the theme of back to basics, classes were conducted on topics such as evolution, diversity and discrimination, development, education, public health and life skills. Thematic presentations, discussions, group interaction, games and active interactions of participants were the method applied during the training. The first module for both group ended with effective learning through various thematic sessions by facilitators and the active participation of participants.
The aim of this workshop is to review the five decades of CF, develop a common understanding on its achievements, lessons, challenges and opportunities especially in the changing biophysical and socio-political contexts.
